How to Find Grant Opportunities: 4 Steps

We’ve all heard the saying “Location, location, location!”, and although it’s not typically applied to funding, it should be top of mind as your organization looks for ways to find grant opportunities.

Instrumentl is a great resource for finding both local and national grant opportunities that meet the needs of your organization. Both broadening and narrowing your geographic scope have their pros and cons when it comes to securing funding, and we’ll explore the logistics of each in this article.

Below, we’ll walk you through step by step how to source both local and national grants through Instrumentl so that you and your team can:

• Prioritize applications,
• Set realistic expectations,
• And set yourselves up for success.

Let’s get started!

Grant opportunities are typically referred to as “national” or “local”.
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National grants are opportunities open to all geographic locations within the U.S., while local grants are more targeted to a specific region or regions.

Local grant opportunities:

• Could be available at the state-level, city- level, or even more hyper-focused by town or neighborhood.
• Are typically less competitive since the pool of applicants is narrowed down by geography eligibility requirements.

Here’s an example of a local grant by The New York Community Trust, “Thriving Communities Grants: Civic Affairs.”

As you can see, eligible organizations must be located in one of the following NY counties; Bronx County, Kings County, New York County, Queens County, Richmond County.

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The Thriving Communities Grant is a local funding opportunity available to eligible organizations in specific New York counties.

National grant opportunities:

• Do not have geographic restrictions.
• Are typically more competitive since the applicant pool is less restricted and the awards are often larger.

Here’s an example of a national grant by the Women’s Sports Foundation “Sports 4 Life Grants”. Organizations working anywhere in the United States that align with the mission of the foundation are eligible to apply.

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The Sports 4 Life Grants are open to any organization within the US.

Though both types of grant opportunities—local and national—come with their own benefits and challenges, it’s important to recognize how your organization can approach each to build out a strong, diverse, and sustainable funding model.

‍Pro Tip: If you’re interested in a more in-depth description of types of local and national funding, this report by the Congressional Research Service, “Resources for Grantseekers”, is a comprehensive place to start.

Instrumentl makes the process of finding, applying to, and organizing grant opportunities simple and streamlined.

With Instrumentl, your organization is able to explore both local and national grant opportunities that align with your funding needs and area of focus. We will walk you through step by step how to leverage Instrumentl for grant research below.

Step 1: Set Up Your Nonprofit Within Instrumentl

After you’ve signed into Instrumentl, you’ll be prompted to share information about your organization so that you can be matched with relevant funding opportunities.

In the “1. Organization” section, you’ll fill in details on your nonprofit, such as your location and fiscal year.

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You will also want to choose your state and what specific counties your nonprofit serves. That way, Instrumentl can share only relevant grants to your area.

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Click “Save and Continue” to complete this first section.

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Step 2: Provide an Overview of Your Project

In the next section, “2. Overview,” you’ll create a project. Think of a project in Instrumentl as similar to a “saved search.”

You can title your project anything you would like that is related to your field of work.

Next, you will select “Matches & Tracking'' because it will provide you with both a tracker and funding opportunity matches. You will want to select this type of project if you are seeking out new funding opportunities.

Choosing “Tracking” is only best if you already have grants and you just want to track them in Instrumentl.

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Once done, click “Save and Continue.”

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Step 3: Specify the Types of Grants You’re Looking For

In the last section, “3. Matches Setup,” you will specify the following:

• The type of nonprofit you are (most commonly, just “Nonprofit” rather than “College/University” or “Zoo”).
• If you’re a faith-based nonprofit and only want to see grants specifically for that purpose.
• The geographical areas you serve.
• Your fields of work.
• The grant size you’re looking for.
• What you intend to use the funding for (projects, programs, operating expenses, etc.).

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We chose “Nonprofit” for our applicant type.

Additionally, we chose “No” when asked if we would like grants specifically for faith-based organizations.

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Then, you will want to select your location based on the state and counties you serve. This is so you can focus on state and local government funding options in your geographic area.

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In our example, we chose Pennsylvania, specifically the counties surrounding the state capital of Harrisburg. Simply search your state and then select the counties that are relevant to your nonprofit.

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Now, you will select the field of work you operate in to ensure you get matched with grants from funders who support nonprofits that do the work you do.

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It’s best practice to select 2-3 fields of work so you have a wide enough scope of relevant grants.

When clicking “+Select fields of work,” search the cause you support and select 2-5 keywords from the drop-down that fit your mission. In our example, we searched food and homeless fields.

