Education Savannah State University
Grant Specialist
Savannah, Georgia
"I wish you had contacted me a year ago! I understand the potential of using this database and search software which will certainly make my work easier and increase productivity. It is an amazingly user friendly program, particularly with the charts, matrix representation and tutorials. Data is easy to access and not overwhelming. Trust me, you have made my job easier!"
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Education University of Michigan, Office of University Development
Executive Director, Foundation Relations & Program Initiatives
Ann Arbor, Michigan
"Michigan has been using FoundationSearch for as much as eight years. I love it - I find I'm on it nearly every day. It has lots of prospect management/query management tools that I manage to NOT use due to old habits, but its broader database of foundations (many more smaller, regional or family foundations are included) and its deeper data on grants (inclusive of all grants on the 990s, rather than those included in survey responses) are remarkably useful for us. It just feels much more comprehensive in its support.
When I cost-compared to FDO professional, the two were comparable, though we now have so many licenses on campus that I'd imagine we are paying more for FoundationSearch. At Michigan, we pay for the basic contract through University development, and then each unit buys in for a single license for their user, if they wish. I believe we have as many as 10 users across campus.
To be honest, we also have Foundation Center, because we are a FC library site, and I agree its profiles look nicer for sharing. But the ability to output specific grants data to spreadsheets for editing, sorting and sharing with faculty is still stronger at FoundationSearch.
I also agree that for a single mission/purpose like a museum, etc, that the price tag is high. But for a university with a very broad range of grant 'subjects', I find FoundationSearch indispensable. I also find it indispensable for the 'gray' areas between family foundations and professional foundations - it helps with prospecting and gives me great info to send off to major gift officers if need be."
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Education WSU Foundation
Director, Foundation Relations
Pullman, Washington
"Washington State University has switched to FoundationSearch, and we love it.
It provides excellent analysis capabilities especially for funding patterns, sortable by geographic region, grant size, category (i.e. can be filtered just for grants to universities and colleges, or just for health grants, etc.), which enables us to make predictions on likelihood of funding, contact previous grantees, assess our success against competing organizations, etc. It also includes BIG Online, which is a database of top grant making corporations, and most recently it is beta testing a global search tool.
Individuals from our large institution are buying their own IDs and passwords to give each unit search capabilities, alleviating the pressure on our central team to analyze their requests or provide additional lists. Both online and phone help is easily accessed, online courses are available at reasonable fees (I haven't tried these yet, but will be doing one soon), the database of news articles and searchable 990's (archived as well as current) is comprehensive and easy to use.
You can print profiles for clients, but they also have links to the Websites, which are always where one has to go ultimately anyway to assess current priorities and RFP regulations. Within the FoundationSearch profiles, however, there is a quick link to the stated 'limitations' of the organization, so that you don't have to search through the Website for those and can avoid making elaborate plans to submit only to find out too late that the organization has limits that disqualify you."
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Education Crown College
VP of Advancement
St. Bonifacius, Minnesota
"I worked with a non-profit organization for five years, and we used FoundationSearch for our foundation research. We found it especially helpful to look up 990s of the foundations we have been soliciting to see what their giving priority was. This enabled us to better focus our appeal to their main interests, resulting in larger gifts and better presentations.
I just accepted the Vice President of Advancement role at a Christian college, and immediately checked to see what tools they were using for foundation research. Not being satisfied with what I found, I immediately called and ordered FoundationSearch. It is reasonably priced, great information, web based so I can access it from anywhere, and I like the varied search criteria available for identifying foundations. I plan to use it to identify foundations in our area that fund educational institutions.
Thank you for making it so easy to get back on line with FoundationSearch!"
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Education Michigan Technological University
Assistant Director, Research Development
Houghton, Michigan
"Foundation Search provides quick access to trends and data, saving approximately 1-2 hrs of staff time per project compared to Foundation Directory. Plus Prospect Manager allows for data management and sharing of data results in a format that resonates."
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Education Oklahoma Baptist University
Director of Prospect Research
Shawnee, Oklahoma
"I have been working in the field of securing foundation grants for 20 years. Initially, my university used large foundation directories - usually several in a set, bulky, and quite costly. It took hours to look through the directories trying to find foundations that might fund a project. When a new directory set was ordered, it was already outdated by the time it arrived.
Ten years ago we subscribed to FoundationSearch. I checked out other resources but was drawn to FoundationSearch because of its ease of use and its thoroughness in providing the specific information I was seeking. I like the ability to manage and coordinate my prospects and projects with ""Prospect Manager"", and currently, my favorite feature is the ""My Best Prospects"" module, especially with the addition of a suggested ask.
