I am loooking for organizations that may give a college equestrian
team grant money. I have no official affiliation to the college, but
want to help out the team. I tried the Google search, but I got over
10,000 hits, due to poor search skill. Please find me the grant
organizations. The college is a private co-ed (ex-Chatholic) college
in Rochester New York, USA.

Greetings!  The location of grant funds is not difficult but the
process is not well-known either. I think this is probably due, in
part, to the fact that philanthropic foundations would be swamped with
requests from people who don't know how to properly author a grant if
all the foundations were just thrown online.  The best location for
philanthropic foundations is The Foundation Center and if you are not
an experienced grant writer then you would need to polish those skills
as many philanthropic foundations have exact criteria they want to see
in a grant.

The Foundation Center is the best place to find foundations.  Its
mission states it was created "to support and improve institutional
philanthropy by promoting public understanding of the field and
helping grantseekers succeed. To achieve our mission, we:
   Collect, organize, and communicate information on U.S. philanthropy
   Conduct and facilitate research on trends in the field
   Provide education and training on the grantseeking process
   Ensure public access to information and services through our World
Wide Web site, print and electronic publications, five
library/learning centers, and a national network of cooperating
collections."

The Foundation Center was founded in 1956 and is "the nation's leading
authority on institutional philanthropy and is dedicated to serving
grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and
the general public."

Now, how do you make use of The Foundation Center and its listings? 
Well, you may subscribe to their online service for $19.95 per month
but you may also make free use of the software in some public
libraries.  I took a free course at a large city public library which
taught me how to navigate the software (how to search for what I
needed), and I recommend you do the same - it was a two-hour free
course and the instructor taught me how to find the foundations that
would meet the needs of the organizations for which I was looking.  I
searched "foundation center rochester library" and found they do
participate.  Here is the library phone and address:

ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY
Social Sciences
115 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604
(716) 428-8120 

When utilizing the Foundation software, the more specific a search,
the more instutions are returned.  And, the more creative the grant
proposal is to each foundation, the better the chances of receiving
money for a project from multiple foundations.

For instance, in order to fund an equestrian program you might choose
to apply to foundations using the criteria of "rescued horses formerly
mistreated."  That way you could apply for funds from many places that
are philanthropic towards animals.  Then you might tailor another
grant application to be for a certain breed of horse.  Then you might
tailor a thrid grant towards "emotional bonding acheived through the
grooming of horses."  One foundation might give money for a horse
breed, one would give for psychological use, and one would give funds
for formerly abused animals.  This way, you receive funding from many
sources for different aspects of the same equestrian program. 
Creative thinking is paramount to receive as much funding as possible.
(NOTE: All funds for which you apply and are granted must be used for
the aspets of the program you specified in the grant but all programs
have many aspects!)

I did a sector search at The Foundation Center using "horses" as the
search term.  It returned a list of related horse info, one being that
the Gennessee Brewing Company was donating money to Rochester Arts for
some fiberglass horses to be placed downtown.  So, from this you can
deduce that the Gennessee company has an interest in horses.  With
this information, you would search the Foundation software for
Gennessee and then research their available grants.  This is also way
to find foundations for funding availability.  From that Rochester
article (http://www.artsrochester.org/news/pr0009hrs.htm):

"From the 150 corporate sponsorships alone, Genesee Brewing Company
will donate $25,000 to each of the following selected charities: Arts
& Cultural Council for Greater Rochester, Camp Good Days and Special
Times, Children's Hospital at Strong, Hillside Work Scholarship
Connection and Wilson Commencement Park."

The above is arts-related (and the grantseekers for that tailored
their grants for arts - you might conceive of an angle to get funding
for your project from them).

In summation, the grantseeking process consists of more than just
finding funds as there is a protocol for applying for the funds.  All
foundations have their own ways they like to receive a grant, and the
Foundation software contains these facts.  That's why it's important
to know how to navigate it.

I also searched "grants for equestrian programs US" and found some
sites for you to consider including equestrian grants from the Kellogg
foundation and USA Equestrian.  Some foundations are area-specific and
some are not but, again, the Foundation Center software spells out
everything you need to know about each foundation.

In addition, there is an EIN search online whereby one may search for
the tax returns from foundations.  The Foundation Center software
lists all EIN numbers so you can take that and go to
http://www.guidestar.org and view the tax returns for these
foundations to see whee they gave money the previous year.

I hope this information is of assistance and should you need
clarification, please ask though I am not certain what else I could
add: familiarize yourself with the Foundation software and you will
find all that can be found concerning grants for your desired program.
 Good luck!


