17 Places U.S. Nonprofits Should Check for Grants
There is no master list containing every grant available to every nonprofit in the United States. Private foundations, federal agencies, corporations, community foundations, local governments, United Ways, and regional funders all publish opportunities differently.
That is why good grant research usually involves a few different places. Some of these are obvious. Several are not.
1. Grant Gopher
Website:
https://grantgopher.com/
Grant Gopher is designed specifically for nonprofits, schools, and municipalities.
You can search funding opportunities by:
State
County
Focus area
Keyword
It is particularly useful for finding smaller and regional opportunities that may not surface easily in a broad web search.
Grant search:
https://grantgopher.com/Grants-for-Nonprofits
Best for:
Local and state grants, smaller nonprofits, and organizations that want a simple opportunity search. Grant Gopher offers both free and paid access, so some features require a subscription.
2. Philanthropy News Digest RFPs
Website:
https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/rfps
This is one I would absolutely bookmark.
Philanthropy News Digest, which is now part of Candid, maintains a regularly updated Requests for Proposals section specifically for nonprofit funding opportunities. Unlike a huge foundation database where you research potential funders one by one, the RFP section focuses on opportunities that are actively being announced.
You can browse funding by subject area and see current proposal opportunities from foundations and other philanthropic organizations.
Best for:
Open foundation RFPs and discovering opportunities you may not have been actively researching.
3. Grantmakers.io
Website:
https://www.grantmakers.io/
Grantmakers.io is one of the more useful free tools that smaller nonprofits often do not know about. It converts public IRS Form 990-PF data into a searchable foundation database.
You can research:
U.S. private foundations
Who they previously funded
How much they gave
Grant purposes
Trustees
Giving patterns
Foundation search:
https://www.grantmakers.io/search/profiles/
Past grant search:
https://www.grantmakers.io/search/grantees/
The important distinction is that this is primarily funder research, not a list of currently open applications.
That can actually be more valuable. If you discover that a foundation has funded six organizations similar to yours in your state over the past three years, that is a useful prospect even if the foundation does not have a large “APPLY NOW” button.
Best for:
Free foundation prospecting and researching actual past giving.
4. Candid Search
Website:
https://candid.org/
Candid remains one of the biggest sources of U.S. nonprofit and philanthropy data.
Use it to research:
Foundations
Past grants
Nonprofit recipients
Geographic giving
Funding interests
Organization financials
Candid combines the data historically associated with GuideStar and Foundation Directory. GuideStar was largely focused on nonprofit profiles and financial information, while Foundation Directory was built for funder and grant research. For grant prospecting today, use Candid's current search tools, rather than treating GuideStar as a separate grant database.
Best for:
Serious foundation research and prospect development.
5. Grants.gov
Website:
https://www.grants.gov/
This is the main federal grant-opportunity portal. Use it when your nonprofit is ready for federal funding and has the capacity to meet the application and reporting requirements.
You can search open opportunities by:
Agency
Eligibility
Funding instrument
Category
Keyword
The federal government is also developing its newer search interface at:
https://simpler.grants.gov/search
Best for:
Currently open federal grant opportunities.
6. SAM.gov Assistance Listings
Website:
https://sam.gov/assistance-listings
This one is underrated. Grants.gov tells you what federal opportunities are currently open. SAM.gov Assistance Listings tells you what federal assistance programs exist.
That includes programs offering:
Grants
Loans
Scholarships
Insurance
Other federal assistance
You can research programs even when there is no current open funding notice. That makes it useful for planning ahead.
If you identify a federal program that historically supports the exact work your organization does, you can start watching for the next funding cycle instead of discovering it ten days before the deadline.
Best for:
Long-term federal grant research and identifying programs to monitor.
7. Your Public Library
Yes, the library.
This may be one of the most overlooked grant resources available to small nonprofits.
Many public libraries and nonprofit resource centers provide free on-site access to subscription databases that would otherwise cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Candid operates a network of partner locations where visitors can access its fundraising research tools.
