The Catholic Funding Guide allows you to search for grantmakers who may be a good match for your organization and mission. Here, we share some of our top tips for getting the best search results as you look for prospective funders.
- Define Your Goal
Define your goal before searching. Setting a clear goal makes it easier to find a good match.
Here is an example of a specific goal for a particular search:
Find a list of foundations that accept unsolicited requests and support hunger relief programs in the greater Chicago area.
- Use Specific Keywords
Once you have a clear goal, it’s time to enter search terms in the search bar. Use specific terms, but avoid being too specific, as you may not see results.
For example, searching for “hunger relief program” will yield results, whereas searching for “mid-size local food banks” will not.
As you type, our search engine scans all fields of a funder profile, including:
- Mission statement
- Grants awarded
- Board members
- Geographic location
You can watch the results filter down as you type!
- Use Our Responsive Filters
Need to narrow your search? Use our responsive search filters.
There are two ways to do this:
- Click the checkboxes next to the filters you’d like to select
- Search some of the filters themselves by typing your keyword into the corresponding search box
Filters include:
- Areas of interest
- Geographic focus
- Asset amount
- Populations served
- Home diocese
- State
- Funder type
- Whether unsolicited requests are accepted
Quick Tips for Better Results
If you are struggling to get results (or to get relevant results), here are some tips:
- Clear your previous search and any selected filters. The query will persist until it is manually cleared.
- Use synonyms for your keyword.
- Use variations of your keyword, such as singular or plural versions. This may not make a noticeable difference since our search engine is intuitive; but it could help.
- Use filters together with the search box, rather than one or the other, to narrow the results.
Not a subscriber? Learn how the Catholic Funding Guide can help you find and connect with prospective funders.
