MorrisonGrants

The equation for finding the right grant is simple: be in the right place at the right time. How to get there is the difficult part and requires diligence and patience. Here are some tips:

Develop a clear picture of your project.

Make sure you know exactly what you want to do and how.  Then, only pursue grants that would support at least some part of your project as you envision it.

Identify grantors and their websites.

• Federal Government: All federal grants are posted in one place: www.grants.gov, and provide funding for all types of entities. Plan on a few hours a week to thoroughly sift through all new federal grants and to click in to each prospective grant to see if you’re eligible.
• State Governments: Grants from states are much less standardized than federal grants, but they also provide grants for most types of entities. For most, you can find their grants by visiting the various departmental websites; many states don’t have one central location for all programs. The “grants” or “funding” page is sometimes buried, but once you find it, bookmark it and check back at least once a week to make sure you catch new opportunities.
• Private Foundations: Most foundations fund only nonprofit organizations, though a select few will support for-profits in groundbreaking projects. Your best bet for finding foundation websites is to use a search engine or through an online database.

Watch grantor websites like a hawk – or find a service that will do it for you.

Many grant programs allow only a short window of time from their initial announcement to the application due date—as little as 30 days. You want to find out about the opportunity as soon as possible so you have time to prepare the often complex and lengthy application.

If you don’t have extra hours in your work day, you might want to subscribe to a grant notification service or database. There are several subscription databases out there, but no others that we know of focus exclusively on food & agriculture, alternative energy, and the environment. That’s why we created the MorrisonGrants notification database.

With our service, you can search the database and save your search parameters to receive email notifications of new grants that match your individual criteria. We constantly comb the federal grants, 20 state governments, and over 200 foundations within our focus areas to ensure that all our customers have to do to be in the right place at the right time is visit their email inbox.

For free, less comprehensive help, subscribe to our MorrisonGrants FreE-Bulletin to receive notification of selected grants.

Start Searching.

If you successfully find a grant that matches your project, you’re a long way towards receiving the funding you need. Whether you do it yourself or use a notification service, a thorough, constant search will payoff in the long run. Happy finding!