Everything a small or mid sized nonprofit needs to find, win, and keep funding, organized by the stage you are in, not by resource type. Every link is annotated, marked free or paid, and dated. No paywall, no email wall.
Free calculators for the Single Audit trigger and the de minimis rate, a verified state-by-state map, and a live tracker on the proposed OMB rule. Every figure cited to a primary source, no email required.
Registrations, governance, and the financial baseline. Do these once, correctly, and every application after gets easier.
Free federal entity registration that issues your UEI. Renew annually: a lapse silently blocks payment drawdowns on active grants. Start your renewal 60 days before expiration.
SAM.gov registration is genuinely free. Avoid third party sites that charge for what the government provides at no cost.
The registration chain, in order: SAM.gov and your UEI first, then a Grants.gov account, then your Organization Applicant Profile, then roles. The EBiz POC, set in SAM.gov, authorizes users and assigns the AOR who actually submits. This chain is where most first time applicants get stuck.
Free governance policy templates and plain language guides: conflict of interest, whistleblower, document retention, and the Nonprofit Audit Guide.
Free sample policies and templates, from an accounting procedures manual to board evaluation forms.
One page on the six measures of nonprofit financial health funders read first: days cash on hand, current ratio, working capital, and more.
A free spreadsheet that calculates 14 financial ratios from your own numbers, so you know your baseline before a funder asks.
Everything essential in this stage is free. The paid tools are conveniences, and we mark them plainly.
Search every open federal discretionary opportunity, and save searches with free email alerts. It shows what is open today; it does not show award rates or past winners.
Who already got funded, typical award sizes, and geographic gaps you can argue as unmet need. Your free prospect research and competitive intelligence engine. Treat results as directional, not a precise ledger.
Transaction level HHS award history back to 1995. HHS is the largest federal grantmaker, which makes this the most relevant award database for human services organizations.
The dominant foundation prospect database. The free routes, stated accurately: FDO Quick Start basic search is free with registration; the full directory is free in person at Funding Information Network partner locations; and the Go for the Gold program gives organizations under $500,000 in revenue a free year of premium access. The remote day pass ended in 2022.
Candid is launching a combined Candid Search in April 2026, so these access details may change. We will re-verify this entry.
Free Form 990 lookup for 1.8 million organizations, no registration. Research what a foundation actually funds from its 990-PF, and benchmark peer organizations.
Claim and complete your organization’s profile free. The Seals of Transparency are a credibility signal funders genuinely check.
Behavioral health funding announcements from the largest dedicated behavioral health grantmaker in the federal government.
Head Start, TANF, child welfare, and family services funding.
Housing and homelessness funding. Continuum of Care money generally flows through your local CoC, which is the access point that matters.
Reentry, victim services, and juvenile justice funding. Many programs award at sizes realistic for mid sized organizations.
Workforce funding flows through state systems. WorkforceGPS is the Department of Labor’s free technical assistance and training hub for navigating them.
National service funding, and members who become program capacity.
A paid prospecting convenience, not a necessity. There is no free tier, only a 14 day trial. Everything essential in this stage is free elsewhere on this page.
Paid, but often steeply discounted through state nonprofit associations. A convenience, not a necessity.
Funded examples, the sector standard logic model guide, data for needs statements, and the evidence registries reviewers expect you to cite.
The highest value free resource on this page: a library of actually funded proposals, cover letters, letters of inquiry, and proposal budgets, many with critiques by the funder who awarded them. Read three before you write one.
The sector standard guide to building a logic model, free PDF.
The original Kellogg Foundation page has moved; this copy is hosted by NACCHO. The foundation’s current library is at wkkf.org/resources.
CDC’s free evaluation framework and action guide, the reference public health and human services evaluators expect you to know.
The primary source for the demographic data in your needs statement.
The Census Bureau’s own handbook on using American Community Survey data in nonprofit work, with a case study on siting programs.
County level health and social determinant data, updated annually. Ideal for community health, behavioral health, and food security needs statements.
Free, readable visualizations of combined federal data for quick community profiles.
Homelessness counts by Continuum of Care: the citation for housing and homelessness needs statements.
Federal criminal justice data for reentry and justice program narratives.
DOJ’s registry rating criminal, juvenile, and victim services programs Effective, Promising, or No Effects. Cite it in your evidence section.
Department of Education evidence ratings for education and youth interventions.
Behavioral health evidence based practice guides and toolkits.
Juvenile justice, prevention, and reentry program evidence ratings.
Youth program registry rating programs Promising, Model, and Model Plus.
Blueprints announced it would go dormant in June 2025. The ratings remain available but are no longer being updated.
The 2024 Uniform Guidance revisions changed the numbers grant staff rely on. Every figure here states its effective date logic.
The always current official text. Deep links worth bookmarking: 200.413 direct costs, 200.414 indirect costs, and 200.455 data and evaluation costs, which explicitly makes data systems, cybersecurity, and evaluation allowable.
A federal agency’s own plain language summary of what changed in the 2024 Uniform Guidance revision.
