Foundation is a single word covering four quite different organisations, and an application written for one of them will read wrong to the others. A community foundation pools local donors' money and gives it back to the place it came from. A private foundation spends one family's or one endowment's money against published priorities. A family foundation is a private foundation small enough that the family still decides in the room. A corporate foundation gives a company's money with the company's interests visible. Knowing which you are writing to changes what you emphasise.
What a community foundation is, and why it is the usual first stop
A community foundation holds many donor funds for one geography and makes grants within it. That structure has two consequences for an applicant: the geography is absolute, so being outside it is fatal however good the work is, and the decision is often made by a local committee of people who may know your organisation. Applications are typically smaller, the cycles are regular and published, and the relationship is durable, which makes them the sensible place for a small nonprofit to start.
Private foundations and published priorities
A private foundation gives from a single endowment against priorities it publishes and generally sticks to. Its Form 990-PF, which is public, lists every grant it made, which is the most reliable prospecting document in the sector: sizes, recipients and patterns are all visible. If your work is not within a stated priority, the answer is almost always no regardless of merit, and reading two years of grants tells you more than the guidelines do.
Family foundations and the shorter distance to a person
A family foundation is a private foundation where the trustees are the family and the decision is made in a room rather than by a programme officer. Applications are often short, sometimes a letter, and the process is less formal. That informality is not a lower bar: the decision turns more on relationship and personal interest, and the useful work is the conversation before the application rather than the application itself.
Corporate foundations and what the company gets
A corporate foundation gives with the company's interests in view: its markets, its employees, its reputation. That is not cynicism, it is the frame you should write in. The strongest corporate applications name what the company gets that it can see, whether employee volunteering, a local presence or a visible association, and are honest that this is part of the arrangement.
Questions people ask about local community foundation grants
How do I find local community foundation grants?
Start with the foundation for your county or metro area; almost every part of the US has one. Their guidelines and deadlines are published and their committees are local.
Where can I see what a private foundation has funded?
Its Form 990-PF, which is public and lists every grant. Two years of grant lists is better prospecting than any guideline page.
Do family foundations accept unsolicited applications?
Many do not, and say so. Where they do, the application is often a letter, and the conversation before it matters more than the document.