How to Search Grants by One Foundation

You hold one funder name and you need facts before you write. To search grants by one foundation is to pull that single record, read its past awards, and judge fit for your program.

One grant professional on Reddit said "it's genuinely easier for me to look through pdf 990s manually than use Candid" (Reddit thread 1wcw9yl, read September 2026). The free filing route answers one funder at a time, and it costs nothing.

Quick Answer: How Do You Search Grants by One Foundation?

Find the foundation by legal name in IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search or ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, both free, and open its latest Form 990-PF; Grantmakers.io gives a free 990-PF grants search too. Read the grant list (Part XIV on 2021 and later returns, Part XV on 2019 and 2020) for recipient, purpose and amount, then the application block.

How to Find Foundation Grants for Nonprofits

When you already hold a prospect's name, finding foundation grants for your nonprofit starts with that foundation's own annual return. A private foundation is a section 501(c)(3) organization that falls outside the public charity categories described in section 509(a) (IRS, Private foundations, June 28, 2026). All private foundations, including nonexempt trusts treated as private foundations, must annually file Form 990-PF, Return of Private Foundation (IRS, Private foundations, June 28, 2026).

Start with the legal name. The IRS search tool lists organizations under the legal name or a doing-business-as name on file, and common names are not on file (IRS, Search for tax exempt organizations TEOS FAQ, read September 2026). Skip filler words in the search box. The IRS advises avoiding common words such as "the" or foundation when you search by name (IRS, Search for tax exempt organizations TEOS FAQ, read September 2026).

Open the most recent filing first, then open two prior years. One year shows a snapshot. Three years show a pattern in size, repeats, and focus. Grantmakers.io warns that "'New' grants that appear in Grantee Search results were likely actually funded 9-18+ months before first appearing in results" (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026).

Read the application block before you draft. Part XIV line 2 of the return lists the name, address, and telephone number or email address for applications, the form for submission, deadlines, and limits by geography, field, kind of institution, or other factors (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). Check the opt-out box first. It states the foundation only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Build the name list first with our prospecting guide for nonprofits, then vet one name at a time against its own filing.

Foundation Center Grant Search Without a Paid Account

You do not need a paid account with Candid, formed in 2019 when GuideStar and Foundation Center merged (Candid, About us, February 18, 2025), to research a single funder. You need its filing, not a full prospecting database.

Three free routes reach private foundation filings. IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is free and lets you check eligibility for tax-deductible contributions as well as search Form 990 series returns, Form 990-N, the Automatic Revocation of Exemption List and determination letters (IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search, June 28, 2026). ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer lets you browse millions of annual returns filed by tax-exempt organizations and search for an organization or search the full text of filings (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, August 20, 2026). Grantmakers.io describes itself as a way to research any US foundation in seconds, built from public 990s and forever free (Grantmakers.io, read September 2026).

Each route has a gap. Nonprofit Explorer coverage includes private foundations because it includes taxable trusts and private foundations required to file Form 990-PF (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, August 20, 2026). Its structured summary data has a hard cutoff because the summary covers filings processed during calendar years 2012 through 2019, which generally means fiscal years 2011 through 2018 (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, August 20, 2026). Use the Full Filing view for recent years. Grantmakers.io focuses exclusively on Form 990-PF, the tax filing used by private foundations (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026). Community foundations file Form 990 instead, so they will not appear on Grantmakers.io (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026).

Candid still helps for context. Candid says it has data on more than 1.9 million organizations and that 95% of users access it for free (Candid, About our data, February 3, 2025). Reading the Foundation Directory free at a public library, university library or nonprofit resource center was a workaround named in four separate Reddit threads (Reddit threads 1p511oo, 1r8eviy, 1lgaq91 and 1vb5ctu, read September 2026), though one commenter reported that "a lot of places have been dropping Candid over the past year or two" (Reddit thread 1p511oo, read September 2026).

Sources: IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, June 28, 2026; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, August 20, 2026; Grantmakers.io, read September 2026; Candid, About our data, February 3, 2025.

Our overview of free ways into foundation data compares those tools against each other. Use it to pick a route; use this page once you are inside one funder's record.

