Prospecting New Funding Sources: Where to Look Now
Aka, looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack
photo credit: Siarhei Nester
If you’ve ever sat down at your desk with a steaming cup of coffee, ready to raise millions for your cause, only to ask yourself, “Where the heck do I start?”—you are not alone. Prospecting for new funders is both exhilarating and maddening, like a mash-up between detective work and speed dating. The good news? With a thoughtful approach, the right tools, and a willingness to try new strategies, you can find aligned foundation partners—even for causes that are considered “hard sells.”
I’ve spent the last 25 years raising millions for environmental campaigns and human rights issues that some fundraisers shy away from. Over that time, I’ve learned there’s no magic list you can pull off the shelf. Prospecting takes patience, creativity, and a lot of grit.
There’s nothing like the moment that “yes” lands in your inbox. But finding those yeses? It’s a journey. Whether you're just getting started or are seasoned and scouting your next big match, refining your approach will pay dividends.
Let’s talk about the strategies, sources, and a few indispensable tools to make your next round of prospecting smarter and more successful.
Web Searches: The Sleuth’s Playground
Online searching should always be part of your toolkit, but beware of surface-level hits. There isn’t one master database with up-to-the-minute details—prospecting is as much about informed sleuthing as it is about keywords.
Keyword lists: Mix your focus (like “forests protection” or “Indigenous sovereignty”) with terms funders use, such as “capacity-building,” “equity,” or “systems change.”
Relevant blogs: Nonprofit sector blogs and listservs frequently share news about new funders, open calls, or grant cycles—often before the major publications do. The pool may seem vast, but these grassroots tips can help you narrow it down quickly.
Listservs: Community-driven fundraising listservs are information gold mines. “Many of our best matches come from colleagues on nonprofit listservs,” says one grant strategist at a climate NGO.
Crucially, always check a funder’s actual grantmaking history; what’s on their homepage doesn’t always match what they’re actually funding. As philanthropy analyst Caroline Fiennes notes, “Foundations don’t always do what they say on the tin” (Stanford Social Innovation Review).
Paid Databases: Where the Deep Dives Happen
If your organization is able to invest, paid databases pay dividends.
Candid (candid.org): With profiles on more than 304,000 grantmakers and 29 million+ grants, Candid remains the go-to. It offers AI-powered suggestions and LOI writing tools, plus in-depth, filterable searches. That said, Form 990-based details can lag a couple of years behind real time, so supplement with other tools for the freshest intelligence. They offer monthly and annual subscription options.
Foundation Search (foundationsearch.com): Foundation Search is broader than most, allowing prospects across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia with its Power Search—over four million global funder documents. It provides granular grant histories, a prospect management suite, connection maps between foundation directors, and even lets you filter by foundation mission, legal residence, sector, and geographical reach.
“FoundationSearch is a comprehensive online database containing information on over 110,000 foundations, including details on grants, grantees, and financial records,” as founder Metasoft Systems describes it. All of this, however, comes with a hefty price tag.
DevelopmentAid Foundations Database (developmentaid.org): Especially helpful for global and development work, DevelopmentAid’s database includes 12,000 nonprofit and civic organizations, sophisticated trend analytics, and custom grant alerts matching your sector and geography.
While the price tags may be steep, these databases often pay for themselves by opening doors you’d otherwise miss.
Philanthropic Publications: Stay in the Know
Staying current with foundation news is mission-critical. Consider these top publications:
Inside Philanthropy (insidephilanthropy.com): One of the premier sources for sector trends, new major givers, and in-depth guides covering specific issue areas. “Inside Philanthropy pulls back the curtain on the world of philanthropy while offering useful information that fundraisers and funders can use,” as their editorial mission says.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy (philanthropy.com): A daily must-read for headlines, sector analysis, profiles, and data deep dives.
Philanthropy News Digest (candid.org/philanthropy-news-digest): An excellent aggregator for recent funding announcements, RFPs, and research updates.
Staying on top of these releases is like following a sports draft—talent and opportunities can shift fast, and you want to be the first to know.
The Thrill of the Match
Schedule consistent, focused time each week for prospecting. Track your findings in a shared document or CRM, ensuring knowledge flows across the team. Network with others—you never know when a peer will pass along that crucial tip.
The search will get messy. You’ll chase leads that go nowhere, copy-paste a few too many IRS URLs, and hit dead ends just as often as breakthroughs. But that’s the game. The pool of aligned foundations is always changing—new players enter, old ones phase out, priorities shift.
When you do finally land a funder who “gets” your work, it feels like hitting that three-point buzzer beater in overtime. You’ll want to bottle that hit of joy and validation—and then get right back to prospecting, because the next opportunity may be just one more search away.