How to Find Grants to Fund Nonprofit Projects and Programs

Do you have a new project or program you want to establish but are missing the funds to do so? Grants are the perfect way for nonprofits to support new initiatives and sustain their programs.  

In this guide, we will explain the step-by-step process for finding nonprofit projects and programs grants quickly and effectively. You will learn:

• What nonprofit projects and programs grants are
• Why they are so important
• How to use Instrumentl to find them fast

Let’s dive in!

Nonprofit projects and programs grants are the most common type of grants for nonprofits. Just like their name implies, these grants are used to fund specific projects or programs. 

For example, project and program grants could be used to cover:  

• Staff to run the program
• Supplies or technology required
• Marketing collateral for the initiative
• And so much more!

Nonprofit projects and programs grants are quite common and are offered by corporations, foundations, and even government entities.

Keep reading to learn why these funding opportunities are so valuable and worth pursuing.

Nonprofit projects and program grants are extremely important for nonprofits. 

Not only can they be used to jumpstart a new project or program, they can also help you sustain these projects or programs for years to come. 

Many nonprofits center their operations around a few key initiatives, such as offering an after-school program or running a food bank. Projects and programs grants can be used to support these key initiatives so that nonprofits can continue serving their communities. 

These types of grants can also be used to expand projects and programs, allowing nonprofits to further their impact and broaden their reach.

Projects and programs grants can be a huge source of support for nonprofits. Here are just a few examples of organizations that offer this type of funding! 

• The Walmart Foundation offers local community grants that can be used to fund multiple different types of initiatives, including after-school enrichment, environmental programs, hunger relief projects, and more! 

• Amazon’s Imagine Grant is designed to empower nonprofits to leverage technology to advance their missions. Their grant funds “pilot projects, proofs of concept, or existing programs that utilize technology in a new or expanded way.” 

• A real-life example was when Habitat for Humanity in Chicago uncovered a grant to fund their project of building affordable housing in their community. They secured a $20,000 award in only a matter of weeks after applying for a grant being offered by a local organization.

When you find a grant opportunity or hear about a funder, you can use Instrumentl to learn more about them. Find out who they fund, what their average grant size is, the locations they send the most awards to and more using Instrumentl’s foundation profiles. Search for your local funders on our foundation lookup page.

Now that you see how impactful projects and programs grants can be, you’re probably wondering how to find this type of funding for your nonprofit. Keep reading!

Many funders announce their grant opportunities on their websites, but searching through all of them is a time-consuming and extensive process. Luckily, you can use Instrumentl to find grants that align with your nonprofit’s mission quickly.

Instrumentl focuses on matching your nonprofit with grant opportunities that best fit your organization.

To start finding nonprofit projects and programs grants, here’s how you do it.

• Create a free Instrumentl account and get access to Instrumentl’s grant management platform for 14 days. 
• With over 400,000 funders on Instrumentl, we ensure that your nonprofit is matched with the most relevant nonprofit projects and programs opportunities.
• Use Instrumentl’s grant management platform for FREE for 14 days!

This section will guide you through a step-by-step process of finding grants using Instrumentl.

The first thing you will want to do is set up your nonprofit organization within Instrumentl.

Once you’ve signed into the platform, you’ll be prompted to create a new project. All of your “project” information will be used to match you with relevant grants. 

Fill In Details On Your Organization

In the “1. Organization” section, you’ll fill in details about your nonprofit, beginning with your organization’s location and fiscal year. 

You will also want to choose your state and what specific counties that your nonprofit serves. That way, Instrumentl can filter out grants that are not relevant to the area you serve.

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

Provide an Overview of Your Project

Now that you’ve filled in information about your nonprofit, you’ll move onto the “2. Overview” section where you’ll provide an overview of your 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 search for grant opportunities (we titled ours “Food Bank and Homeless Shelter”).

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. 

You should only choose “Tracking” if you aren’t looking for new funding opportunities and you simply want to track grants you’ve already found.

Once done, click “Save and Continue.”