FoundationSearch has helped us secure thousands of dollars, not necessarily all from new foundations, but by also utilizing new and updated information on foundations that have supported us in the past. Customer support is excellent, the program is continually updated and improved, and I would recommend it to anyone involved in seeking grant funding.
FoundationSearch has saved me countless hours of research and makes my job more manageable."
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Education Immaculata University
Director of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations
Immaculata, Pennsylvania
"My colleagues and I are thrilled to switch to FoundationSearch. Major reasons for the switch include the following:
1. The user interface is very intuitive. From charts to maps, it is easy to quickly interpret information to make smart decisions about which funders to pursue.
2. The hotlinks throughout every search make navigation to pertinent information seamless.
3. Capable and friendly customer service representatives are available to help us with tough searches.
4. The relationship mapping system will be used throughout our University Advancement Office as we find connections between individuals and organizations."
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Education Scientists in School
Director of Fund Development
Ajax, Ontario
"We are relatively new users but see great value in FoundationSearch and have therefore renewed our membership for five years. Like most rapidly growing organizations, we are challenged with limited capacity to undertake research. Fortunately, FoundationSearch helps cut our research time significantly, particularly when I need some quick background information on a prospect. I find the list of grants provided for Foundations particularly useful! We are looking forward to taking advantage of the full support that comes with our membership and learning to maximize our use of FoundationSearch to help us achieve even greater success in the future."
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Education Dillard University
Corporate & Foundation Relations
New Orleans, Louisiana
"Dillard University believes in the power of knowledge, transparency, and instructional guidance for students as well as faculty which grants everyone the ability to create an environment of sound learning. However, we see through the demo with Foundation Search that an academic appeal of our university can be matched with an institutional advancement necessity to help fundraisers and grant-makers jobs of finding corporate donors to support our university’s mission of social mobility and affordable education far easier. In viewing the demo we received additional insight of the capabilities and capacity of Foundation Search, which made our decision to invest in the online database simple.
We see Foundation Search as a premier, fully searchable, online database of foundations as a tool that invigorates our annual fundraising initiatives a bit easier because of their skilled prospect researchers, who provide vital information about the funding history, preferences and contacts of over 100,000 US foundations. We trust it will provide fruitful information needed to approach the most qualified prospects with compelling reasons why your project fits their vision and our university’s mission. Dillard University believes we have entered a new realm of fundraising by joining the tens of thousands of Foundation Search clients who have raised billions of dollars to date."
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Education Investment and CAREERS: The Next Generation
Director
Edmonton, Alberta
"BIG Online has been an invaluable resource for me in fund development. Whether I'm working from home or at the office, BIG Online is always available and right at my fingertips - no more big, heavy binders to sift through, update and carry around. The database is particularly helpful in helping me establish a proposal writing cycle. BIG Online identifies important deadlines with potential deadlines and helps identify those investors most fitting with our organization. With the information I gain from BIG Online, I am able to employ resources more strategically to find investors who care and value the same things my organization cares about."
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Education Bradley University
Prospect Research Analyst
Peoria, Illinois
"I am pretty enamored of the product. The variety of ways that you can search for information is my favorite aspect. You can search by state, by amounts, by interest, for your organization specifically. The ways to drill down into the specific information are also great.
The profiles they provide for each foundation are about as comprehensive as I've seen. The information is, on the whole, very current. Their customer service was great too.
I certainly like it better than what we used before. There is a great deal more information in FoundationSearch's profiles."
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Education Edison Schools
Director, Grants Department
Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.edisonschools.com
"FoundationSearch has been an invaluable funding research tool for us at Edison Schools. From day one, Metasoft has provided our Grants Staff with hours of extra training and support, guiding us through complex searches.
This is our main resource for seeking the best funders for our 100+ schools across the United States and abroad."
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Education Northwestern College
Prospect Researcher
Orange City, Iowa
"Very easy to use, easy to search. We previously had a subscription to another resource. I like FoundationSearch better."
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Education University of Michigan-Flint
Foundation Relations Officer
Flint, Michigan
"I love the reports I am able to create in 'My Reports' on FoundationSearch. My manager was quite impressed with what I was able to generate after only one review of the training tutorial on the site. Even though the site is intuitive to use, the tutorial showed me how to take the information to a higher level of analysis and create a concise, comprehensive list of prospective funding sources!"
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Education Rutgers University
Development Assistant
New Brunswick, New Jersey
"I prefer FoundationSearch and Foundation Manager over other fundraising resources. Their database is larger than most with more ways to search giving nationally, internationally and even globally. It has proven to be a very powerful tool."
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