funding

private sources

Private funding sources are many and varied, so it is essential to match an institution’s needs with the individual interests of the foundation(s). An excellent starting place for research into private funding is the Foundation Center, an independent nonprofit information clearinghouse that collects, analyzes, and disseminates information on foundations, corporate giving, and related subjects.

The Foundation Center Web site provides information on the Center’s regional libraries of materials on philanthropy, educational programs, analysis of funding trends, and other topics. Topics of particular interest are:

• The Foundation Center’s Proposal Writing Short Course
• Annotated lists of and links to grantmakers on the Internet, including private foundations, corporate grantmaker, public charities, and community foundations.
• Information on the Center’s educational programs on the funding research process

The Library of Congress and the Foundation Center have collaborated to produce Foundation Grants for Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums. This publication lists 1,725 grants of $5,000 or more awarded by 474 foundations, from 2003 through 2007. It covers grants to public, academic, research, school, and special libraries, and to archives and museums for activities related to conservation and preservation.

Associated Grant Makers, Inc., founded in 1969, is the only regional association of grant makers, both foundations and corporations with giving programs, serving in, or making grants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We are a leadership organization for philanthropy with more than three decades of service to the philanthropic community.

The Resource Center for Philanthropy (RCP) serves as the information hub for the philanthropic community represented by AGM and its members. The Center and its professional staff collect, organize, and provide physical and virtual access to information resources produced by publishers, research organizations, national and regional foundations, academics and practitioners, and the members of AGM themselves. The Resource Center is open to the public. AGM Members can borrow materials. The RCP is a cooperating collection of the Foundation Center. RCP users can access both the AGM GrantMakers Database and the Foundation Center’s FC Search database.