Specify the Types of Grants You’re Looking for

In the last section, “3. Matches Setup,” you will specify the types of grants you’re looking for. 

To begin, you’ll need to select the type of organization you are (most commonly, just “Nonprofit” rather than “College/University” or “Zoo”).

And if you’re a faith-based organization, you can also select that you’d like to see grant matches specifically for faith-based programs. 

We chose “Nonprofit” for our applicant type and “No” for grants that are specifically for faith-based organizations or programs.

Then you will select your geographic location based on which areas your project serves. Our nonprofit has a national scope, but you can choose a specific state and even specific counties, if necessary.

Here’s an example of a nonprofit in Pennsylvania choosing counties surrounding the capital:

Next, you will select the field of work you operate in to ensure you get the best grant matches that align with your mission. 

It’s best practice to select 2-5 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.

Next, set a minimum or maximum size for the grants you would like to be matched with. This will filter out grants that don’t fit your funding needs. 

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

Specify That You Want To See Nonprofit Projects and Programs

Next, you want to share what you will be using the grant funds for. In this case, you would select “Project / Program”. 

When Instrumentl compiles your matches, you won’t have to sift through hundreds of grant opportunities that don’t meet your needs. Instead, you will only see funding matches that are specifically for projects and programs.

After you choose “Projects and Programs,” you can also choose what kind of funders you would like to see grants from. If you have no preference, you can choose 

them all and then filter them out later once Instrumentl gathers your top grant matches.

Finally, click “Save and Exit.” Instrumentl will then do all the hard prospecting work for you based on the information you’ve shared! 

Invite Your Team Members

Don’t worry about having to research grants for your organization’s projects and programs all on your own, as Instrumentl allows you to invite up to 9 team members to collaborate on your grant research.

That way, your entire team can be on the same page when it comes to staying on top of grant deadlines, tracking the status of your projects, and getting notified of new grant opportunities. 

When you first start reviewing your matches, you’ll notice that Instrumentl resembles an email inbox. The matches are on the left, and when you click on one, the details of the funding opportunity will show on the right.

You should now be ready to start evaluating your matches to find grants that your nonprofit can apply for! 

Briefly Review Your Grant Matches

You will want to start by reviewing your “Funding Opportunity Matches”. These are individual and active grants that align with your search criteria. 

As you can see in the screenshot below, we matched with over 300 active funding opportunities. 

Briefly Review Your Funder Matches

Next, you will want to review your “Funder Matches”. These aren’t active grants, but are instead funders whose missions and funding priorities align with those of your organization.  

These could be funders without websites, or even funders who are invite-only. Just because a funder doesn’t have an active grant posted doesn't mean they don’t want to partner with you and support your organization with funding! 

For more details on how to get noticed by invite-only funders, check out our in-depth guide. 

Filter Your Results 

Don’t be overwhelmed if you’re matched with hundreds of opportunities. You can use Instrumentl’s filters to narrow down your search to the most relevant opportunities based on: 

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

For example, if you didn’t filter your original search to “Project / Programs” you can do so within your Matches. 

And once you’ve filtered your results, you can also sort them by deadline, amount, best match, and more!

Now that you have filtered your results to only see grants that support nonprofit projects and programs, you can start prioritizing your funding opportunities by digging deeper into each potential grant. 

As we mentioned before, you can simply click on one of your matches and the grant’s details will pop up on the right. 

These details contain essential information that will help you evaluate whether a grant is worth pursuing. 

Review the Grant Guidelines

One of the first things you will want to do is review the “FUNDER OPPORTUNITY” tab. This tab will provide you with an overview of the grant, including its focus area, amount, support type, eligibility requirements, guidelines, and more. 

Gather Insights on Funders From Their 990s

Once you’ve reviewed the grant’s guidelines, you can select the “FUNDER 990 REPORT” tab to view a summary of data from the organization’s 990 filings with the IRS. 

