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1. What are the differences between Foundation Directory Online Basic, Plus, Premium, Platinum, and Professional?

Foundation Directory Online Basic is a database of the 10,000 largest private and community foundations in the U.S. based on their annual giving. Foundation Directory Online Plus is a database of the 10,000 largest private and community foundations in the U.S. based on their annual giving and over 2 million recently awarded grants. Foundation Directory Online Premium is a database of the 20,000 largest private and community foundations in the U.S. based on their annual giving and over 2.2 million recently awarded grants. Foundation Directory Online Platinum is a database of the entire universe of over 100,000 foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S. and over 2.4 million recently awarded grants.

Foundation Directory Online Professional provides subscribers with access to an unprecedented wealth of timely, comprehensive information on grantmakers and their grants. Included is a database of the entire universe of nearly 100,000 foundations, corporate giving programs, and grantmaking public charities in the U.S.; a database of more than 4,000 sponsoring companies, offering a quick pathway to corporate funders; a database of over 2.4 million recently awarded grants; and a keyword-searchable database of over 700,000 recently filed IRS Forms 990 and 990-PF.

Unique funder portfolios organize additional funder-specific content in one convenient location and include: grantmaker-related news, job opportunities, and Request For Proposals (RFPs); grantmaker-sponsored publications; and officer and trustee affiliations.

Foundation Directory Online Professional also provides exclusive funder-specific functionality: the ability to search across a funder's grants with customized search indexes; the ability to map a funder's grants for any given year by recipient type or primary subject and drill down to view disbursements by county, city, ZIP code, or congressional district; the ability to chart a funder's grants for any given year by recipient type or primary subject and drill down to view disbursements by secondary and tertiary category; the ability to sign up to receive funder-specific e-mail alerts; and the ability to search across all four Foundation Directory Online databases as well as the Foundation Center's philanthropy news, nonprofit jobs, RFPs, foundation publications, and nonprofit literature databases simultaneously.

View a comparison chart.

2. What is the source of the data in Foundation Directory Online?

The data in Foundation Directory Online is compiled from IRS information returns (Forms 990 and 990-PF), grantmaker web sites, annual reports, printed application guidelines, the philanthropic press, and various other sources. In all, the Foundation Center's editorial staff continually monitors more than 35 diverse information sources to verify the details in our databases. Our editorial team is also in frequent communication with grantmakers nationwide through telephone calls, surveys, and electronic reporting.

New and updated grantmaker, company, and grant data appears weekly. New grantmaker-related news, job opportunities, RFPs, publications, and articles appear daily. New IRS Forms 990 and 990-PF are posted when they become available from the IRS.

4. How quickly are profiles for new foundations added to Foundation Directory Online?

Profiles for new foundations are typically added to Foundation Directory Online after a foundation files its initial IRS Form 990-PF with the IRS. Generally, the Foundation Center won't add a profile for a new foundation at any earlier stage because we've found that most organizations that file preliminary paperwork to become foundations ultimately fail to satisfy IRS private foundation requirements and organize as public charities instead. However, if a new foundation establishes a web presence, receives significant media coverage, or provides sufficient information about its activities in other ways, a profile might be added before its initial IRS Form 990-PF is filed with the IRS.

5. What should I do if I discover that information needs to be updated?

A link at the bottom of grantmaker and company profiles can be used to e-mail the Foundation Center's editorial staff with updated information.

6. What criteria is used to determine the inclusion of a grant in the Search Grants database?

Generally, all grants of over $10,000 are included for all foundations with a total giving amount of at least $5,000,000. Beyond that, we include an assortment of grants of less than $10,000 for these foundations and an assortment of grants of all sizes for foundations with a total giving amount of less than $5,000,000. All grants are at least $1,000.

To search across and access data for all grants made by all foundations, we recommend using our Search 990s database. Search 990s, an exclusive feature of Foundation Directory Online Professional, provides keyword searching capability across the text of every 990 and 990-PF in our database simultaneously.

7. Is Foundation Directory Online useful to international grantseekers?

Yes. The Fields of Interest Index includes the names of specific countries that grantmakers have a known giving interest in. The Geographic Focus Index includes the terms "International" and "National; international" to locate grantmakers that award grants outside the U.S.

For Plus, Premium, Platinum, and Professional subscribers, the Recipient Country search field is used to search for grants awarded to recipients located in a particular country. The Recipient City Index includes the names of non-U.S. cities where grants have been awarded.

For Professional subscribers, the Subsidiary Country search field is used to search for sponsoring companies with business operations located in a particular country. Professional subscribers also have access to an interactive mapping tool to map the distribution of recently awarded international grants specific to a particular grantmaker.

8. Why is the 990s tab missing from some grantmaker records?  

You're probably looking at the record of a corporate giving program. A corporate giving program is a grantmaking program established and administered within a for-profit business organization. Corporate giving programs are not subject to the same reporting requirements as private foundations and don't file an annual IRS Form 990 or 990-PF.

9. What is the difference between an IRS Form 990 and an IRS Form 990-PF?

The IRS Form 990 is filed with the IRS by community foundations and other public charities. The IRS Form 990-PF is filed with the IRS by private foundations only.