Because most private foundations make grants only to nonprofit organizations, individuals seeking grants must follow a different funding path than public charities. You need to be both creative and flexible in your approach to seeking funding.
If you are affiliated with a college or university, contact your department office. Some colleges and universities have an office for sponsored programs, which coordinates grant requests and helps researchers with finding grant opportunities.
Also ask your peers and colleagues about funding sources. Please note that many national organizations may have local chapters that may run their own funding programs. National chapters might not know what their local chapters are offering, so it is up to you to check at each level.
Another approach is to find a nonprofit with a similar interest that will act as your fiscal sponsor. In this arrangement, you might qualify for more funding opportunities. Learn more about fiscal sponsorship with our article, What is fiscal sponsorship? How do I find a fiscal sponsor?
Some grantmakers offer support for individual projects. Candid offers the following resources that can help researchers find grants:
Foundation Directory is our searchable database of grantmakers. Perform an advanced search by Transaction Type: Grants to Individuals, in addition to search terms for Subject Area and Geographic Focus. For more detailed search help, please see our article, Find your next scholarship, fellowship, or grant on Foundation Directory Professional.
Subscribe to search from your own location, or search for free at our Candid partner locations.
If you are unfamiliar with the process of grantseeking, you may want to start with our free course, Introduction to Finding Grants.
See more Knowledge Base articles related to this topic:
RFPs
Philanthropy News Digest
Includes requests for research proposals. Records include funding organization(s), brief description of eligibility and application requirements, deadline, and link to original notice. Searchable by subject or keyword. Subscribe for a free weekly email digest or RSS feed.
The "electronic storefront for federal grants," organized by topic. Selecting a topic provides links to funding pages for the 26 federal grantmaking agencies, some of which support individual research projects. It offers users “full service electronic grant administration” with guidelines and grant applications available online.
Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!)
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). Targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, but also helpful to undergraduates who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis). Includes sample budget and project timeline.
Social Science Research Council
Supports fellowships and grant programs in the social sciences. The Fellowship and Prizes section of the web site provides access to information on current funding opportunities and online applications.
Where to Search for Funding
Science Journal
Sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this page includes links to free and fee-based grant funding resources.
Grants & Funding: NIH Central Resource
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The Office of Extramural Research offers grants in the form of fellowships and support for research projects in the field of biomedicine.
NEH Grants
National Endowment for the Humanities
One of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars.
Active Funding Opportunities--Recently Announced
National Science Foundation
Promotes and advances scientific progress in the United States by competitively awarding grants and cooperative agreements for research and education in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.
Awards & Grants
American Historical Association
Describes more than 450 organizations that grant fellowships, awards, and prizes to historians. Some of this information is available online only to members of AHA.
Scholar Rescue Fund
Institute of International Education
Provides fellowships for established scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. One-year fellowships support temporary academic positions at universities, colleges and other higher learning institutions in safe locations anywhere in the world, enabling them to pursue their academic work. If safe return is not possible, the scholar may use the fellowship period to identify a longer-term opportunity.