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Helpful Grantseeking Links

Please note that all proposals for charitable gifts must be cleared in advance through your unit’s Development Office. All proposals for sponsored contract grants must be approved in advance in your unit. They are then routed for clearance through Sponsored Projects Services. Please refer to Getting Started with Grantseeking for further information.

Program Planning & Proposal Writing

  • The Foundation Center online free "Proposal Writing Short Course"
  • The Foundation Center offers a free Proposal Writing Basics webinar, which is delivered live and is interactive, allowing attendees to participate in polls and to ask questions.
  • The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension website hosts an array of resources related to program planning and evaluation, including a needs assessment, logic model program planning, funding resources, and evaluation methods and planning. They also link to outside agencies' resources on each page of their website for additional information.
  • The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides a simple, user-friendly primer to grant preparation and writing. Especially helpful is the primer’s step-by-step approach to program planning.
  • Non-profit Guides' completely comprehensive anatomy of a proposal can be found under the sidebar at Full Proposal > Components.
  • The Minnesota Council of Foundations is another excellent and comprehensive guide to "Writing a Successful Grant Proposal."
  • SchoolGrants.org posts links to over a dozen samples of successful K–12 education grant proposals.
  • S. Joseph Levine, a professor at Michigan State University, has posted a very helpful Guide for Writing a Funding Proposal. The guide is intended for grantseekers who provide social services; however, grantseekers in various fields will benefit from Professor Levine’s piece-by-piece analysis of a sample proposal. This guide includes tips about and examples of each proposal element, from the title to the budget to the appendices.
  • The nonprofit Innovation Network provides a tool, Point K, designed to assist nonprofit executives and grant writers in creating strategic plans and program maps. Point K will walk you through the process of setting program goals, objectives, activities, outputs, and outcomes. (And in the process, you’ll learn much about current grant jargon, such as "outputs" and "outcomes.") There is no charge. If you are ready to engage in a thorough program planning process and learn about the logic model, the tools at this site will provide a structure. Note, however, that the Point K exercise is rigorous and complex, not to be undertaken on a whim.
  • The Free Management Library provides easy-to-access, clutter-free, comprehensive resources regarding leadership and management for yourself, other individuals, groups, and organizations for both small and large nonprofits. This specific article written by Carter McNamara gives a basic overview of program evaluation planning and implementation.
  • Root Cause, a consultant for nonprofits, offers a free downloadable how-to guide and templates on Building a Performance Measurement System to help you track your performance and strengthen your ability to achieve your project or organizational mission
  • Among other grantseeking resources, The Grantsmanship Center has a particularly informative collection of articles related to proposal writing and grantseeking.
  • The Nonprofit Good Practice Guide is a directory of resources organized by theme for individuals involved in the nonprofit world. Visit the Nonprofit section for more information on evaluation, fundraising, nonprofit basics, and more. The Board Members’ Guide to Partnership section has resources for nonprofit board members when considering a partnership with another nonprofit organization. The Philanthropy and Grantmaking section contains resources on advocacy, communications, evaluation of foundations, and grantmaking.

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Internal Resources for UA Grantseekers

  • The GIFT Center staff members have compiled a list of Internal Funding Opportunities available at the UA. This file may contain deadlines that have already passed and should be considered a snapshot in time that was last updated in September 2008.
  • UA Sponsored Projects Services. Sponsored Projects Services processes all sponsored (non-charitable) grant applications and awards. It also provides targeted training on important aspects of research grant programs.
  • UA subscribes to the Pivot: Funding Connected, which contains information about funding opportunities for all academic subjects. Database access is free from the University network. This comprehensive database will give information about government, foundation, and corporate funding opportunities. However, check any information you receive, as it is not always fully current.
  • The UA also subscribes to the IRIS Alert Service, an automated funding-alert program. It enables you, as a grant researcher at a subscribing institution, to create and save your own IRIS search profile. You can select your preferred search frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly) and delivery method (e-mail or password-protected website). The program runs your profile against the IRIS Database on the desired schedule and delivers the search results automatically. Sign up (via a UA-linked computer) here.
  • You will often need narrative UA history and background information in your letters of inquiry and proposals. Current and past UA Fact Books are available online. The UA Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation will send you a hard copy of the fact book if you call 621-7807. Basic commonly needed boilerplate information can also be found at About the UA.

