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Finding the right funding opportunities for your nonprofit can be challenging. It's important to do your own research, assessing potential funders by looking at what kinds of organizations they give to, where those organizations are located, the sizes of grants made, and other characteristics. Cause IQ mines grant information from Schedule I of the Form 990 and Part XV of the Form 990-PF, and equips you with tools to identify foundations that might be a good fit for your organization.

There are three main ways to find funding opportunities with Cause IQ:

1. Create a foundation search for specific types of foundations in specific locations, with certain grant and grant recipient characteristics.
2. Use the foundation search to discover which foundations fund your peers (nonprofits like yours).
3. Access the Grantmaking tab on a foundation's organization profile page to conduct in-depth research on their grantmaking activity.

Here is a detailed video that introduces some relevant tools and features for Cause IQ's nonprofit customers:

Let’s begin by looking at how to search for specific types of foundations with Cause IQ's foundation search. Your first step is to open the foundation search by clicking the "New foundation search" button from your dashboard (you can also click the magnifying glass icon in the navigation bar on any Cause IQ webpage and select "New foundation search").

Here's what this button looks like on the dashboard:

Add foundation filters to your search

Next, add some foundation filters to your search in order to narrow down on funders with certain characteristics. The Foundation type filter is displayed at the top of the foundation search, and you can click the "See all filters" button to access additional filters.

Here's where you'll find the Foundation type filter and the "See all filters" button:

Open the Advanced search to add more foundation filters

Click the "See all filters" button to launch the Advanced search and add more foundation-specific filters. The Advanced search enables you to see all available values for qualitative filters and corresponding match counts, and allows you to create advanced search queries (e.g., exclude matches). Search for filters by name or value using the search box in the upper-left of the Advanced search, or scroll through the full list of filters to select the one(s) you want.

Foundation filters available within the Advanced search include:

• Grant geographic focus
• Total num. grants made
• Foundation assets
• Foundation revenues
• Foundation type
• Foundation characteristics
• Foundation issues
• Foundation location
• Foundation EIN
• Foundation name
• Foundation saved lists (your manually created lists of foundations)

The screenshot below shows what the Advanced search looks like and highlights both methods for finding the filters you want:

Let's take a look at a search example that uses a few different foundation filters. In this scenario, we'll search for private foundations in the Denver, CO metro area that made at least 10 grants in the most recently-filed tax year. We'll create this search using the following three foundation filters:

• Foundation types - Private foundations (added from the top of the foundation search)
• Foundation location - Metro: Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO (added from the Advanced search)
• Total num. grants made - ≥ 10 (added from the Advanced search)

Here's a screenshot showing this foundation search with the three filters added:

Add grant and/or grant recipient filters to further refine your search

In addition to foundation filters, you can also add grant and grant recipient filters to identify funders that made certain kinds of grants to certain types of nonprofits. Add Grant and Grant recipient filters from the displayed filters at the top of the foundation search or click the "See all filters" button to access additional filters.

The grant and grant recipient filters displayed at the top of the foundation search include:

• Grant recipient type
• Grant recipient location
• Grant amounts

To access additional filters and setup advanced queries, click the "See all filters" button to open the Advanced search. Search for a filter by name (e.g., "Grant recipient issues") or value (e.g., "hunger"), or scroll through the list of all available filters and select the one you want. Here's the list of grant and grant recipient filters found within the Advanced search:

• Grant purpose
• Most recent grants only
• Fiscal year when grants made
• Grant amounts
• Grant recipient description
• Grant recipient NTEE code, primary
• Grant recipient revenues
• Num. grant recipient employees
• Grant recipient type
• Grant recipient characteristics
• Grant recipient issues
• Grant recipient location
• Grant recipient EIN
• Grant recipient name
• Grant recipient saved lists (your manually created lists of grant recipients)

After selecting the filter you want on the left side of the Advanced search, input or modify the filter value in the center section. For qualitative filters, the center section displays corresponding filter values and match counts. This is also where you'll find the option to exclude certain kinds of foundations from your search results.

