Career Research Tip: Foundation Directory for Researching Grantmakers

Foundation Directory  helps answer the question “Who is giving money to non-profits, and how much?” It does this by providing information on U.S. grantmakers and their philanthropic activities. Search by companies, grantmakers, grants and 990 filings.  Foundation Directory includes descriptions of more than 100,000 Community Foundations, Corporate Giving Programs, Operating Foundations, Private Grantmaking Foundations (independent and company-sponsored foundations), and Grantmaking Public Charities.

If you are considering working in a nonprofit or a corporate foundation, this directory is helpful to identify lists of target firms based on geography, funding strategy, and size of firm.  Note that the data from the 990 will often include the compensation of key employees, which can provide insights for salary negotiation.

For research tips, use this cheat sheet: Foundation Directory: Creating Your Custom Search

Advanced search filters in the Foundation Directory 

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