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Other Ways to Find Grants and Information about Grant Makers

  • The Foundation Center is a great source of news, articles, training and links. There is a list of current requests for proposals (RFPs). The "Find Funders" section contains loads of free grantmaker information. The Foundation Finder and 990 Finder allow you to search a database of more than 92,000 grantmakers to find the foundation’s address, name of a contact person, assets and other financial information, and copies of its Form 990 (informational form filed annually with the IRS) for the last several years.

NOTE: A basic level of information is free; more advanced levels are by subscription (fee) only. The highest level of subscription service is available by appointment with development officer approval at the GIFT Center.

  • www.GuideStar.org is a great source of free information about foundations, such as the Foundation Center’s site. You must register, at no cost, to access most of its resources.
  • Just Grants! Arizona is THE Arizona resource for statewide, and state specific, grant opportunities, nonprofit news, and training. Some information on the website is available to all; however, the Arizona Guide to Grants and Giving, an Arizona-specific grant information database, is available by subscription only.
  • The usual starting place for seeking federal funds is www.grants.gov. The site provides you with a database of information about federal funding opportunities, and you can sign up to receive "opportunity e-mails" alerting you to the types of funding opportunities you specify.

    The UA’s Sponsored Projects Services offers Grants.gov training opportunities.
  • Links to federal department websites can be found through usa.gov, "Your first click to the U.S. government."
  • The Pima County Public Library is a Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center and hosts a very well-developed resource website for grantseekers. This in-depth website contains a wealth of resources including local information and numerous useful web links for grantseeking.
  • Fundsnet Online Services is a privately owned Web site created in 1996 for the purpose of providing nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities with information on financial resources available on the Internet.

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General Information and Demographic Research

  • American Fact Finder, U.S. Census Bureau: Your (THE) source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data.
  • The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress and is the largest library in the world. The library has a vast website with amazing resources that may surprise you.
  • Though focused on disadvantaged children and families, The Annie E. Casey Foundation has a useful website for statistics relating to child welfare, specifically the interactive Kids Count data systems.
  • ZIPskinny provides census data based on zip codes, including median income. This site is useful as you can customize your own graph of census data.
  • For information on home values, Zillow provides maps, graphs, and blogs.
  • The Eller College of Management has organized a site with information on Arizona’s economy. It includes statistics and articles on Arizona’s economic well-being.

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Tribal Gaming Revenue Sharing Grants Overview

As part of the relationship between Arizona’s gaming tribes and the state, the tribes are required to share a portion of their profits to benefit the public. This pool of funds is often called "Prop 202 money" or "12% revenue sharing," based on the percentage of profits the tribes have the option of distributing to local governments and, through these local municipalities (cities, counties), to their nonprofit partners.

Since 2003, gaming tribes have contributed over $47 million to local governments. These grantmaking programs continue to grow and develop, with evolving processes and philosophies. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has recently stated that it sees revenue sharing "not just as an obligation under the gaming compact but as a means of 'giving back' to the communities within Arizona."

Typical funding areas include public safety, transportation, health care, economic development, and education. There has been an emphasis on funding for equipment. Several of the tribes with the largest gaming facilities have established formal grantmaking programs. At this point, guidelines, deadlines, forms, and processes vary greatly from tribe to tribe, from year to year, and with each municipality. Some tribes issue requests for proposals. Some provide a clear process to apply on their websites. Others do not provide information on this topic. Some municipalities have dedicated staff for coordinating tribal gaming revenue grants; most do not.

Periodically, check the links below for more information on current opportunities. UA faculty and staff wishing to explore these funding opportunities should note:

  • Tribal revenue sharing funds are considered government grants, not gifts, and proposals should be routed through Sponsored Projects Services.
  • The GIFT Center does not assist with or coordinate these government proposals. However, we try to keep up-to-date on this topic.
  • Grants are made to local governments (cities and counties); funds can then be distributed to nonprofits. To be eligible for this funding, a nonprofit must work through a local government. UA programs have worked in the past with the Tucson city government and with Pima County to receive awards. Often a first step has been a simple phone call to the local government to ask about the possibility of partnering with the municipality on a "12% revenue sharing" proposal and to request information about the process.

For Further Information on Tribal Revenue Sharing

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