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Next, set a minimum or maximum type of grant you would like to be matched with. This will filter out grants that are either too small, making them not worth pursuing, or too large, making them too competitive.

In our example, we set a minimum of $1,000 and no maximum. Our nonprofit will take all the funding we can get!

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Finally, you will need to choose what you will be using these funds for if awarded.

We chose “General Operating Expense” and “Project / Program.”

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Step 4: Invite Your Team Members

Don’t worry about having to research local and national grants all on your own, as Instrumentl allows you to invite up to 9 team members to collaborate on your grant research.

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Once you have finished following these steps, Instrumentl will display all of the top grant matches for you to review. It’s that easy!

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Instrumentl has done the heavy lifting, searching through a database of thousands of grants and providing you with ones that are worth your attention. Instead of time-consuming individual searches through potential funders’ websites, Instrumentl brings your best matches right to you.

After setting up your project, Instrumentl will use its Smart Matching technology to provide you with a comprehensive list of active grants that match your search criteria.

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As we mentioned earlier, one of the clear benefits of going after local funding is that the pool of applicants is already narrowed down. Instead of competing with organizations on a national scope, your nonprofit’s proposal will be up against a limited selection of applications that fit the geographic requirements.

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You now have the ability to filter your matches within Instrumentl by location of project or by location of residency so that you can narrow in on these local opportunities.

• Location of residency is the place your organization, or your client’s organization, is based.
• Location of project describes where the nonprofit’s project is taking place, or its service areas.

Filtering by either location will narrow down your results to funders that specifically call out that location, instead of simply calling out the broader state or country.

For our example, we can filter down our matches to those that specifically state Albany County, New York in the eligibility criteria. In other words, this will weed out national matches or state matches.

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This ability to narrow down matches to your specific location is a huge time-saver for busy nonprofit professionals. As you make adjustments to location criteria you’ll get a sense of what opportunities are available. The more hyper-local you get, the more specific and limited matches you’ll have to explore.

Pro Tip: You can also click into a funder’s profile within Instrumentl to see if they’ve awarded grants in your location in the past. Simply navigate to the “Past Grantees” section of their 990 report to explore where they have given historically.

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Unlike local grant opportunities, national grants are open to applicants across (you guessed it!) the entire nation. While these opportunities may specify other requirements for eligibility, location is not a limiting factor.

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Instrumentl is an effective tool for sourcing these open, national grants opportunities.

While national grant searches can feel limitless and overwhelming, Instrumentl can help reduce this burden by matching you with only the open opportunities that meet your needs and requirements.

For example, Instrumentl allows you to filter your matches so that you can prioritize the best-fits.

From your 'Matches' tab, select the 'Filter' dropdown at the top of your list of matches. You'll see several categories of filtering options:

• Saved or Hidden on other projects
• Funding use
• Field of Work
• Location of Project
• Location of Residency
• Past Giving
• Funder type and Location

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You can also sort your matches so that the most relevant opportunities are at the top of your list. Instrumentl allows you to sort your matches by:

• Best Match
• Deadline
• Amount
• New

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So while searching for national funding opportunities may seem overwhelming at first, Instrumentl’s sorting and filtering capabilities make it easy to narrow in on the most relevant grants for your nonprofit.

Leveraging Instrumentl to strengthen and organize your nonprofit’s grant prospecting and research can be a game changer.

Here’s what Linda Rucker, Grant Writer and Instrumentl Customer had to say about the platform:

“Winning 30% more grants thanks to Instrumentl was a huge morale boost. Seeing how many funding opportunities are out there gave our Executive Director and our development team [more] confidence. By using Instrumentl, this confidence continues to grow.”

Now that you have a clearer understanding of local and national grants, as well as how to use Instrumentl to find relevant opportunities, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Be patient! Finding the right opportunities for your project can take time. For more on this check out How Long Does it Actually Take to Find Grants?
• Like any new system, the more you work within the Instrumentl search tool the more comfortable it will become. Don’t be afraid to play around with the different search features as you’re familiarizing yourself with the capabilities of the tool.
• Reference helpful Instrumentl resources for sourcing opportunities that may be a good fit for your work: A Nonprofit's Guide To Grant Prospect Research and Grant Research Checklist For Nonprofits

Whether you’re targeting national opportunities, local opportunities, or both, you got this! And if you’re not using Instrumentl yet but could use some help finding the right funding matches for your organization, try Instrumentl's free 14-day trial.