Find participating locations here:
https://candid.org/resources/candid-near-you/
Before purchasing an expensive grant database subscription, check whether your:
City library
County library
University library
Community foundation
Nonprofit resource center
already provides access.
Best for:
Small nonprofits that need professional funder research tools without paying for another subscription.
8. Community Foundation Locator
Website:
https://cof.org/page/community-foundation-locator
The Council on Foundations maintains a locator for community foundations throughout the United States. Community foundations generally focus their grantmaking on a defined geographic area.
That could be:
A city
County
Metropolitan region
Several counties
An entire state
Once you find the community foundation serving your region, go to its own website and look for:
Community grants
Competitive grants
Capacity-building grants
Youth grants
Arts funding
Operating support
Donor-advised fund opportunities
Best for:
Organizations doing work in a specific community.
9. Your Local United Way
Find yours:
https://www.unitedway.org/find-your-united-way
This one is easy to overlook because people often think of United Way primarily as a fundraising organization. But, many local United Ways also make grants or allocate funding to nonprofit organizations addressing local priorities.
United Way Worldwide specifically directs organizations seeking local program funding to their local United Way, because most funding decisions happen locally.
Your local chapter may fund areas such as:
Housing
Food insecurity
Education
Financial stability
Family support
Health
Youth services
Funding models vary significantly by location, so there is no single national United Way grant application.
Best for:
Local human-service and community nonprofits.
10. State Nonprofit Associations
This is another place people skip. Many states have their own nonprofit association or council.
These organizations may maintain:
Grant alerts
Funding newsletters
Foundation directories
Local RFP announcements
Government funding updates
Training from local grantmakers
The National Council of Nonprofits maintains a network of state nonprofit associations.
Start here:
https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/
Then locate your state network. A local nonprofit association often knows about funding opportunities that never become prominent nationally.
Best for:
State-specific funding intelligence and local nonprofit networks.
11. State Government Grant Portals
Do not assume that Grants.gov contains state grants. It does not. Each state manages funding differently. Some operate centralized grant portals. Others publish opportunities through individual agencies.
Search:
[your state] grants nonprofit site:.gov
Then check the state departments connected to your work, such as:
Housing
Education
Health
Environment
Labor
Arts
Humanities
Agriculture
Community development
Human services
State agencies frequently distribute both state funding and federal pass-through funding.
Best for:
State and regional programs.
12. County and City Government Websites
Go even more local. Cities and counties regularly issue nonprofit grants for programs such as:
Homelessness
Violence prevention
Community development
Youth programs
Public health
Arts
Senior services
Food access
Neighborhood improvement
These opportunities can be easy to miss because they may only appear on:
Procurement pages
Community-development pages
City council notices
Human-services departments
County grant portals
Try searching:
site:.gov nonprofit grant "[your county]"
and:
site:.gov funding opportunities nonprofit "[your city]"
Best for:
Community organizations serving a very specific geographic area.
13. Local and Regional Health Foundations
If your nonprofit touches health in any way, look beyond the big national health funders. Across the United States there are many health-conversion foundations and regional health foundations created from hospital or insurance transactions.
Their funding may cover:
Mental health
Maternal health
Food access
Health equity
Disability
Community wellness
Substance-use prevention
Rural health
Search:
health foundation grants [your state]
or:
health conversion foundation [your state]
These organizations can be substantial local funders but may be almost invisible outside their region.
Best for:
Health, social-service, food-access, disability, and community-health organizations.
14. Local Banks and Credit Union Foundations
Do not immediately jump to the largest corporate foundations in America. Look at financial institutions operating where your nonprofit works.
Banks and credit unions frequently maintain:
Charitable foundations
Community reinvestment programs
Local sponsorship programs
Community grants
Search:
[bank name] foundation grants
and:
[credit union name] community giving
This is particularly useful for nonprofits working in:
Financial literacy
Housing
Workforce development
Small-business development
Community revitalization
Education
Regional banks can sometimes be a much more realistic prospect than a national corporate foundation receiving thousands of applications.