Instrumentl distills information pulled from 990s into easy-to-read snapshots so that you can gather invaluable insights into a funder’s:

• Average grant size 
• The number of grants awarded 
• Geographic focus 
• Openness to new grantees 
• Nonprofits previously funded 
• Giving by NTEE codes 

For example, you can see below that this funder has been awarding more grants to repeat grantees year over year. If you’re a new grantee, this would be key information to consider. 

Once you’ve reviewed the grant guidelines and gathered insights from the funder’s 990s, you can go ahead and click “Save” on the grants that catch your attention. That way, you’ll have a saved list of all the grants you want to apply for in one place and don’t have to search for them later.

Leave Notes On Your Saved Grants

When you save a grant opportunity, you can also leave notes on it for your whole team to access. 

For example, maybe you want to make note of an important deadline or why this grant should be your team’s top priority. 

Assign a Status To Stay Updated on It

Instrumentl also allows you to assign a status to each of your saved grants. At this stage, you would assign this grant as “Researching”. 

This allows your team to manage your grants easily and effectively. 

You can continue saving your grants to Instrumentl’s Tracker for future reference. The Tracker serves as an effective way to manage all of your funding opportunities in one place for easy access and organization.

Update Your Grant Details

Once you decide to apply for a specific grant, you can update its details within your Tracker. To update a grant’s status, simply click on the grant within your Tracker.

You’ll find the “Status” dropdown where you can select the appropriate status for your grant. You can choose from various status options, including “Planned,” “Application in Progress” and “Submitted.”

This feature gives you and your entire team a birds-eye view of all your funding opportunities so that you can efficiently manage your application processes.

Set Fundraising Goals

You can also set fundraising goals within your Tracker to align your grants with your financial targets. In our example, we set a fundraising goal of $350,000 over the next three years.

Never Miss a Deadline

Instrumentl also allows you to organize your saved grants by deadline. That way, you can focus on the most pressing applications first. 

Instrumentl will also send you weekly emails with all your upcoming deadlines and any funder deadline changes.

Assign Tasks To Your Team

Once you’ve decided to begin working on a grant, you can assign tasks within Instrumentl to keep you and your entire team on track. 

You can create a task, choose a deadline, and then assign it to someone within each of your saved grants. 

From your Tracker, you can then click on any grant you’ve saved to see the tasks for that specific opportunity. 

Report On Your Progress

Finally, Instrumentl also makes it easy to generate reports for internal and external stakeholders. 

You can develop reports for your grant opportunities, the awards that you have won, any tasks, and the contact information of funders. These reports are great for keeping your Executive Director or Board of Directors in the loop. 

Now that you know how to use Instrumentl to find projects and programs grants quickly, we are going to wrap up with a few frequently asked questions regarding this type of funding. 

What is the typical application process for nonprofit projects and programs grants?

The application process for nonprofit projects and programs is similar to other grants, with an application deadline and eligibility requirements. You will need to ensure your project or program meets the requirements in the funding announcement.

Are nonprofit projects and programs grants typically recurring or one-time funding?

It depends on the specific funding opportunity. Some programs are ongoing and will have recurring funds, while others might have a specific start and end date.

Are there specific reporting requirements for nonprofit projects and programs grants?

Reporting requirements are dependent on the organization awarding the grant, but usually nonprofits will need to report on what the funds were used for to ensure they meet the overall purpose of the grant.

Can small nonprofits apply for nonprofit projects and programs grants?

Grants to fund nonprofit projects and programs are a great way for smaller nonprofits to jumpstart a new initiative and further their philanthropic goals.

What are the common mistakes to avoid when applying to nonprofit projects and programs grants?

It is vital that you research and understand the mission of the funder to ensure your project or program aligns with it. Also be sure to note the application deadline immediately because many grant proposals are rejected for simply missing a deadline.

Searching for projects and programs grants can be seamless using Instrumentl. Not only can you find grants in your geographic area, but you can also filter your matches so that you don’t waste time sifting through opportunities that don’t support your specific program or project. 

If you have never used Instrumentl, you can create a 14-day free account and see if it is right for you!