Advancement · Grants & Funding

What a foundation gives,
from its own filings.

A foundation’s website says what it cares about; its 990-PF shows what it pays for. Copy the year’s totals and the grants that matter from the filing. The organizer works out the average and median grant, counts grants to organizations like yours and tells you when an ask is above anything the foundation has given.

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Foundations

The worked example is made up, with invented foundations and recipients: a family foundation that funds schools steadily, a larger one whose average is pulled up by two very large grants and a trust with a 2021 filing. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Advancement · Grants & Funding$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per foundation: name, EIN, filing year, total grants and number of grants, grants copied as rows with recipient, amount, purpose and whether they look like you, your ask and notes. Works out the average grant, the median and range of the grants copied and how many are like you; compares foundations by median; flags old filings, asks above every grant copied, no grants like yours and averages pulled up by a few large grants.
Who it is for
Grant writers, development staff and school leaders researching private foundations.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per foundation. Prints one foundation with its grants, every foundation in a table or a blank research sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Grant writer’s desk ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Grants & Funding space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Find the newest 990-PF by name or EIN.
  2. Enter the year’s total and number of grants.
  3. Copy the grants like yours and a few typical others.
  4. Compare your ask with the median and the largest.
  5. Note trustees and anyone who knows them.

Add a foundation

Reading the filing

Reading a 990-PF for grant researchFind itSearch the foundation’sname or EIN on the IRS TaxExempt Organization Searchor Candid.Use the newest year.Read the grants listGrants paid during theyear: recipient, amountand purpose.Copy the ones like you.Read the peopleTrustees and officers byname.Who on your board knowsthem.Reading a 990-PF for grant researchFind itSearch the foundation’s name or EIN on theIRS Tax Exempt Organization Search orCandid.Use the newest year.Read the grants listGrants paid during the year: recipient,amount and purpose.Copy the ones like you.Read the peopleTrustees and officers by name.Who on your board knows them.
A private foundation’s 990-PF is public. Its grants list is the most honest guide to what it funds.

Average or median

The worked example’s Meridian Foundation pays $4.2 million in 60 grants, an average of $70,000, but two grants make up $2.5 million of it. The median of the grants copied is $15,000. A $50,000 ask is larger than anything Meridian gave a school.

How current is it

Private foundations file their 990-PF months after the year ends, often with extensions, so the newest public return is usually one to two years old. Check the foundation’s website for anything newer before you write.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service. Form 990-PF instructions; Tax Exempt Organization Search for public returns (irs.gov).
  2. Candid. How to read a 990-PF; Foundation Directory research guides (candid.org).
  3. ProPublica. Nonprofit Explorer: searchable 990 filings (projects.propublica.org/nonprofits).
  4. Council on Foundations. Private foundation basics (cof.org).

The worked example is made up and every name in it is invented. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.