Information Today
Volume 17, Issue 11 • December 2000
Foundation Center Releases Foundation Grants to Individuals on CD-ROM
The Foundation Center has announced that, for the first time, individuals seeking assistance for a wide variety of purposes can locate important information on funding sources that is unavailable in other print or electronic resources. The newly-released Foundation Grants to Individuals on CD-ROM enables users to quickly search through an authoritative database of over 4,200 foundations and public charities that award funds for educational support (scholarships and student loans); general welfare; arts and cultural support; awards, prizes, and grants by nomination; international applicants; company employees (education and general welfare); students and graduates of specific schools; and research and professional support.

The high-speed search capabilities available in the CD-ROM format allow users to select multiple criteria and generate lists of potential funders within seconds, choosing from up to nine different search fields, which include grantmaker name, grantmaker state, grantmaker city, geographic focus, types of support, fields of interest, school name, company name, and text search.

The Foundation Grants to Individuals on CD-ROM database features accurate, in-depth information in each grantmaker record, including current data on such crucial facts as contact names and addresses, financial data, application information and deadlines, types of support offered, program descriptions, and more. In addition, over 150 grantmaker records include Web site addresses. Users with Internet access and Netscape’s Navigator or Communicator browser, or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, can link from the grantmaker’s record directly to its Web site for even more information on its funding program.

According to the announcement, the CD-ROM is easy to use, even for novice searchers. Some special tools further enhance its use for funding research, including a printed User Guide that outlines basic usage and installation instructions; a Help file that describes the features, functionality, and contents of the database; a search tutorial with real-life scenarios; a glossary that defines types of support terms; and a special e-mail address for customer support from the CD-ROM’s home page at the Foundation Center’s Web site that guides users to further resources for individual grantseekers.

There are a number of customization tools in Foundation Grants to Individuals on CD-ROM that help users to organize and record the information obtained during their searches. Users have a range of flexible printing and saving options and the ability to mark records and save their search strategies for future access. There is also a searchable notepad feature that can be used to create personalized notes appended to foundation records.

Source: Foundation Center, New York, 800/424-9836, 212/807-3690; http://www.fdncenter.org.

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