Find Foundation Grants & Reach Program Officers

Overview

Foundation money moves on relationships, not portals. A funder announces a new initiative, shifts its giving priorities, or files a 990 that reveals exactly what it funds and who it funds — and the nonprofits already known to that program officer are the ones invited to apply. Cold applications to foundations that have never heard of you are the slowest, lowest-yield path there is.

This Hound watches foundation giving signals continuously, matches funders to your mission and geography, finds the program officer behind the money, and opens a warm, early conversation — so your name is familiar long before you submit.

How to set it up

Four things to brief your Hound. This is the exact configuration behind this play.

A · Describe the opportunity

This is the brief every source is filtered against. You describe what you're looking for in plain language, add keywords to sharpen it, then set the structured criteria.

Tell Forest what you're looking for:

"I'm looking for private foundations whose actual giving matches our mission — funders who have granted to organizations like ours, in our issue area and geography, at a size that's meaningful for us. I care most about evidence of what they really fund (their 990 grant history), not just their stated priorities. I want signals early: new initiatives, priority shifts, and new program officers. Skip foundations that only fund by invitation with no path in, funders outside our geography, and anyone whose giving history shows they don't fund our type of work."

Keywords to watch for: foundation grant · new initiative · request for proposals · letter of inquiry · LOI · grantmaking priorities · program officer · [your issue area] · [your region]

Fields to extract: funder_name · giving_area · typical_grant_size · geography · recent_grantees · application_type · deadline · ein · total_giving

Match criteria:

• ✓ 990 grant history shows they fund work like yours

• ✓ Geography includes your service area

• ✓ Typical grant size ≥ your minimum

• ✗ Exclude invitation-only funders with no relationship path (unless flagged for long-term cultivation)

• ✗ Exclude funders whose giving history contradicts their stated priorities

B · Choose the sources to monitor

Foundation giving is public — every private foundation files a 990-PF listing exactly who it funded and for how much. That's free, and it's better evidence than any stated priority.

Public foundation data (free — connected by default) 🟢

• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — projects.propublica.org/nonprofits — Free, searchable 990 filings. Start here. A 990-PF lists every grant a foundation made — the single best signal of what they'll fund next.

• IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search — apps.irs.gov/app/eos — Official filings, including recently filed 990-PFs.

• Foundation websites 🔵 — bring your own link — Search "[funder name] grants" and paste their grants/RFP page. Many announce new initiatives and open RFPs here first, weeks before it's indexed anywhere else.

News & Press 🟡 default source, always on — reads the open web against your brief for new giving initiatives, large gift announcements, and foundation leadership changes — a new program officer re-opens doors that were closed to you under the last one.

Already pay for Candid or Instrumentl? Connect it (optional) 💳

• If you subscribe to Candid / Foundation Directory or Instrumentl, Forest can read them alongside the public sources. Optional — the 990 data above is the same underlying evidence, free.

C · Define the ICP to reach

Which people to find and reach at each funder, in priority order, with fallbacks.

1. Program Officer — Primary — owns grants in your issue area — PRIMARY

2. Grants Manager / Program Associate — Handles intake and early questions

3. Executive Director / Foundation President — Fallback at small family foundations — FALLBACK

A note on tone. Program officers are relationship people who are pitched constantly and can smell a template instantly. The only outreach that works here is specific: reference a real grant they made and a real connection to your work. If the Hound can't fill {{recent_grantee}} with something meaningful, don't send.

D · Email & LinkedIn sequence

The play the Hound runs for each match. Deliberately slower and warmer than a B2B cadence — this is cultivation, not conversion.

Email · Day 0 Hi {{first_name}} — I've been following {{funder_name}}'s work in {{giving_area}}, and your support of {{recent_grantee}} particularly resonated with us. We do closely related work in {{geography}}: {{one_line_about_your_work}}. I'm not writing to pitch — I'd genuinely like to understand whether our approach fits your priorities before we'd ever submit anything. Open to a brief call?

↓ Wait 4 days · no reply

LinkedIn · connection request · Day 4 Hi {{first_name}} — I admire {{funder_name}}'s work in {{giving_area}} and would value connecting.

↓ Wait 5 days · no reply

Email · Day 9 · follow-up Following up once — I know program officers field a great deal of this. No agenda beyond introducing our work in {{giving_area}} so we're a known quantity if it's ever relevant. Happy to send a one-page overview, or to leave you be.

⏸ Any reply on either channel pauses the whole sequence — the conversation is yours.