Analyze a funder’s past giving trends by looking at their 990 report snapshots. These contain rich data on a funder's historical giving trends, so you can easily tell if they’ve awarded similar grants to your location, the historical grant amounts, and if they've awarded similar giving purposes to the funding purpose you are looking for.
Review an organization’s NTEE codes and NTEE subcategories in a single glance: it is a great way to determine if the amount you are requesting is appropriate and aligned with the foundation’s giving history, and whether or not you're eligible to apply.
Check the average grant amount and median grant amount the funder has given in the past to assess whether or not this grant is worth pursuing. Sometimes foundations might fund more than their minimum, which is good to know.
Use Recipient Profiles to look up any grant recipient and see their list of funders. With this type of reverse search, you can also analyze the geographic distribution of past grantees, and build a whole new list of prospects in minutes and find more good-fit funders faster.
Analyze the ratio between new and repeated grantees by looking at the funder's historical giving. This can give you an idea of how open they are to new nonprofits that don't have a track record of successful projects.
Effectively record and store research you've conducted so that you can reference it later, discuss it with your team, and prioritize your grant opportunities.
I started getting all these emails—you have new matches, you have new matches… So I go into Instrumentl and I’m thinking to myself: holy cow. After an hour or so of looking at those foundations, I go to my ED’s office and I say—I want to buy this. I want to have this.
- Toni Curry, Development Director at Pro-Choice North Carolina