Best for:
Place-based community programs.
15. Corporate Giving Pages
Instead of waiting for a database to show you every corporate opportunity, research the major employers in your region.
Look at:
Hospitals
Utilities
Banks
Grocery chains
Manufacturers
Insurance companies
Technology firms
Large local employers
Then search:
[company] foundation
[company] community grants
[company] charitable giving
Some companies run formal grant cycles.
Others provide sponsorships, employee-directed grants, matching gifts, donated products, or invitation-only foundation funding.
Best for:
Local and regional nonprofit support.
16. fundsforNGOs
Website:
https://www.fundsforngos.org/
This resource is much more widely known internationally than it is among U.S. nonprofits. fundsforNGOs collects grant opportunities, calls for proposals, donor information, and funding resources from around the world.
It also maintains a United States-focused feed:
https://www2.fundsforngos.org/tag/united-states/
Not every listing will apply to a traditional U.S. 501(c)(3), so eligibility needs to be checked carefully. But, it can surface foundation and international-funder opportunities that may not appear in the grant databases a U.S. organization normally checks.
Best for:
International organizations, globally focused U.S. nonprofits, human rights, development, climate, humanitarian, and cross-border work.
17. Issue-Specific Funders and Funder Networks
Sometimes the best grant database is not a grant database at all. Search for organizations that bring together funders in your field.
There are philanthropic networks focused on areas such as:
Education
Environment
Journalism
Housing
Arts
Disability
Food systems
Democracy
Health
Children and families
Rural communities
Those networks can help you identify who actually funds your type of work.
From there, research each member or funder individually.
Try searches such as:
philanthropy network education funders
environmental grantmakers association
health funders network
arts funders United States
This approach often uncovers foundations you would never find by typing “nonprofit grants” into Google.
Three Search Methods More Nonprofits Should Use
The websites above are useful, but how you search matters just as much.
Search Method 1: Follow Organizations Similar to Yours
Find five nonprofits doing work similar to yours.
Then research:
Who funds them?
Use:
Candid
Their annual reports
Their sponsor pages
Their Forms 990
Foundation grant histories
You are looking for patterns. If the same foundation repeatedly funds organizations doing similar work in your geography, investigate it.
Search Method 2: Search the Funder, Not Just the Grant
Many private foundations do not publish large public RFPs but that does not mean they do not make grants.
Use foundation data to research:
What they funded
Where they funded
Average award sizes
Whether they repeatedly fund the same organizations
Whether applications are accepted
Whether relationships or invitations appear to drive giving
A foundation with no public “grant opportunity” page may still distribute millions of dollars each year.
Search Method 3: Search Locally Before Nationally
Before chasing the largest foundations in the country, check:
Your community foundation
Local United Way
County
City
State agencies
Regional banks
Local hospital or health foundations
Major employers
Family foundations giving within your county or state
Local organizations may have smaller grant pools. They may also have dramatically fewer realistic applicants.
The Bookmark List
If I were setting up grant research for a small U.S. nonprofit, I would bookmark:
Your state grant portal
Your city and county government
Regional health foundations
Regional banks and credit unions
Local corporate foundations
Funder networks related to your mission
Then I would build the actual prospect list from there.
The goal is not to collect 400 grant links. The goal is to find the funders that have a reasonable chance of funding your organization, in your location, for the work you actually do.
Disclosure: This article is not sponsored. RAEFORM was not paid to include any of the resources listed here. Links are provided for informational purposes, and we recommend checking each platform’s current pricing, eligibility, and terms directly.
More Resources for Nonprofits
RAEFORM publishes practical resources for nonprofit organizations covering grant research, grant readiness, systems, documentation, workflows, and the operational work that keeps funding opportunities moving.
Finding the grant is one part.
Knowing where it is, when it is due, what it requires, and who owns the next step is usually the part that determines whether anyone actually applies.