Foundation Center for Grants: What Free Access Covers

The phrase "Foundation Center for grants" now points to Candid's resources, but free access already covers the core facts for one funder. IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search answers whether the foundation is exempt, whether it filed, and where the return sits (IRS, Search for tax exempt organizations TEOS FAQ, read September 2026).

Paid access buys breadth you do not need for this question, and even Candid's discounted nonprofit plans cap grant downloads: "Up to 250 grants per month" on the monthly plan and "Up to 1,000 downloads/month for annual plan" (Candid, Verify nonprofits, read September 2026). One funder needs one profile and one grant list, and the filing carries both. Price the subscription when your prospect list runs to hundreds of names, not when it runs to one.

Export is what grantseekers say they want. A grant professional on Reddit said: "I don't need their AI to write an LOI for me, I need to be able to download an excel of past relevant grants" (Reddit thread 1vb5ctu, read September 2026). For a single funder you can copy the rows by hand into your tracker.

Geography still trips teams. In three Reddit threads, the most-cited prospecting frustration was "the biggest issue with finding new opportunities is geographic alignment" (Reddit threads 1r8eviy, 1vb5ctu and 1sewng0, read September 2026). The filing helps here. Part VI-A line 8a asks the foundation to "Enter the states to which the foundation reports or with which it is registered," a geography signal beyond the mailing address, and line 13 asks for its "Website address" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Once a funder checks out, our state lists of private foundations show how to group the rest by place.

Foundation Center Grants to Individuals: Why Scope Matters

Grants to individuals sit in the same grant list as grants to organizations, and the form marks them: for an individual recipient, the foundation must "show any relationship to any foundation manager or substantial contributor" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). Each row of the Part XIV grant list carries five fields: recipient name and address, that relationship note, foundation status of recipient, purpose of grant or contribution, and amount (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Do not read an individual name in a grant list as an open award you can apply for now. It is a past payment with a stated purpose. If your program seeks support for a nonprofit, individual rows are context only.

The same scope care applies to public charities. If your one funder is a community foundation, switch to Schedule I of its Form 990, which is used by an organization that files Form 990 to report grants and other assistance made during the tax year to domestic organizations, governments, and individuals. That schedule has its own floor: an organization enters information only for each domestic organization or government that received more than $5,000 aggregate of grants or assistance during the tax year (IRS, Instructions for Schedule I (Form 990), Rev. December 2024).

Small foundations can have no grant list at all. Part XIV is completed only if the foundation "had $5,000 or more in assets at any time during the year" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

How to Read One Foundation Grant List

Reading one foundation's grant list starts with the part label for the tax year you hold. The grant list is Part XV on the 2019 and 2020 forms but Part XIV on the 2021 through 2025 forms, and undistributed income moved from Part XIII to Part XII at the same time (IRS, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2025 Forms 990-PF compared). Name the tax year every time you cite a part.

Open the paid and approved block first in the same part. Part XIV line 3 is split into "a Paid during the year" and "b Approved for future payment," so forward commitments appear separately from cash grants (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). Paid rows show money out the door. Approved rows show promises that may land next cycle.

Read each paid row across all five fields. Recipient names in a 990-PF grant list are whatever the funder typed because there is no IRS requirement to use the actual legal name for grantees (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026). Search variants when you tally repeat support. Errors in a filing are effectively permanent because the only way a foundation can adjust filing content is to file a full amendment to the return (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026).

Next read timing in one pass. The payout figure comes from the part headed "Part IX Minimum Investment Return," where line 6 takes 5% of line 5 after line 4 deducts 1.5% as cash deemed held for charitable activities (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). The 5% is not a grants-only test: it is met by qualifying distributions, which Part XI computes as "Amounts paid (including administrative expenses) to accomplish charitable, etc., purposes" plus program-related investments and approved set-asides (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF, Part XI). Part XII line 6f gives the timing signal: "Undistributed income for 2025. Subtract lines 4d and 5 from line 1. This amount must be distributed in 2026" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Sources: IRS 2025 Form 990-PF; IRS Instructions for Form 990-PF, 2025.

