The Grantee List Is Talking. Are You Listening?
How to research past grantees for prospect insights that actually move your grant pipeline forward
Let’s talk about the most underused spreadsheet in fundraising. It’s not your donor database. It’s not your gift range chart. It’s that little IRS filing called the Form 990-PF — and buried inside it is a list of every organization a foundation paid out to last year. Past grantees. Names, amounts, sometimes even the project.
[Note that a few funders hide this information even further, and it’s not in the 990. Those cases are annoying!]
I’ve been raising grant funding for more than 25 years. And that grantee list is basically a treasure map. You just have to know how to read it.
Jamaica’s Nari Ward, “Still Livin,’ Viral,” 2025, Art Basel Miami Beach © Tonya Hennessey
Start With the 990-PF: Your Free Foundation Intelligence Report
Every private foundation in the U.S. files a Form 990-PF with the IRS. That form is public record, and it lists every grant the foundation made that year — grantee name, amount, and purpose. You can pull most of them for free through ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer or Candid (formerly GuideStar).
What are you looking for? Patterns. Are they consistently funding arts organizations or workforce development? Is their sweet spot a $25,000 grant or a $250,000 multi-year commitment? Have they been funding the same five organizations for a decade, or do they rotate? These answers shape your entire approach before you write a single word of your proposal.
Google Is Your Research Assistant. Use It Accordingly.
Here’s an advanced tactic I use constantly: Google the foundation’s name plus “annual report” or “grants list.” Many foundations publish detailed grant summaries that never make it into databases — and those documents often reveal exactly how they talk about the work they fund. That language is gold. When a funder says they “prioritize community-led solutions,” write your proposal with that phrase doing push-ups throughout.
You’re not mimicking them. You’re speaking their language. There’s a difference.
Study the Grantees Like You’re Doing Competitive Intelligence. (Because You Are.)
Once you have a grantee list, look up several of those organizations. Visit their websites. Read their mission statements. Look at what they do, how they describe it, and how their work relates to yours. This tells you far more than a foundation’s guidelines ever will.
Fundraising researcher APRA (the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement) has long noted that grantee analysis is the cornerstone of effective foundation prospect research — not because it tells you what a funder wants to fund, but because it shows you what they’ve already decided to love.
Ask yourself: Does my organization fit in this portfolio? Would a program officer see my name and think “yes, exactly” — or would they squint at the list and wonder why I’m there?
“The best foundation prospect is one that has already funded organizations just like yours.”
— A core principle from Candid’s foundation research training materials
Call a Peer. Seriously.
This is the tactic nobody talks about, and it works. If you find an organization on a grantee list that does work similar to yours, call their development director or foundation relations officer. Introduce yourself. Ask what their experience with this funder has been like.
Most development pros are genuinely happy to share insights — because they’ve been the person calling someone else for help, and they know how it feels.
You might learn that the foundation prefers LOIs over full proposals. Or that the program officer is especially passionate about a particular model you happen to use. That’s the kind of intel no database sells you.
“Prospect research is not about finding people with money. It is about finding the right people with the right connection to your mission.”
— Russ Alan Prince and Karen Maru File, The Seven Faces of Philanthropy
Build Your Own Grantee Intelligence File
Here’s your practical takeaway: for every foundation on your prospect list, build a simple one-page summary. Who did they fund last year? How much? What kind of work? Has their portfolio shifted in the last three years? This is your grantee list analysis — and it’s worth every minute it takes.
Think of it like this: then you’re not cold-calling. You’re walking into a room where you’ve already read everyone’s book. You know what they care about. You know what makes them say yes. That’s not luck. That’s foundation 990 analysis doing its job.
The foundations worth pursuing are those that have already drawn a map to their priorities. You just have to be the fundraiser who reads it.
Now go find your people.