Grants

Almost half a million institutions in the United States are supported wholly or in part by grantmaking organizations. And the number of students and scholars who receive education and training subsidies by individual grants in one form or another is much greater. But the grantmaking boom of the 1950s and 1960s has passed. Those days when grants like rain fell upon the just and the unjust have taken their place in the archives of nostalgia. There are a number of good publications on the market — many of them mentioned here — that summarize the interests of various foundations based on their past grantmaking record. There are a few good guides to the preparation of grant proposals also referred to. And there is an abundance — almost an overabundance — of material available from the federal government describing specific grant programs. But grant programs are subject to changing trends and modes not unlike those that affect the fashion and automobile trades. Therefore every grant seeker must learn to identify the organization most likely to be interested in his proposal at the time it is written — not yesterday or last year. The purpose of this book is to provide that kind of guide and to suggest a format for approaching and applying to potential funders. Once they have been identified. General sources of information for all grantmaking sectors are described and following that each sector is dealt with in detail. The material is arranged in order of grantmaking government sources by far the most abundant leadoff followed by foundations and business and industry in that order. The application process is described in a separate section.