Funding Resources

I am fundraising for an organization and looking to reach new donors—how can Resource Generation help me?

Resource Generation is not a funding organization. Due to our limited staff capacity, we are unable to meet one-on-one with organizations or individuals looking for fundraising advice. Resource Generation has compiled a list of some of the resources we know about that may be helpful to organizations researching funding sources.

Affinity groups are networks of funders that have a common interest.  If you contact the administrator of the affinity group they may be able to put you in touch with issue-specific fundraising resources. See the Council on Foundation’s website to find a large list of affinity groups affiliated with the Council on Foundations.

Exponent Philanthropy is a vibrant membership organization that provides the resources and connections that help funders make the most of the minutes they have and the dollars they give. Exponent Philanthropy amplifies and celebrates the vital work of a diverse group of givers who unite through their unique style of giving that is lean, agile, responsive, passionate, and personal. Membership is open to all individuals and organizations that give annually to more than one recipient, including those who use foundations, donor-advised funds, giving circles, and other giving vehicles to carry out their philanthropy.

Exponent Philanthropy is a vibrant membership organization providing resources and connections that help funders make the most of the minutes they have and dollars they give. At Exponent Philanthropy we amplify and celebrate the vital work of funders who choose to give big and keep their operations lean.

Community Foundations exist across the country which provide resources to specific geographic areas.  The Community Foundation locator has an interactive map to help you locate a community foundation in your geographic area.

The Foundation Center has a lot of resources including foundation and grants directories, available online and in libraries across the country.

Guidestar is a national database of nonprofit organizations and provides information about the operations and finances of foundations.

Engaged Funders for Global Equity Alliance is a network of trustees and staff of public and private foundations as well as individual donors who practice global social change philanthropy. 

Kim Klein has written a number of books about fundraising for grassroots organizations, available from the publisher Jossey Bass and publishes the Grassroots Fundraising Journal.

Regional Associations of Grantmakers are organizations for grantmakers (and sometimes for nonprofits too) in geographic regions.  Contact them to find out about funding resources in your area.

Resist has a great fundraising resource guide on their website Finding Funding: A Beginner’s Guide to Foundation Research, 5th Edition. 

Idealist.org, a project of Action Without Borders, is another great resource. On this site you will find over 45,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 165 countries, which many progressive individual donors use to research their giving areas,  searching or browsing by name, location or mission. If your organization is not yet listed here, you can add it now-it’s free! 

Crowdsourced Fundraising Platforms have been popular in the last few years. These are online tools for fundraising that include Causes, Crowdrise, Razoo, DonorsChoose, First Giving, Jumo, Kickstarter and many more.