Grantmakers.io Pricing: Which Plan is Best for You?

Choosing the right grant search platform can be overwhelming. Finding a plan that fits your needs (and budget) is crucial to maximizing your funding potential.

This guide explains everything you need to know about Grantmakers.io’s pricing plans, helping you make an informed choice for your organization.

Plus, we’ll compare Grantmakers.io to Instrumentl, showcasing why many grant professionals consider it the superior alternative.

Let’s go!

The great thing about Grantmakers.io is that it’s 100% free! Unlike other grant prospecting platforms, Grantmakers.io doesn’t offer different subscription plans as their searchable dataset comes at no cost to users.
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Grantmakers.io is a free platform dedicated to making the IRS 990 dataset accessible to nonprofit professionals.

Created by Chad Kruse, the platform was initially created to help a friend streamline their donor searches. Recognizing its broader utility, Chad open-sourced the project to benefit the global nonprofit community.

The platform remains free thanks to the use of free hosting services like Github Pages and search functionality provided by Algolia. This ensures that operational costs are minimal, and allows the platform to stay free and open forever.

Grantmakers.io is a valuable search tool for nonprofit professionals, providing open access to the IRS 990 dataset. The platform helps users find and analyze potential funding sources with ease, making it a powerful resource for grant prospecting.

Here are some of the key features offered by Grantmakers.io:

• Grants and Foundation Database: Grantmakers.io provides access to information on 109,000 private grantmaking foundations and roughly 5.4 million grants. This allows nonprofits to explore a vast array of potential funding opportunities within the private foundation sector.
  
  Note: All of the information listed in the database comes from past 990s, meaning the grants included are historical. You’ll need to do additional research on your own to see if they are still open to requests for funding.
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• Powerful Search Tool: The platform’s search functionality is powered by Algolia, enabling lightning-fast searches across the dataset of IRS 990 forms. This means users can find relevant information quickly, saving time and effort in their grant research.
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• ‍User-Friendly Interface: Grantmakers.io has a user-friendly interface, making it easy for grant professionals to quickly find information on private foundations, including giving histories and funding priorities. The intuitive design ensures that even those with limited tech skills can use the platform effectively.

Grantmakers.io is a reliable tool for grantseekers, offering a user-friendly interface and access to detailed information on over 109,000 electronically-filing private foundations.

However, there are some limitations that we want to make you aware of:

• No Post-Award Management: Grantmakers.io does not offer post-award management tools to support you throughout the entire grant lifecycle.
• Limited Prospecting Tools: The database on this platform is limited to just private foundations and historical grants, with no information on other types of funders or active grants.

These limitations mean that you’ll likely need to invest in other grant search tools for a more comprehensive approach to prospecting.

We might be biased—but we are confident that Instrumentl is the most comprehensive and advanced fundraising tool available today.‍

Instrumentl streamlines the entire grant lifecycle, allowing you to prospect, track, and manage grants within one easy-to-use tool.

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While Instrumentl does come with a cost, it actually helps you win more funding and saves you time, making it a valuable investment for any organization seeking to maximize its grant opportunities.

Sara D., CEO at Experience Camps, shares:
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“The Instrumentl platform showed an immediate ROI for our organization. The reporting and dashboard are user-friendly and give us a clear and simple way to share progress and opportunities across our team and with our board. What started as a trial has become a staple tool for our fundraising team.”

Let’s look at some of the features that help Instrumentl stand out from other solutions on the market.

Smart Grant Matching

Instrumentl’s intelligent matching algorithm matches grant professionals with active and open grants that align with their specific needs.

It’s pretty simple: you input a few details about your nonprofit, such as location, mission, and funding requirements, and Instrumentl analyzes its database to curate a personalized list of good-fit matches for you.

Here’s the best part—as new funders and opportunities are added, Instrumentl delivers weekly updates to your inbox!

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This tailored approach ensures that you are focusing only on high-ROI opportunities and helps you avoid wasting time on grants that aren’t a good fit.

Unlike Grantmakers.io, where you have to manually search the platform and conduct external research to see if a grant is still active, Instrumentl provides up-to-date information on active grants, simplifying your search and application process.

I’m not the only one that loves Instrumentl’s comprehensive approach to all things grants. Check out this user testimonial:

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Advanced Funder Insights and Foundation Profiles

Instrumentl provides grant professionals with crucial Advanced Funder Insights to determine quickly if a grant is worth pursuing:

These detailed insights include a funder’s:

• Focus areas
• Past grantees
• Median and average grant amounts
• Giving by NTEE code
• Geographic focus
• Openness to new grantees

These insights are pulled from IRS 990 forms and are presented in easy-to-read snapshots, making it simple for grant professionals to understand a foundation’s giving patterns and priorities quickly.

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These comprehensive profiles help grant professionals identify foundations whose interests align with their mission, making it easier to create targeted proposals and, ultimately, secure more funding.

Recipient Profiles/Reverse Search

Instrumentl’s recipient profiles and reverse search features allow grant professionals to look up organizations similar to theirs and see who has funded them in the past.

For example, when you view the recipient profiles of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula, you can see their past awards—check out the image below.

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This reverse search enables users to identify funders who have supported organizations similar in size, location, or mission, making adding relevant funders to their prospect list easier.

Grant Tracking and Submissions

Instrumentl provides a comprehensive and user-friendly platform for managing the entire grant lifecycle—including grant tracking and submissions.

• Integrated Grant Tracker: This feature organizes all of your saved grants so you can easily manage every stage of the grant process in one place. From your Tracker, you can see the status of your grants, their next tasks, deadlines, and more.
• Automatic Deadline Alerts: Reminders for upcoming deadlines, ensuring no important dates are missed.
• Centralized Document Management: Store all grant-related documents in a single location, making it easy to access and organize necessary files.
• Collaboration Tools: Instrumentl supports team collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on grant proposals simultaneously and stay updated on progress.

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These advanced tracking features make Instrumentl highly efficient for managing multiple grants, streamlining your processes, and enhancing coordination among your entire team.

Check out this rave review from Gail K, below:

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CRM and Calendar Integrations

CRM and calendar integrations are essential for efficient grant management. They enable nonprofits to streamline communication, track donor interactions, and ensure timely submissions and follow-up.

Instrumentl’s advanced integration capabilities include:

• Comprehensive CRM Integrations: Instrumentl integrates seamlessly with popular CRM platforms, such as Raiser’s Edge NXT and Salesforce, enhancing donor and grant tracking.
• Calendar Sync: Syncs with Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal, ensuring all team members stay informed about deadlines and other important dates.
• Customizable Views: Users can tailor their calendar views by project, task type, and grant owner, providing a clear and organized schedule.

These CRM and calendar integrations offer a seamless and efficient grant management experience, setting this tool apart from Grantmakers.io, which does not offer any post-award management support or integrations.

Grantmakers.io stands out for its free access to grant data, making it an excellent choice for nonprofits with tight budgets.

While Grantmakers.io offers basic statistics and information, Instrumentl’s profiles are more detailed and integrated with additional tools, such as:

• Grant tracking
• Task management
• Collaboration features
• Custom reporting

By offering tools that help you track and manage applications, organize tasks, collaborate with your team, and generate custom reports, Instrumentl not only saves you time but helps you win more funding.

If you are interested in exploring Instrumentl further, sign up for a free, 14-day trial today.