Where Single Audits are filed, and a public database for checking any recipient’s audit history. The Single Audit threshold is $1,000,000 in federal awards expended, effective for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024; organizations with earlier fiscal years may still be under the prior $750,000 threshold.
A clear federal explainer of the de minimis rate, up to 15 percent of MTDC for awards issued on or after October 1, 2024, and the path to a negotiated rate (NICRA) through your cognizant agency, a process that commonly runs months.
Free training and financial management resources worth a standing bookmark.
Free courses, on demand trainings, webinars, and a knowledge base, with many topics available in Spanish.
Free, plain language guidance on running a nonprofit, from the federation behind the state associations.
Free financial health templates, videos, and workshops from a lender that reads nonprofit balance sheets all day.
Free financial management tools, reports, and full cost budgeting perspective.
Free training and technical assistance for housing and homelessness programs and grantees.
Free Department of Labor training and technical assistance for workforce programs.
State grant systems, registrations, associations, and the community foundations that fund human services work.
Central hub to search New York State grant opportunities, register your organization, and get prequalified to apply through the state grants system.
Nonprofits must complete prequalification before a state grant proposal will be reviewed, so start well ahead of any deadline.
Required registration for organizations that hold charitable assets or solicit charitable contributions in New York, including grants from foundations and government.
Registered charities must also file the annual CHAR500 financial report.
State association offering nonprofits capacity building, training, a resource hub, sector advocacy, and shared member benefit programs.
Many tools and events are members only while some resources are open to all.
Major community foundation running a competitive grants program for nonprofits serving New York City, Long Island, and Westchester.
The site explains eligibility and how to apply, and also lists periodic RFPs and letters of interest.
Current and recent New York City requests for proposals for community based organizations delivering youth and anti-poverty services.
Awards run through city contracts with community based organizations.
New York City end to end procurement platform where nonprofits enroll as vendors, respond to solicitations, and manage city contracts and payments.
Responding to health and human services solicitations requires HHS prequalification in PASSPort.
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs grants hub where nonprofits register for the SAGE system to find, apply for, and manage state grants.
SAGE is the System for Administering Grants Electronically and requires authorized user credentials.
Division of Consumer Affairs section that requires most charities soliciting funds in New Jersey to register and file annual financial reports.
All initial registrations and renewals must be filed through the online charities portal.
Official online portal for filing New Jersey charitable registration, renewals, and extension requests.
Mailed paper submissions are rejected, so filing must be done here.
Statewide association for all New Jersey charities offering advocacy, compliance and management guidance, training, and member benefit programs.
Members gain added benefits such as vendor discounts and a funding database.
Statewide association of foundations and corporate and public grantmakers that also shares funding information and resources for grant seekers.
Justice, victim services, delinquency prevention, juvenile justice, and school safety grants, with free email alerts for funding announcements.
The free Grant Applicant Readiness Checklist, nonprofit agency checklist, and application walkthroughs, plus a public dashboard of every award since 2012, which doubles as prospect research.
Where PCCD applications are actually submitted.
State community and economic development funding programs.
DCED applications now run through the Electronic Single Application in Pennsylvania’s Enterprise eGrants system at grants.pa.gov, with a free Keystone Login.
Provider resources and the searchable bulletin database. Human Services Block Grant funds flow through counties.
The state association. Ask PANO is a free help desk open to members and non members for quick questions, and the PANO Navigator resource hub is free at navigator.pano.org.
Direct downloads. Nothing is gated, and nothing asks for your address.
A line by line structure for a justification that survives review: allowable, allocable, reasonable, and the math shown.
What changed on October 1, 2024, and what each change means for a small or mid sized nonprofit. Every figure carries its effective date.
A fill in worksheet that walks inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes in the order reviewers read them.
Pick the outcomes worth measuring and the honest way to count them.
Score a prospective funder before you spend forty hours on the application.
Every deliverable and due date in one place, so nothing slips.
A report structure that leads with outcomes, not activities.
The printable companion to the interactive checklist above.
Do you need one, and are you ready for it. Keyed to the $1,000,000 threshold for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2024. Also available as an interactive tool.
What 2 CFR 200.455 and 200.413 now allow, quoted with citations.
Every external link on this page was individually verified on August 1, 2026. We re-check quarterly, because government URLs move.
Twenty eight questions, six to eight minutes. Score your organization across the seven domains funders judge.
Open the tool →
The honest cost of a result that lasts, not the flattering cost of an enrollment.
Open the tool →
How exposed are you if one funder walks away? Three numbers, one clear risk read.
Open the tool →
The 20 things funders check before they fund you, in one printable list.
Get the template →
Whether your outcome data would survive a funder’s questions. Score yourself.
Get the template →
A funder-ready report structure that leads with outcomes, not activities.
Get the template →
A complete funder packet prepared with representative data. See the standard.
Get the template →
Foundations fund projects. Agencies fund delivery. The plain-language map of both.
Read the guide →
Inside the room where your proposal gets judged: scoring, compliance, past performance.
Read the guide →The most useful free tool here is the Readiness Check. Six to eight minutes, twenty eight questions, and you see exactly where to start.
Honest diagnostic. No spam. · or book a call directly →
