Finding Money for your Nonprofit organization through Grants

The Northfield Public Library has a collection of print and electronic resources that can be of assistance to grant seekers. In Minnesota, grants are available to individuals, small business and nonprofit organizations.
For the novice, the grant seeking process can be daunting, but there are number of resources which explain the grantsmanship. Following are a couple of key resources:
Grant Writing 101: Everything You Need to Start Raising Funds Today by Victoria J. Johnson provides an overview of the grant seeking process. Part one covers defining various types of grants, writing the grant proposal, researching grantors and coping with the success or failure of your grant submission. Part two includes samples of successful grant proposals, cover letters, and sample budgets.
The Foundation Directory is another key source for grant seekers in the library. Arranged alphabetically by state, each entry includes a wealth of detailed information about the finances, governance and giving interests of the 10,000 largest grant making foundations within the United States.

A fantastic electronic resource available on the laptop computer in the Business and Employment Resources area is the Minnesota Grantmakers Online. This subscription database is maintained by the Minnesota Council of Foundations and is considered THE electronic resource for researching both grants and grant makers in Minnesota. More than 1400 foundations and corporate grant makers are included in the database, as well as over 100,000 possible grants of $2000 or more.
The library has compiled a list of print sources, online grant writing resources and print and electronic newsletters on grant seeking. This list is available in the library and on the website of the Northfield Public Library. Click “Other Resources” off the home page.



For further information about the grant writing resources available in the Northfield Public Library call the Reference desk at 507-645-1802.

Free Information Resources for Grant Seekers at the Northfield Public Library

Minnesota Grantmakers (Basic) Online

Earlier this year, the Northfield Public Library acquired an online subscription to the Minnesota Grantmakers Online database.

Developed and maintained by the Minnesota Council on Foundations, this database has updated continually and has the most current Minnesota grant making information available.

The laptop computer in the Small Business and Employment area has been programmed to access the Minnesota Grantmakers Online database.
Users will find that the database includes descriptions of around 100,000 grants in Minnesota that have been submitted by around 1300 Minnesota foundations and grant makers.

It is possible to search for grants by area of interest, geographic focus, type of support, beneficiary, grantmaker name and type, Minnesota county or city. It is also possible to create a free text search.

Each grant is profiled to include the information about the recipient, dollar amount awarded, the interest area, the geographic focus of the grant, beneficiaries, type of support awarded as well as the year it was awarded.

Grantstation Insider

The Northfield Library has recently obtained a free subscription for one year to the weekly electronic newsletter the Grantstation Insider. Published by Grantstation.com, this commercially published newsletter includes announcements, and concise information about national and regional grant opportunities with imbedded hyperlinks to grantmakers home pages, and federal government granting programs.

Each week a paper copy of the latest Grantstation Insider will be posted on a bulletin board in the Small Business and Employment area