Part VII of the return lists all officers, directors, trustees, and foundation managers and their compensation, which is where decision makers are named (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). A grant professional on Reddit described the frustration of "having a long list of prospects that you can't actually get in touch with because they don't want you to contact them" (Reddit thread 1pzk4ub, read September 2026). If the application block says no unsolicited requests, keep the record for referral routes only.

Once fit is confirmed, our note on federal and foundation proposal differences explains why a short foundation case is written differently from a federal narrative.

Turning One Filing Into a Fit Check

A fit check turns one funder's grant rows into a yes or no on alignment. Take the paid rows from the latest return and code each one by place, field, recipient type, and award size. If your request sits far above the largest past payment, your ask is a stretch.

Build a simple sheet with six columns: recipient, city and state, purpose in five words, amount, year, and your fit note. Fill purpose from the filing text. If purposes cluster around food access and youth mentoring and your program is historic preservation, the record has answered you.

Check payout context last. The payout base excludes charitable-use property because Part IX line 1 measures only the "Fair market value of assets not used (or held for use) directly in carrying out charitable, etc., purposes" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). Do not estimate payout from total assets alone.

GrantCue's foundation profiles cover more than 10,000 private foundations, built from IRS 990-PF public filings and keyed by name and EIN, and its AI scores how closely a listed opportunity fits your work (grantcue.com, September 2026). Keep the funder's one-foundation profile page open beside your fit sheet, and let the filing settle the size question.

Sources: IRS 2025 Form 990-PF; Grantmakers.io, read September 2026.

FAQ

How Do I Find Foundation Grants for My Nonprofit?

Work in two stages. First build a list of prospects whose past grants match your field and area; then vet each one through its own Form 990-PF, which all private foundations must file annually (IRS, Private foundations, June 28, 2026). Read the grant list for recipients, purposes and amounts, and the application block for process and limits, before you write (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Can I Search One Foundation's Grants for Free?

Yes. A private foundation's Form 990-PF is free to read in IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, and Grantmakers.io runs a free 990-PF grants search (IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search, June 28, 2026; Grantmakers.io, read September 2026). The return lists the foundation's grants for the year, in Part XIV on 2021 through 2025 returns (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

What Is Foundation Center Grant Search?

Foundation Center grant search refers to the grant database of Foundation Center, which merged with GuideStar in 2019 to form Candid (Candid, About us, February 18, 2025). Candid says 95% of its users access its data for free (Candid, About our data, February 3, 2025), while its discounted nonprofit plans cap grant downloads at up to 250 a month monthly and up to 1,000 a month annually (Candid, Verify nonprofits, read September 2026).

What Are Foundation Center Grants to Individuals?

They are foundation awards paid to people, not organizations. To see whether one foundation makes them, read its Part XIV grant rows: for an individual recipient, the form asks the foundation to "show any relationship to any foundation manager or substantial contributor" (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF), so those rows are marked. Then check the line 2 restrictions for eligibility limits. A past award to a person is a record, not an open call.

Where Does a Foundation List Its Application Deadlines?

On its Form 990-PF. Part XIV line 2 lists the person to whom applications should be addressed, the form applications should take, "Any submission deadlines," and any restrictions on awards (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF). If the foundation checked the preselected-only box above those items, it does not accept unsolicited requests and the items are left blank (IRS, 2025 Form 990-PF).

Build Your One Foundation File and Act on It

Build a one-page file for each funder you vet: name, legal name variants, filing years reviewed, award pattern in two sentences, application contact and deadlines, place limits, and your fit verdict with the date. Store the filing PDFs with the file.

Refresh the file when a new return posts. The IRS publishes updates on a roughly monthly cadence, and Grantmakers.io typically has them live within a week (Grantmakers.io, The IRS 990 dataset, read September 2026). If the newest return has not posted yet, ask the foundation, which must make its annual returns available "By office visitation. By providing copies. By Internet posting." (IRS, Instructions for Form 990-PF (2025), section Q). While you wait, browse open calls from other funders for adjacent work.