Continuing with the example search introduced above, let's search "hunger" in the Advanced search and select the Grant recipient issues filter from the displayed list of filter options. Here's a screenshot showing this search, the selected filter in the center section (including the number of matching organizations), the include/exclude option, and the "Add filter" button:

Next, we'll add a grant filter so you can see all three filter types (foundation, grant, grant recipient) working together on the same search. Opening the Advanced search again, select the Most recent grants only filter from the list on the left and click the "Yes" value in the center section. Doing so allows us to isolate those foundations that supported hunger-focused nonprofits in their most recently-filed tax year.

Here's a quick video that shows the process of creating this search using foundation, grant, and grant recipient filters:

View the "Explain results" popup to understand how your chosen filters interact with each other

After adding filters to your search, an "Explain results" link appears next to your filters. Click the link to open a popup that explains how your added filters interact to produce your current search results. The popup includes:

• Venn diagram - A Venn diagram provides a visual representation of the filters applied to your search. This diagram helps you see the overlap and interaction between different filter types, and indicates where your results fall.
• Your current search - A "Your current search" section explains which filters are applied to your current search, which helps you understand the specific criteria that shape your search results.
• Next Steps - A "Next steps" section suggests a few commonly-used filters you might want to add to your search to further narrow down your results.

Here's a look at the Explain results popup:

View search results in the Foundations and Grants tabs

With your search created, the Foundations tab displays all of the foundations that match your filtering criteria. By default, results are sorted by popularity. Click the "Sort" button in the upper-right for additional sorting options: Number of grantees (most to least), Name, and Assets.

A "My saved lists" link appears on each foundation listing and allows you create and add organizations to lists. For example, create a "Foundation prospects" list to keep track of funders you plan to reach out to.

The Grants tab contains a list of grants made by the funders in the Foundations tab , which also match your search criteria. Here you'll find the following columns of grant information:

• Amount
• Grantmaker
• Recipient
• Fiscal year
• Description

With the exception of Description, you can sort information in the Grants tab by clicking on column header names.

Exclude specific foundations from your search results

When scrolling through search results in the Foundations tab, you might come across a specific foundation that already supports your nonprofit or that you know isn't a good fit, and you want to exclude them from your search results. Simply click the "Exclude foundation" button on the foundation's listing to remove an organization from your results.

Here's what the "Exclude foundation" button looks like:

Download foundation lists into Excel spreadsheets (Pro Subscribers only)

Customers with a Pro Subscription can download lists of foundations, grants, and foundation personnel from the foundation search Download tab. After creating your search, click the "Download" tab and go through the steps to complete your report:

Step 1: What to download - Start by choosing the type of report you want to download. Select the "Foundations" option for a report containing data on up to 3,000 foundations.

Step 2: Additional details - View the preselected columns of information your report will contain. Foundations downloads include the following columns:

• EIN
• Foundation name
• City
• State
• Total revenue
• Total assets
• Grant geographic focus
• Number of grants made

Note that that if you select "Key staff or board members at foundations" in step one, step two will require you to choose the kinds of personnel you want included in your report. Personnel downloads are available when viewing 1,000 or fewer foundations. Here are the columns of information included in a personnel download:

• Foundation EIN
• Foundation name
• First name
• Last name
• Title
• Email (if available)
• Phone (if available)
• Date of last update

Step 3: Confirm - Here the system will tell you how many foundation or grant records your report will contain, or how many foundations your personnel are being pulled from. Alternatively, a message will display if your search results exceed the download limit for the type of report you're doing. In this case, you'll need to add additional filters to narrow down your search results.

Click the "Start download" button to download your report to Excel.

Here's a screenshot that shows the location of the Download tab and the three corresponding steps:

Another way to find funding opportunities in Cause IQ is to see which foundations make grants to your peers (nonprofits like yours). This is done by creating a peer search in Cause IQ's foundation search tool. You can also conduct in-depth research on a specific organization's funding sources to discover potential funding partners for your own nonprofit. You can accomplish this in an organization's profile page.

Create a peer search

The first step is to create a new foundation search using grant recipient filters. Open the foundation search tool by clicking the search icon (magnifying glass) in the top navigation bar on any Cause IQ webpage, and select "New foundation search".

