Private Funding Sources

There are over 300,000 private foundations operating in the United States. Less than 10% of all foundations give more than 50% of all grants. Private foundations are required by law to distribute 5% of the market value of their assets each year.

Types of Foundations:

National General Purpose Foundation: This category represents only 200 to 300 foundations, which accounts for about 60% of all foundation assets. These foundations support one or more general subject area; health, education, environment, etc. They prefer proposal national in scope that solve universal problem in an innovative manner.
Special-Purpose Foundations: These foundations support one specific subject area (cancer research, capital, etc.). They usually only fund projects that significantly impact their area of interest.
Family Foundations: These foundations support programs valued by the family members of the person who established the foundation. Most family foundations have geographic preferences and are operated by the family members. An IEEE advocate within these foundations will dramatically improve the chances of obtaining funds.
Community Foundations: These foundations support a specific geographic region. Most community foundations get their money from local citizens for specific types of local projects.
Corporate Foundations: These foundations administer the charitable contributions of the company they represent. Most corporate foundations limit their support to the geographic regions where the corporation operates. A proposal should be tailored to benefit the corporation and/or their workers. They are generally not risk-takers; therefore they do not like to be the first to fund a new program.

Information on Private Funding Sources:

Foundation Center is an independent nonprofit information clearinghouse established in 1956. The Center's mission is to foster public understanding of the foundation field by collecting, organizing, analyzing, and disseminating information on foundations, corporate giving, and related subjects. The audiences that call on the Center's resources include grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.
Chronicle of Philanthropy is considers "the newspaper of the non-profit world.
The Grantsmanship Center is the world's leading source of fundraising training and information for the nonprofit sector. Since it was founded in 1972, TGCI has trained more than 65,000 agency staff in grantsmanship, program planning, and fundraising.

Contacting Private Funding Sources:

Begin with a letter of inquiry limited to 2 to 3 pages. Many foundations do not accept telephone calls at the beginning of the proposal process. The letter is the vehicle for the foundation to begin to evaluate the proposal's relevance to the foundation's guidelines. If the foundation is interested in the project, they will request a full proposal. The letter should include:

brief description of IEEE;
explanation of the proposed project;
why the project is needed;
who will benefit from the project;
amount needed · Closing, including who to contact with questions about project.