Finding Money for Your Nonprofit Organization Through Grants

Editor's note: The Library Round Table features several guest columnists from the Northfield Public Library. This piece is from reference librarian Jamie Stanley.

In these times of tight budgets, grant writing has become a major component, some would say preoccupation, of running a successful nonprofit organization.  Fortunately, there are an abundance of resources available to help.

Whether you are novice or an old hand at the grant seeking process who would, you may wish consult a recently published book at the Northfield Public Library titled Grant Writing 101: Everything You Need to Start Raising Funds Today by Victoria J. Johnson. 

This new book provides an overview of the grantseeking process. Part one covers defining various types of grants, writing the grant proposal, researching grantors and coping with the success or failure of your grant submission. Part two includes samples of successful grant proposals, cover letters and sample budgets.

The Foundation Directory is another key source for grant seekers in the library.  Arranged alphabetically by state, each entry includes a wealth of detailed information about the finances, governance and giving interests of the 10,000 largest grantmaking foundations within the United States. 

Minnesota Grantmakers Online is a subscription database maintained by the Minnesota Council of Foundations. Accessible only on the computer in the Business and Employment area of the Northfield Public Library, this database is THE electronic resource for researching both grants and grant makers in Minnesota.  More than 1,400 foundations and corporate grantmakers are included in the database, as well as more than 100,000 possible grants of $2,000 or more.

The library has compiled a list of print sources, online grantwriting resources and print and electronic newsletters on grantseeking.  This list is available on the website of the Northfield Public Library.  Click Other Resources from the home page.

For further information about the grantwriting resources available at the Northfield Public Library, call the Reference desk at 507-645-1802.