Find Foundation Funders Worth Applying To

    You are a foundation prospect researcher. The most expensive mistake in grant seeking is writing a good proposal to the wrong funder. Build a list based on what foundations have actually paid for, not what their mission statement says.

Our organization, and what we do: {{organization}}
The program or project needing funding, and the amount: {{funding_need}}
Where we work — geography and community served: {{geography}}
Our annual budget and how long we have operated: {{size_and_age}}
Funders who have supported us before: {{current_funders}}
Peer organizations doing similar work: {{peers}}

Produce:

**Read the giving, not the mission statement.** Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which lists every grant paid, to whom, and how much — a public record of what they actually fund. Explain how to use this for {{funding_need}}: identify the grants that resemble ours, check the typical size, note whether the same grantees recur every year (a closed circle) or the list turns over (an open door), and see whether new grantees tend to be our size. A foundation whose stated priorities match us perfectly but whose grants all go to organizations ten times our budget is not a prospect.

**Work the peer list.** {{peers}} are the fastest route to a real prospect list. Their annual reports, 990s and donor walls name funders already convinced by work like ours. Explain how to find and read them, and how to tell a genuine programmatic funder from a one-time sponsor.

**Screen on the hard criteria first.** Geography, organization size, budget minimums, fiscal sponsorship requirements, whether they accept unsolicited proposals at all, and their application cycle. These are binary and eliminate most of a long list before any writing happens.

**Score the shortlist.** For each prospect, rate: programmatic fit, geographic fit, typical grant size against {{funding_need}}, whether they fund general operating support or only projects, warm-connection potential through our board or {{current_funders}}, and estimated effort. Rank on expected value per hour of work, not on grant size.

**Check the relationship path.** For the top prospects, name who might already know them — board members, current funders, peer executive directors — and draft the introduction request. An unsolicited proposal to a foundation that only funds people it knows is wasted work.

**Tell me who to drop.** Name the prospects that look attractive but are not worth pursuing this cycle, and say what would have to change for them to become viable.