Where does a nonprofit organization go for funding?

Nonprofit agencies face an everdecreasing funding sources. Federal, state and county money for nonprofits is diminishing. As more agencies are established to meet the evergrowing need for services, the pot available to nonprofits gets smaller.

There are regional and national funders who may be compatible partners in providing capital for programs, projects or just for operating expenses but it is up to the nonprofit organizations to reach out to find these partnerships and tell their stories.

A new resource available to nonprofit organizations is the Southwest Florida Community Foundation Cooperating Collection. The Community Foundation was accepted as a site for the Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center in New York.

What does this mean for the nonprofits and the communities we serve?

This resource is an in-depth, comprehensive database of United States grantmakers, their fields of interest and their grants; accessible knowledge for the nonprofit sector. The Center also administers research, education and training programs designed to advance philanthropy at every level. The Foundation Center's goal is to provide the most up-to-date information to serve a variety of external and internal audiences. The audiences will include grantmakers, grantseekers, researchers and students, the media and policymakers. Grantseekers will be able to zero in on regional grantmakers as well as national ones.

The Foundation Center in New York is a leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofit organizations and the grantmakers supporting them with tools they can use and information they can trust.

This resource is available to area nonprofits at the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. Nonprofits may sign up to use these programs to access the many resources available to strengthen their organization. The flexibility of this database provides the following assistance:

• United States grantmakers with their assets, grants, trends and sample RFPs

• Nonprofit literature

• FAQs, a resource for questions on the funding process, nonprofit management & information about the grantmakers

• Nonprofit management and funding processes

• Resource lists on evaluation, technology, and board governance

• Online tutorials on how to use the programs

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has also established a resource lending library of books, articles, and publications for nonprofit organizations to use. We will be adding to this library in order to continue to stay current on the newest trends in philanthropy.

There will be a presentation of this cooperating collection at the next Gulf Coast Society of Fundraising Executives at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Call Nida Eluna at 332-5346 for reservations.

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation's Cooperating Collection will be available to the community beginning Oct. 29. Agencies wanting to use this collection will need to call to set up a time to come in and use the database. There are two computer stations available. The Cooperating Collection will be open from 9-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and it will be closed when the Foundation offices are closed.

For more information on the Southwest Florida Community Foundation Cooperating Collection, call Carol McLaughlin, Chief Program Officer, at 274- 5900.