PhilanTech and GrantStation Release The State of Grantseeking Report

Washington, DC and Fairbanks, AK (October 14, 2010) -- PhilanTech and GrantStation announced today that they had released the first State of Grantseeking Report.

The State of Grantseeking Report presents the findings from an online survey conducted between August 7 and September 7, 2010 to capture a snapshot of the state of grantseeking in the U.S. Over 800 respondents ranged in size from volunteer-run grassroots organizations to large national nonprofits.

GrantStation and PhilanTech, organizations that help grantseeking and grantmaking organizations, initiated the State of Grantseeking survey to take the pulse of grantseeking organizations to see how they were faring, determine some of the challenges they faced, and provide a benchmark to gauge change in months to come.

On release of the survey, Dahna Goldstein, Founder of PhilanTech, said “Other surveys and studies published in the last several months have reflected the challenging state of fundraising in the current environment. Donations across the sector, regardless of the source, have been reduced as a result of the economy, and many nonprofits continue to struggle. Our survey results were consistent with other findings.”

According to Cynthia Adams, CEO of GrantStation “Nonprofits clearly face numerous challenges in grantseeking, including the amount of time they must spend preparing grant requests, often submitting numerous applications in order to receive only a few awards.”

Several of the survey highlights included:

• Forty-two percent of survey respondents said that the grants awarded were smaller, in comparison with the first six months of 2009;
• Small nonprofits seem particularly challenged; 26% of nonprofits with budgets under $50,000 had not submitted a grant request in 2010, while 95% of respondents with budgets over $250,000 had;
• Many of the grants awarded were under $10,000, including 161 under $1,000; and,
• A “typical” nonprofit in this survey received grants between $7,000 and $50,000.

“The good news,” said Ms. Adams, “is that the majority of the organizations that submitted multiple requests received at least one grant.”

“While it’s still tough going out there for many nonprofits, we hope the results of this survey will be useful for grantseekers in thinking about how to prioritize their grantseeking activities,” said Ms. Goldstein, “and we look forward to following up this initial research with the next State of Grantseeking survey in early 2011.

To download the full State of Grantseeking Report click here.

About GrantStation

GrantStation.com, Inc. (GrantStation) offers nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies the opportunity to identify potential funding sources for their programs or projects as well as resources to mentor these organizations through the grantseeking process. 

GrantStation provides access to a searchable database of private grantmakers that accept inquiries and proposals from a variety of organizations; federal deadlines, which are updated twice a week; links to state funding agencies; and a growing database of international grantmakers. In addition, GrantStation publishes two e-newsletters highlighting upcoming funding opportunities, the weekly GrantStation Insider, which focuses on opportunities for U.S. nonprofit organizations, and the monthly GrantStation International Insider, which focuses on international funding opportunities. 

Find out more at www.grantstation.com.

About PhilanTech, LLC

PhilanTech creates and provides technology to help social sector organizations do what they do....even better. Through innovative online products and services, PhilanTech helps organizations maximize social impact while minimizing environmental impact. The PhilanTrack online grants management system helps funders and grant recipients streamline the grants administration process to focus more resources on program and service delivery.

Find out more at www.philantech.com.