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Corporate Grants

Many corporations in the United States set aside five percent or more of their profits for corporate grants. Corporate grantmaking is the means responsible businesses take when making a financial commitment to the community where they are headquartered or where have operating locations. Corporate grants, like foundation grants, are generally awarded to nonprofit organizations having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, health care centers, Native American tribal organizations, and other nonprofit community based organizations. Corporations that award corporate grants usually have a website link labeled: community relations, corporate giving, local initiatives, or grantmaking. There are over 1,300 company-sponsored foundations that give grants in the U.S. Three are listed below as examples:

Wal-Mart
Ford Motor
Verizon

A great deal of information about corporate grants is offered for free through Guidestar and The Foundation Center. The Foundation Directory Online and Big Online are subscription services but may be available for free at your local library. Through these subscriptions you can retrieve an overview of the corporate grants you are targeting, including a list of officers, purpose, funding interests, geographic preferences, and grantmaking history. Hoovers Online also has information on corporations that give grants.

Guidestar publishes the IRS 990 forms for all corporate foundations in the United States and has records available since 2002 to review for free. Guidestar only requires that you log in with an e-mail address and password so that they know who is using their site. Demonstrations on how to use the Guidestar website and Foundation Directory Online for identifying new funding prospects for corporate grants is provided in the site below.