SEARCH TERMS AND LINKS:

"philanthropy web" Google search
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=philanthropy+web

The Foundation Center
http://www.fdncenter.org/

"foundation center rochester library" Google search
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=foundation+center+rochester+library

The Foundation Center cooperating collections New York listings
http://fdncenter.org/collections/ccny.html

Foundation Center sector search (NOT a foundation search, a sector
search - you must have access to the software by buying online or
using at a library to find philanthropic entities and review their
grantmaking criteria but this is still a useful tool)
http://fdncenter.org/searchzone/

"grants for equestrian programs US" Google search
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=grants+for+equestrian+programs+US

Fifteen WVU-affiliated programs earn Kellogg grants
http://www.nis.wvu.edu/releases/Kellogg15.htm

USA Equestrian
http://www.equestrian.org/development/funds.asp

"nonprofit organization database"  Google search
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=nonprofit+organization+database

GuideStar (EIN search)
http://www.guidestar.org

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 09 Aug 2002 22:43 PDT

I wanted to add that dexterpexter's comments contain what I believe is
excellent advice especially "be sure to go through official channels
such as the university development office before sending out
requests."  If you are not a seasoned grantwriter, I would suggest
retaining the services of one.  Normally the cost for a grantwriter to
write a grant is 10% of the grant money when it is rewarded, so
grantwriters are oftentimes working on spec.

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 15 Aug 2002 18:12 PDT

Thank you for your kind comment and your generous rating of my
research.  I am happy you are pleased with my work and I am delighted
I could be of assistance to your quest.

Thank you for your impressive answer. You represent Google Answers very well.

I have faced a comparable dilemma requesting funding for my university
robotics team, but this holds exceptional interest to me since I used
to show jump and desire to see these teams do well.    I cannot really
give you specifics, but instead will give you the advice that has
carried me well in finding sponsorship.  First, most organizations
will only support a team if it is non-profit and looking to advance
something in some way.  Usually it cannot be religious-driven or
gender-specific, unless you wish to pursue minority awards.  You must
have the tax code and designation for your university ready before
making formal requests, and have a fairly detailed plan on how the
money will be used.  Most organizations will not dish out significant
money without itemized lists to assure that the money is being
properly and prudently spent, so meeting with the team and drafting a
plan would be beneficial to your cause.  You must also submit a formal
letter to the appropriate offices, explaining your need and how the
money or support will benefit you, and how their organization will
indirectly benefit from their funding your project.

Often philanthropist organizations are directed toward community
involvement, encouraging children in education, and advancing minority
needs.  Our project held appeal because we are an engineering group
who plans to visit youth to encourage them to pursue degrees in math
and science.  You will have to explain that you are a private
university and thus not receiving public funds, and will have to make
sure that you do not request money from multiple organizations that
are mutually ran.

I suggest trying corporate sponsorship.  I got my ideas for corporate
sponsorship by watching NASCAR, writing down the car sponsors, and
then finding their “giving back to the community” pages on their
websites, and then writing them and explaining our situation.  You may
wish to find an edge…like encouraging women in sports, or drawing men
into a sport previously dominated by women.  (Like English riding
often is)  You could try writing different breed associations.  The
Morgan Horse Association hands out tons of scholarship money to
individual equestrian athletes, and may be interested in helping out
an under-funded team.  Try doing fundraising.  Take horses out to the
county fairs and perform…then kindly ask for donations.  There are
tons of breed and riding associations out there.

Product sponsorship is big, too.  Maybe try StateLine Tack, or one of
the saddle companies.  If most of the team wears Lexington breeches or
coats, then perhaps this could be a special incentive for that company
to help you out.  If you use ShowSheen, maybe write to them and ask
for funding.  Corporate sponsorship is very popular nowadays.  Also,
try to contact alumni of the university who used to participate on the
team.  Alumni gifts are also becoming more and more popular,
especially at our college.

Good luck to you and if you have any more specific questions, I would
be happy to help.  Unfortunately, I can only suggest the names above
and not guarantee that they will help you, but it is worth trying. 
Heck, we are contacting the company that makes the batteries we use on
our robot to ask for funding.  Money is good…

Good luck,
Dexterpexter

Oh, one more thing before I search for you some organizations:  it is
very important that the university be notified of every business or
organization you plan to contact.  Otherwise, your helpfulness could
be hurtfull...  How?  Well, at our university, all outgoing money
requests must be approved through the Development office.  Any
unauthorized requests for money, whether made by us or on our behalf,
will land us in deep horse doody...no pun intended.  You see, the
university might already have an undisclosed agreement or be planning
an agreement with an organization to fund, say...the biology
department of the school.  Now, lets say that you send out your
letters and the company suddenly receives two requests for money. 
They might be mighty mad at the university for their nagging for
money, and withdraw all financial support.  Then not only would the
riding team be hurt, but so would the university.  So, I must forwarn
that your helpfulness might be quite admirable, but please be sure to
go through official channels such as the university development office
before sending out requests.

Good luck, and I will try to hunt down some specific organizations for
you, especially ones with a positive track record for funding teams
such as this one.

-dexterpexter