Sustainability

Grant Portals Websites

ACT analyzed 10 total grants portals websites and found that the following resources might be particularly useful to our communities. These websites are places where you can search for funding opportunities for your team’s projects.

• California Grants is a California-specific grant search portal that allows you to filter by time range, grant category, applicant type and more. It also offers basic data and insights on grant distribution and other metrics. It provides access to California public grants, or grants that are funded by California state agencies.

Pros: The site is user-friendly and comprehensive. Best of all, it is free to use.

Cons: The site does not offer many analytics and is geographically limited to California. 

• SAM is a comprehensive search engine for U.S. federal public grants including information on application processes, as well as training on how to apply successfully. This site provides access to grants that are funded by federal grant-making agencies. The search function is free of charge.

Pros: The site is highly comprehensive, reaches nationwide public opportunities, and it is also free. 

Cons: The website’s user interface is a bit outdated and somewhat difficult to navigate.

• Candid is a comprehensive grant and nonprofit search engine that also offers image consulting as well as data and analytics on the grant landscape. It offers extremely comprehensive service for nonprofits with a higher budget.

Pros: The site is highly comprehensive and detailed

Cons: The price tag is steep

• Devex is a wider online insider reporting platform for the humanitarian and philanthropic sector, with a global lens. This web portal offers news reporting on the grant world, community, job postings, career development tools, and more. The funding opportunities are global in scope,  and all the opportunities listed may not be completely relevant to ACT projects, but this is a great place to gain knowledge and to understand what global opportunities may exist.

Pros: Extremely extensive platform with an easy-to-use search function

Cons: Relatively affordable, but with a lens that may be too global for California-based nonprofits and CBOs; certain functions may be superfluous.

Grants Search Engines

Grants search engines may also be useful for you if you’d like to regularly browse for opportunities for your projects. The following engines and tools are offered for a fee.

• Grantstation has a limited array of analytic and training tools: applicant trainings, webinars, occasional conferences, tracking trends in grant giving, and tools to help you strategize your application effort. The site has a blog with useful tips, as well as a handful of free public resources such as newsletters and book recommendations. 
• Inside Philanthropy is a simple grant search tool. It does not include analytics, but does include newsletters, articles, and other extras. It has an extensive array of articles on sections of the philanthropy landscape, by topic (e.g. housing, think tanks, financial inclusion).
• Grant Watch is an older site with a well-developed search function in addition to tools that give users an overview of the grants landscape, including grant reports on individual grants/grantees (comprising giving trends, grant profiles, grant financial health, how much to ask for, etc.). Grants are divided by grants for individuals, grants for nonprofits, grants for small businesses, federal grants, and more.
• GrantForward is a relatively simple and straightforward grant search engine. It offers some limited training and tutorial/webinar options. Unlike other search engines, the site separates funding opportunities by pre-solicitations, grants, awards, sponsors, and researchers.
• GrantScape is similar to Grantwatch. Primarily a search engine, it also hosts some additional tools such as a knowledge pool/shared resources, templates for grant applications, auditing and legal summaries, and more. Some training is also provided.
• Grant Gopher is also a search engine that has been around since 2006, so it has had some longevity. It offers no analytic tools, but has an array of additional services they link to including BDJ Solutions (for additional nonprofit services) and Grant Holster (for grant management).