Funder Tool Kits: Private Foundations

Foundation Center’s Philanthropy RFPs – posts requests for proposals (RFPs) submitted by grant makers.

Guidestar – provides the ability to search for foundations using keywords.

Bank of America Philanthropic Solutions - The Bank is a trustee or co-trustee of a variety of charitable foundations and provides detailed information about their grantmaking focus.

Top Giving Florida Foundations - these foundations issue RFPs or are interested in receiving grant proposals.

Community Foundations in Florida - learn about community foundations in your area. Many community foundations provide technical assistance to nonprofits and support many types of activities.

Pivot – provides the ability to search for only private foundation grants using keywords and other filters.

Samples:

Please contact the Private Foundations POC at UCF for copy of document/s you want to view.

• Sample Cover Letters 
• Sample Letters of Inquiry
• Sample Letter Proposals
• Sample Budgets
• Sample Full Proposals

Award Search:

The OR Research Development team maintains a library of internal/external submitted proposals and can assist with securing a sample of a funded UCF proposal to a private foundation. Contact ResDev@ucf.edu for more information.

Contacting private foundations is different from contacting federal and state sponsors.  Some foundations prefer that individuals do not contact them directly, but prefer the contact is made through the institution's Development Office (UCF Foundation) and Sponsored Programs office.  Please contact the Research Development team at ResDev@ucf.edu at the Office of Research  to coordinate reaching out to a Foundation.

Approaching Foundations - guidance on how to approach a foundation and build a successful grantee-funder relationship.

Strategies to Secure Private Foundation Funding (type your UCF email address in the Microsoft Outlook page)

INSTRUCTIONS FOR W.M. KECK FOUNDATION::

This is a  Limited Submission program and all submissions to the internal competition MUST be coordinated through the Limited Submission Research Coordinator (limitedsub@ucf.edu).

Initial contact from a university must be coordinated through the institution's central research office via the designated official institutional liaison. UCF’s designated liason for the Keck Foundation is Lori Shuff at the UCF Foundation Advancement Office and ONLY THIS INDIVIDUAL may contact the Keck Foundation.

DO NOT CONTACT the Keck Foundation directly at any time-  either to ask questions if you are planning on submitting a proposal or as the designated  principal investigator that has been selected to submit a proposal to the Foundation on behalf of UCF!!! 

A Principal Investigator who has been given permission by the Office of Research  as UCF's nominee to submit a proposal to the Keck Foundation may contact the Foundation staff during the pre-application counseling period, which takes place between January 1 and February 15 leading up to a May 1 Phase I submission or between July 1 and August 15 leading up to a November 1 Phase I submission. Designated applicants are encouraged to submit their ideas for grants to the Foundation in the form a single-page concept paper during the pre-application counseling period. However, please do not submit the concept paper directly to Keck Foundation! Please contact UCF's institutional liaison, Mrs. Bigham, to coordinate submission of your concept paper and scheduling of a conference call.  Only one conference call will be scheduled for each institution to discuss all concepts.

Information About Non-Profits

501(c)(3)

The term 501(c)(3) refers to tax-exempt, charitable organizations that have been recognized and approved by the Internal Revenue Service. Charitable organizations typically have purposes that fall into categories benefiting the public good.

Types of nonprofits

The Internal Revenue Service recognizes a variety of nonprofit organizations, not just 501(c)(3) groups. Examples include private foundations, social clubs, veteran’s organizations, and business leagues.

Charities

Charity is a broad term many use when referring to nonprofit organizations. However, not all nonprofits are charities. A charity holds legal 501(c)(3) recognition from the IRS.

Private foundations

By definition, all organizations that qualify for 501(c)(3) recognition are considered private foundations until they meet the IRS’ public charity public support requirements. Private foundations are nonprofit organizations funded by a single source, such as a family donor, who conduct a range of charitable, religious or educational activities.

Not-for-Profit

Nonprofit and not-for-profit are terms often used interchangeably, but not-for-profit should typically only be used when referring to an activity, such as a recreation or sport. The term nonprofit denotes an organization focused on larger social or public issues.

UCF Foundation (UCFF) and Research Foundation (RF) are not the same entity. 

UCFF is the official fundraising arm and gift beneficiary of UCF.  All proposals can be submitted through UCFF if they 1) do not have specific sponsor criteria; 2) are not programmatic; 3) do not have deliverables; and 4) are funded through a gift/donation. 

RF is a 501(c)3 organization, and is a direct support organization to UCF. Its mission is to support the research and sponsored program activities of faculty, students and staff. 

For more information about these two entities and to distinguish between gifts and sponsored awards/grants, please see these policies :

• Distinguishing Gifts from Sponsored Awards
• Proposal and Acceptance of Sponsored Awards for Research and Development