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Grants Prospect Research
1. Welcome and Introduction – Tab 1
 Good morning. I’d like to welcome you all to
this introductory session on prospecting for
potential matches between your funding needs
and funders interest and priorities.
 Let’s start by introducing ourselves and giving a
brief overview of our background and grant-
seeking experience so we can get a feel for where
everyone is in this process.
 I’m Marcia Horngren and I have more than 25
years of experience in Fund Development/and
allocation of funds, I recently retired from United
Way where I was the Vice President of Fund
Distribution and am currently a consultant with
City Connect Detroit.
 For those of you that aren’t familiar with City
Connect Detroit, the organization has been in
operation for about 8 years with the mission of
helping metropolitan Detroit nonprofits and
governments obtain increased national funding
and to facilitate collaboration among nonprofits,
governments, businesses, grant makers and
others.
 Now let’s hear from you.
 Clearly we have a variety of backgrounds and
interests. So let’s get started.

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 You’ll find today’s agenda under tab 1 in your
binder. As you can see we’ll get a clearer
understanding of what is meant by prospect
research, we’ll talk about the various sources of
grants, get a picture of what’s happening in
Michigan, and then talk about some tools,
processes, and resources to help you find the best
matches between your programs and available
funds.
 The objectives of this session are
i. You will enhance your knowledge about
identifying grant-making prospects that have
the inclination and the capacity to invest in
your organization
ii. You will increase your skill in making
appropriate requests and developing a
strategic grant-seeking approach.
 Prospect Research for our discussion today is
defined as the process of identifying, reviewing
and profiling prospective grant makers.
 There is also prospecting for individual donors,
usually in support of membership drives, capital
campaigns and major gift campaigns, but this
morning we’re going to focus on grant makers.
 The goal of prospect research is two-fold: to
identify prospects that have the inclination and
the capacity to invest in your organization and to
best determine how much to ask for, when to ask
and how to ask.
 Prospect research is an essential part of a
strategic fund development effort. It identifies

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prospective donors for financial and other types
of support. It’s crucial to a successful proposal
process.
 Prospect research is used to make the correct fit
between your programs and prospective grant
makers; create, facilitate, nurture and improve
relationships with grant makers; document and
track relationships; and make your investment in
grant-seeking most effective.
 The advantages of prospect research include
working with accurate, current and timely
information; information is centralized and
maintained in an orderly manner; matches
between programs and funding requests are
targeted; new funding prospects are identified
through proactive research; information is
quickly and efficiently available.
 Smaller organizations working with a tight
budget can be effective prospectors by being
selective and focused in taking advantage of web
resources, networking, and perhaps investing in
one or two targeted good resources which we’ll
be talking about soon.
2. Grant Makers – Tab 2
 There are 7 major categories of grant makers as
you can see under tab 2
 Have you had experience with any of these types
of grant-makers and can you tell us something
about it?

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 Review independent, foundations, company-
sponsored foundations, community foundations,
public charities, corporate giving programs, and
government grant-making.
 Most funders want to see evidence of local
support and its usually best to start with
foundations within Michigan
 Overview of giving in Michigan – tab 2
3. Getting Organized – Tab 3
 The forms under tab 3 are designed to help you
assess the match between your program needs
and the funders’ guidelines and interests
 Many, many proposals are rejected simply
because they are not a good fit with the funder
 So before you even start researching potential
funders be clear about your goals, the needs to be
met by your program, the amount of money
needed to reach your objectives, and what other
sources of funding may be available.
 That kind of assessment combined with the
research laid out in these forms will help you
make targeted requests to funders interested in
your type of organization, in your geographic
area, and in your field of interest.
 Review forms – first phase of information
gathering.
4. Research Process – Tab 4
 To give you an idea of the range and depth of
funding classifications available, look at the way

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The Foundation Center classifies grants under 10
basic divisions and 26 major field areas under tab 4
 Your search for prospects could begin under the
category that best fits your program
 In assessing prospects plan to move from a simple
to a deeper program match
 This includes determining the type of funder,
setting clear program priorities, gathering good
information on funders, compiling, investigating
and refining the information, and finally making
the request
 At first identify funders with a program match by
searching resources with simple 1-2 word program
descriptors
 Next put these prospects through a second, deeper
program match review
 This involves looking at the detailed information
about the funder and your program to see if the
match still fits. This is done by critically looking at
the following factors:
o Target Population-disadvantaged/low-income,
urban/rural, etc.
o Type of support-program, research, operating
expenses, etc.
o Types of organizations funded-schools,
government, nonprofits, national/local/state,
etc.
o Detailed language on funder priorities-could
be called field of interest, program
areas/focus, etc.

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o Specifics of your priorities-clearly stated goals
and objectives of your project
 The prospects still on the list after this review process
are the ones to focus on. Once a final management
decision is made to pursue them take the following
steps
o Build relationship with funder
o Select partners if appropriate, design program,
build relationship with funder
o Develop and submit proposal, build relationship
with funder
o Follow-up on application, secure grant award,
build relationshp with funder
o Ensure success of project, report to funder, build
relationship with funder
SEE LAURIES INFORMATION TAB 4
 Using an organized approach to your prospect
research involves
o Going to the right places for the right information
o Keeping efforts focused
o Picking a few search sites and learning them
thoroughly
o Bookmarking favorite internet sources so you can
get to them quickly and easily
o Using information you already have in your
database
o Using accurate and reliable data, sites and search
engines

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o Focusing on and presenting the information
required
5. Resources – Tab 4
 Directories (available on CD-ROM)
o The Michigan Foundation Directory
o The Foundation Directory
o Both have powerful search engines that allow
you to select multiple criteria and quickly create
customized lists of potential funders
 Other publications from the Foundation Center –
www.foundationcenter.org
 Annual Reports published by the funders
 Publications – Chronicle of Philanthropy, Crains
Business, Nonprofit times
 990-PF Tax Returns
 www.grants.gov
 www.Michigan.gov/grants
 Industry Publications
 Professional Organization Directories
 Internet-examples shown on the material provided
 www.cityconnectdetroit.org membership
6. Today’s economy – Tab 5
o Today more than ever we need to be strategic in the
use of our resources in seeking support for programs
that are needed more than ever. At the same time
these are tough times for funders as well. By being
strategic a great deal of time, frustration and
disappointment will be avoided and your chances of
getting funded will be much greater.