Add grant recipient filters from the top the foundation search (Grant recipient type and Grant recipient location are located here), or click the "See all filters" button to open the Advanced search and access additional filters, which include:

• Grant recipient description
• Grant recipient NTEE code, primary
• Grant recipient revenues
• Num. grant recipient employees
• Grant recipient types
• Grant recipient characteristics
• Grant recipient issues
• Grant recipient location
• Grant recipient EIN
• Grant recipient name
• Grant recipient saved lists (your manually created lists of grant recipients)

To create a peer search, your grant recipient filter values should mirror the characteristics of your organization. For example, if your organization is a performing arts center in Austin, TX with $1M in annual revenue, you could select the following filter values:

• Grant recipient location - Austin (choose either City or Metro Area)
• Grant recipient types - Performing arts centers
• Grant recipient revenues - $500,000 to $1.5 million (choose a revenue range that includes organizations slightly smaller and larger than your own)

Here's a screenshot showing the location of the Grant recipient type and Grant recipient location filters at the top of the foundation search:

After adding your Grant recipient type and Grant recipient location filters, click the "See all filters" button to open the Advanced search and add a Grant recipient revenues filter with a range of $500,000 to $1.5 million. You can search for the filter by name in the upper-left search box, or find and select it from the full list of filters.

Now you're ready to view the results of your peer search. The Foundations tab displays the list of foundations that support small performing arts centers in Austin, and the Grants tab shows the list of grants made and grantees supported.

Here's what this peer search looks like with three grant recipient filters added and the list of funders displayed in the Foundations tab:

Conduct in-depth research on an organization's funding sources

In addition to looking at which foundations support a group of your peers, you can also conduct in-depth research into the funding sources of a specific nonprofit. The funding tab on an organization's profile page provides a detailed look at its funding sources, including grants from other nonprofits as well as federal grant and contract income. This data provides valuable insights into where a peer organization gets its money from.

To access the funding tab, first you'll need to open up the Cause IQ profile page for the organization. There are a couple of ways to do this:

• Type the organization's name, EIN, or website URL into the smart search box found on your dashboard.
• Click a linked organization profile page within the Recipient column of the foundation search Grants tab.

With the desired profile page open, scroll down to where to you see several tabs along the lefthand side of the page and click the "Funding" tab.

This screenshot shows where to locate the funding tab at the bottom of an organization's profile page:

Here you can view the organization's funding sources, including foundation grants and contributions, fundraising event income, program service revenues, other investments, and federal grant and contract funding. A "Grants from foundations and other nonprofits" section displays the total number of foundation grants Cause IQ identifies the organization receiving (from the most recent-grants from each grantmaker's Form 990 or Form 990-PF), the total value of the identified grants, and a list of grants received.

The list of grants shows you the:

• Grantmaker
• Grantmaker tax period
• Description
• Amount

By default, Cause IQ displays the grants from largest to smallest (based on amount), and you can sort the grants accordingly by column header. You can also search for keywords in grant descriptions or specific grantmaker organizations by using the "Search grants..." search field.

Here's what the "Grants from foundations and other nonprofits" section looks like:

Note that individual grantmaker names are linked, which you can click on to open the organization profile page for that funder and do further research into their grantmaking.

Federal funding from grants and contracts

Scrolling further down the Funding tab, organizations that receive federal grants and/or contracts have a Federal funding details section displayed. Here you'll find information about what federal grants and contracts an organization has received, including sub-awards where the organization isn't the primary grantee or contractor. This includes a list of the largest funding agencies for currently-active awards, line graphs showing how the organization's federal grant and contract income has changed over the last five years, and a detailed list of awards the organization has received since January 1, 2020 at the bottom of the section.

Here's what the Federal funding details section looks like on an organization's profile page:

The list of federal grant and contract awards at the bottom of this section includes a search box where you can look for awards with specific keywords in their description. The list includes the following columns of information:

• Description
• Agency
• Award type
• Start date
• End date
• Amount

The Description column includes clickable links for individual awards that open popup boxes displaying award amount, award type, key dates, place of performance, funding agency information, and CFDA program details. There is also a button in the bottom-left that you can click to be taken to each award's listing on the USAspending.gov website.

