How to Search the Guide Online

The Guide Online offers two simple but very powerful search tools that, when used individually or together, can help you quickly and easily sort through thousands of grantmaker profiles and zero in on those grantmakers whose interests are most likely to match your own.

• Keyword search
• Criteria search
• Combination search

Funder Record Set

Your first step is to choose the set of funder profiles you want to search. The funder profiles in the Guide Online are grouped into two broad categories: "Open" and "Restricted".

• Open: These funders accept and review proposals that match their philanthropic mission, without specific invitation. "Open" is our default record set, because most often you will only want to research funders who welcome appropriate unsolicited proposals.
  
  
• Restricted: These funders do not accept or review proposals they have not specifically requested. Sometimes there is a predetermined list of organizations to which grants may be made; sometimes family members prefer to make that choice on their own; and sometimes a "restricted" organization is one that issues RFPs, or Requests For Proposals, to specific organizations for specific program purposes.
  
  
• All: You may also choose "All" if at any time you want to search through the complete list of funder profiles.

Keyword Search

A keyword search allows you to enter terms that describe your interests, and search for funder profiles in which those same terms are used to describe the funders interests. Keep in mind that the search can only find profiles containing exactly the same characters you've entered, in exactly the same order. You can enter single words; or, for more focused searches, you can combine terms to create a search string.

What is Included in a Keyword Search? The Guide Online's keyword search will look in the following fields for your keywords:

Organization Name, State Operating Locations, City, Geographic Scope of Funding, Funding Priorities, Funder Notes, Trustees and any details entered by the funder under "Areas of Interest," "Target Populations," "Types of Funding" and "Lifecycle Stages."

Keyword Protocols and Tools. The Guide Online's keyword search technology, although simple, includes a few specific protocols, or language tools, to help you communicate your search needs more clearly. You'll get the best possible results from your search if you are familiar with these basic protocols. Click here for Tips for Creating a Successful Keyword Search.

• BOTH/AND: +art* +education +Tucson Put a + in front of all terms that MUST be present in all the search results. In the example, your results will include all funder profiles in which all three words art, education, and Tucson appear (for instance, if you want to do an arts education program in Tucson).
• EITHER/OR: museum history = If you want AT LEAST ONE of the terms (but not necessarily ALL) to appear in your search results, do not put anything in front of them. In this example, your results will include all funder profiles containing at least one of the two words (for instance, if you're setting up a historical museum and want to find all funders who support either museums or history-related projects).

Criteria Search

You may also do a search using predefined criteria to match your needs and interests with those of the grantmakers. Some funders do not enter text into all the fields that describe their preferences, but simply "flag" a preference as a "yes" or "no" in our database. Flagged preferences will not turn up in a keyword search; for these, you need a criteria search. A criteria search involves two steps:

1. Choose your search type: First, choose whether you want to link your criteria with an AND search or an OR search.

• AND search results will include grantmaker profiles that meet all of your checked choices. In other words, the instruction is to find all the profiles that include both this AND that. An AND search narrows your search down, giving more focused, limited results. In working with large databases, AND is generally the more useful search option and is the default search variable for the Guide Online.
  
  
• OR search results will include grantmaker profiles that meet any of your checked choices. In other words, the instruction is to find all the profiles that include either this OR that. An OR search will return the largest number of results.

2. Choose your search criteria: Now, simply checkmark those criteria that reflect your interests. You may choose one or any number of criteria. However, you will get the best results by limiting your search to the two or three criteria that are most central or critical to your grant needs - for instance, "Animal Welfare" and "Capital/Building"; or "Health" and "Elderly". If you find you've constructed a search that returns too few results, just go back and re-evaluate your criteria, maybe eliminating one or more, and try again.

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Combination Search

As its name suggests, a "combination search" allows you to combine the flexibility of a keyword search and the power of a criteria search, to create the most focused, successful search possible. Just follow the guidelines above for setting up each kind of search. A combination search is especially valuable in the following cases:

1. When an important feature of your grant program is not specifically addressed by the criteria choices. For instance, if you're looking for a funder who supports building programs for animal welfare organizations in Los Angeles, you could enter "Los Angeles" in the keyword search field, then select "Animal Welfare" and "Capital/Building" from your criteria choices.

2. When you want to narrow down an overly-broad criteria choice. The criteria choices are very broad by design: Choosing "Education" to help you find funding for your preschool program will also bring up all the funders who support colleges, adult education, K-12, math, leadership education, and so on. You can narrow your search down to a manageable, more focused list of prospects by choosing "Education" as a criteria choice, and entering "preschool" or "early childhood" in the keyword search.

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