General Sites. There are many of these. I selected a few below that I believe are the best of the lot. If you find a really good one, post it to the class Bulletin Board and I'll add it. Note, finding one site often leads to others.

The Society of Research Administrators International(SRA). Grants Web.

Community of Science Web Server. This site requires institutional membership for use. The University of Illinois is a member and the site should be available to you.

The Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS).
Note: This department is part of the UIUC library. It provides access to a searchable database of federal and private funding opportunities. It also offers an alerting service and an expertise service. The service is fee-based. Links to federal agencies, foundations, UIUC funding opportunities and research agencies in other countries are also provided. main LEEP page to get to the library and then add /iris/ to the URL.

Digital Divide. Suggested by Melissa Henderson, this site seems to be very helpful in identifying funding resources for a broad range of programs and projects related to equal access to technology.

Funding and Grant Sources for Libraries and Librarians. Maintained by Library HQ.Com. Many library websites dealing with grants, scholarships and fundraising, some commercial partnership opportunities, a few foundations and a few books.

Funding Your Technology Dreams -- Essential Resources for Grant Seekers. A personal site from Sheryl Absire, Administrative Coordinator of Technology for the Calcasieu Paris Schools, LA. Accessed 6/8/2001. This site was highlighted in School Library Journal (April 2001, p. 31). It has many useful funding sources or sites with links to other resources -- primarily for school librarians although others may find items of interest as well.

Ohio Grantmakers Forum. An informative site with a clear explanation of the responsibilities this group is ready to assume. Thanks to Barb Landers for the site.

SchoolGrants!. SchoolGrants was created to help K-12 folks locate and apply for grants. It was created in August 1999 and was last updated May 6, 2001. The site publishes a newsletter and maintains a listserv that can be subscribed to. Gail Janz brought it to our attention. She notes that the "Grant Opportunities" section is divided into categories such as Federal, State, Foundations with deadlines, foundations without deadlines, Foundations in geographical areas, etc. A worthwhile place for school librarians to investigate.

University of Wisconsin Madison Grants Information Center -- Resources for Nonprofit Organizations. Includes a special section entitled "Grant Resources for Librarians and Library Education."

Grants and Funding Information Service from the Libraries of the Univ. of Washington. Of particular interest to those who live in Washington state, of course, but useful to all as site includes resources on proposal writing and grantsmanship.

Yahoo's Grants page, a listing of the most popular site for grants for education. In particular, look at the link to SchoolGrants if you are a school librarian.

Private Sites. Really only one major source, although information on foundations is found is a number of other places. Note the print source of the Foundation Directory is much easier to search.

The Foundation Center. See particularly The Foundation Center's Literature of the Nonprofit Sector; The Foundation Center's Online Catalog with Abstracts. Other useful information on this site includes a prospect worksheet similar to the one linked from the Funding Source assignment but perhaps more refined. A Common Grant Application Form used by several granting agency may be useful. Perhaps for the 450 course a really useful reading is available on this site, entitled Proposal Writing Workshop. It's worth reading. Alternatively, there is a Online Orientation to the Grantseeking Process that might be more fun for you to do, although it is heavily geared to FC products.

I said only one but for Illinois residents there is also the

Donors Forum of Chicago, an association of Chicago-area grantmakers who have agreed to use a common grant application form.

Public Sites -- Federal Level. Many of these are listed in the general sources above. A few of the major sources are listed separately here because of their potential importance or usefulness to you.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance This is the place to begin when searching for federal granting programs. Note: this site also contains a good introduction to grantwriting -- Developing and Writing Grant Proposals. A good exercise would be to compare this article to the workshop from the Foundation Center listed above.

Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency that provides support to the two named types of organization through a series of grant programs. IMLS is a sister agency to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Check out the Grant Programs for Library Services and the programs for Library-Museum Collaboration. IMLS has a newsletter than will be sent to you via email on your request.

National Endowment for the Humanities. A good source for a variety of grant programs -- most offered every year. Thanks to Laura Olson for reminding us that libraries are cultural and community centers, as Mary Pergander says, and linked to humanities.

U.S. Dept. of Education. Has lots of aid opportunities. Check especially the FY2001 Discretionary Grant Application Packages.

Federal Government Internet Library Sites contains pointers to the major federal libraries -- Library of Congress, National Agricultural Library, National Library of Medicine and the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Some (notably NLM) have their own granting programs.

Official US Executive Branch Web Sites maintained by the Library of Congress provides names and links to all the federal agencies, most of who have granting programs.

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. This will be of interest to academic librarians. Distance education and international education seem to be "hot topics" at the moment.

Public Sites -- State Level. I have listed a few from Illinois as examples. Other states will have similar sites.

Illinois Federal Clearinghouse. Nearly every state has a state level information and intergovernmental review activity. Illinois has a particularly spiffy site with links to federal grants, foundation listings, and state grants, among other items. Illinois State Library - Grants for Libraries. Most state libraries act as flow-through agencies for federal grants to libraries, specifically the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Illinois also has a number of state granting programs of interest. If your home state is not Illinois, check out your state library web site and locate grant information. Even if you're not from Illinois, examine the Grants You'll Wish You Thought of ..." for some good grant ideas and fine examples of dissemination activities.

Illinois State Board of Education Grant Opportunities. Of particular interest to school libraries but sometimes opportunities for public libraries as well in partnership with schools.

Return to Grantwriting and Fundraising syllabus.