Here's what the Federal funding award details popup box looks like:

Perhaps you’ve identified a potential funder for your nonprofit, but you want to dig deeper to understand more about their past grantmaking activity. The Grantmaking tab on an organization's Cause IQ profile page provides a summary of the foundation's grantmaking activity, trends of the types of nonprofits the foundation gives to, their grant recipients, and a list of all the grants Cause IQ has identified the foundation making. You can even search the identified grants to quickly view grants meeting certain criteria.

Access the Grantmaking tab, grantmaking summary, and characteristics of grant recipients

From an organization's profile page, scroll down to where you see several tabs along the lefthand side and click "Grantmaking". The top of this section displays a grantmaking summary for the most recent year. You'll find amounts for the foundation's:

• Number of grants
• Average grant size
• Geographic focus
• Smallest grant size
• Median grant size
• Largest grant size

You'll also see a "Characteristics of grant recipients, most recent year" section, that helps you understand the trends among grant recipients (nonprofit types, issues, and locations, among others) for that foundation. Here's a look at the "Grantmaking activity overview, most recent" and "Characteristics of grant recipients, most recent year" sections:

Listing of grants made

The bottom section of a funder's grantmaking page is where you can see a list of grants made.  For the grants listed, you'll see the grantee's name, EIN, grant description, grant amount, and a "Details" link. You can also filter the grants displayed in the list by certain grant characteristics.

You can filter the grant list by:

• Grantee type
• Grantee issue
• Grantee characteristics
• Grantee state
• Grantee metro
• Grantee NTEE code
• Organization name
• Grant description

For example, if you work for a human services organization in New York City, you can add a Grantee type filter with a "Human service organization" value, and a Grantee metro filter with a "New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY" value, to see a list of the human service organizations in the New York City metro area that the foundation supports along with grant amounts. This helps you understand a foundation's grantmaking activity towards nonprofits similar to your own.

Here's a look at this "Listing of grants made" section with filter options:

View specific grant details

In the grantee list at the bottom of the "Grantmaking" section of an organization's profile, you'll see a blue "Details" link on the right side. You can click this link to view specific details on the grantmaker, grant recipient, and their grant history. A popup will display the most recent grant and any past grants Cause IQ has identified the grantmaker making to the grantee. Cause IQ provides the "Tax period", "Description", and "Amount" for the identified grants so you can get an understanding of how long the foundation has provided funding to the grantee.

Here's an example of what you'll see by clicking the "Details" link within the grant details section:

Download grantmkaing information from Cause IQ profiles into Excel spreadsheets

Every organization in Cause IQ includes a downloadable detailed Excel report that includes grantmaking information (if an organization makes grants), financials, personnel details, and more. To access this report, click the "Download" button at the top-right of an organization's profile page and select "Detailed Excel report" from the dropdown list.

Here's a look at where to access the detailed Excel report on an organization profile page:

Download grant lists for a specific foundation or multiple foundations at once (Pro subscribers only)

Pro Subscribers can download detailed grant lists to Excel using the foundation search tool. From a foundation's profile page, click the "Open in foundation search" button found within the Grantmaking tab. The foundation search will open with the organization you're looking at automatically added as a Foundation EIN filter.

The screenshot below shows the "Open in foundation search" button located above the Listing of grants made section in a foundation's Grantmaking tab:

To download grant lists for multiple foundations at once, add each foundation's EIN (separated commas or spaces) to a foundation search Foundation EIN filter.

Next, click the "Download" tab and select the "Listing of grants made" option in Step 1. In Step 2, view the list of preselected columns your report will contain. Click the "Start download" button in Step 3 to initiate the download. Note that you can download up to 3,000 grant listings in each report.

Here's a look at a foundation search Download tab with the "Listing of grants made" option selected in Step 1:

If you would like to connect with a Cause IQ team member to schedule a one-on-one web training, feel free to reach out to us from the orange chat widget at the bottom-right of the screen.

Also, here are a few other articles that can help you get the most out of Cause IQ:

• Getting started with Cause IQ
• Cause IQ's filter and field glossary
• Cause IQ dashboard overview