Want to see a glimpse of the future in the Hoosier state? Drive over to White County to see the largest energy innovation in Indiana, Meadow Lake Wind Farm. The farm provides electric power to 127,000 homes year-round and heralds the answer to a very serious challenge.
Who else carries the promise of a solution to our social, economic, and ecological challenges? If you work in the nonprofit sector, you do! One obstacle to overcome every day, though, is the search for funding. Fortunately, The Grantsmanship Center is here to help! Attend our upcoming Essential Grant Skills training and you’ll obtain the power and direction to apply for grants targeted specifically to your line of work.
In the meantime, where do you go to find promising funding sources? Look below and check out our list of foundation, corporate and government grantmakers in Indiana. Click on their links to learn if they support your type of organization in your part of the state.
First, find the right funders to approach. If your mission and programs do not match their guidelines, don’t try to redesign your organization to fit their requirements. That never works. Do your homework and find a better match. We’ll help you do that!
Second, write the best grant proposal you possibly can! We’re here to guide you through that, too, during our exciting training program. If a classroom experience is not possible just now, follow the step-by-step guidance in our industry-leading textbook, Grantsmanship: Program Planning & Proposal Writing. It’s only $45, and you can order it right from the link in this paragraph. We offer several other avenues of vital support through our free resources, including articles, mini-webinars, blogs and podcasts.
Third, before you have that new grant in hand, get yourself and your team ready for the responsibilities that will come with it. At the bottom of our homepage, www.tgci.com, you can sign up for the free Winning Grants Power Pack. This great resource includes an overview of what you need to know about managing the grant before you write your proposal so that you don’t promise more than you can deliver.
How’s this for support? Indiana has over 70 Community Foundations providing funding and other services to nonprofits and schools through their own endowments and their donor advised funds. Regardless of where you live, there’s a Community Foundation not far away, including in the cities of Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Carmel, Fishers, Bloomington, Hammond, Gary, Fishers, Lafayette, Muncie, Terre Haute and Noblesville. They’re listed by County in our Community Foundations in Indiana directory, which includes the counties of Adams, Allen, Boone, Brown, Cass, Clinton, Elkhart, Fayette, Grant, Hamilton, Jennings, Madison, Marshall, Northern Indiana, Putnam, Tipton, Wayne, Whitley and a host of others.
Here are other links to elected officials and other useful agencies for grant-seeking groups in Indiana. Please let us know about others that you feel would be helpful so that we can continue to improve this listing. Thanks!
Government offices:
Governor Eric J. Holcomb - (317) 232-4567 Indianapolis, IN
Senator Joe Donnelly - (202) 224-4814 Washington, D.C.
Senator Todd Young - (202) 224-5623 Washington, D.C.
House Representative André Carson, representing Indiana’s 7th Congressional District, offers an extensive General Guide to Government Funding, listing a wide variety of funding, training and other resources for nonprofit organizations throughout the state, regardless of their home congressional districts.
State Attorney General Curtis T. Hill, Jr. also lists Resources for Nonprofits of all types.
Department of Education offers Title Grants and Support to public and charter schools.
Serve Indiana provides resources, training and guidance to nonprofit organizations, and operates Volunteer Centers in many Hoosier cities in partnership with local United Way offices (see United Way Chapter link below).
The Indiana Arts Commission is in charge of distributing grant awards and program support to arts organizations and artists in cities around the state.
If you’d like to know the names and addresses of other elected officials that represent you and your area, click here to locate them: Indiana Election Division.
Other helpful organizations:
If you’re looking to network with other nonprofits and with groups of volunteers, look no further than one of the 47 United Way Chapters in Indiana, each one dedicated to advancing human well-being and the integration of nonprofit services in its local area. Their Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network provides a list of information and training opportunities to UW members and their nonprofit partner organizations.
Association of Fundraising Professionals - Indiana State is a network of more than 370 professional fundraisers providing monthly education luncheons, brown bag series, ongoing networking events, a mentor program, and ongoing career support.
Charitable Allies, based in Indianapolis, is a charity that provides legal, educational, administrative support, training, and consulting services to Indiana nonprofits.
Charitable Advisors is a for-profit, social-purpose business that is focused on strengthening the nonprofit sector by increasing communications, sharing information about area nonprofits, highlighting national news, creating a one-stop nonprofit jobs portal and offering consulting services that help boards build sustainability and bridge leadership transitions. C.A. charges a small fee for each of its various services.
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) - Indiana distributes scholarships and manages volunteer activities within the AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs. Interested in hosting a few of their participants? Click on the link above and give them a call.
Fractured Atlas - Indiana provides Fiscal Sponsorship support to arts organizations such as the Magic Thread Cabaret in Indianapolis and the Ballet Theatre of Indiana in Carmel.
The Fundraising School - University of Indiana operates within the University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. They offer 18 courses to develop your professional fundraising skills, and they confer Certificates in Nonprofit Executive Leadership and in Fundraising Management to individuals who complete their programs.
Hoosiers by the Numbers focuses specifically on labor market information for Indiana. These statistics are particularly helpful for schools and nonprofit job training and community re-entry programs.
The Indiana Public Library provides an online list of federal and state government grant departments and education-related foundation grant sources along with various resources to help with preparing proposals.
The Indianapolis Public Library offers an extensive and exceptionally helpful website database called Nurturing the Nonprofit Organization: Nonprofit Resources, featuring articles, website links, support organizations, newsletters and other services for nonprofit organizations at all stages of development.
The Nonprofit Alliance of Monroe County, serving the counties of Owen & Greene as well, strengthens the nonprofit sector through communication, collaboration, professional development, outreach and a list of available grants in the area. Cities they support include Bean Blossom, Benton, Bloomington, Clear Creek, Ellettsville, Harrodsburg, Indian Creek, Perry, Polk, Richland, Salt Creek, Stinesville, Van Buren, Washington and several other towns and townships.
The Paul Clarke Nonprofit Resource Center in Allen County provides a variety of training and resources designed to enrich the strengths of its local nonprofit organizations in the cities of Fort Wayne, Leo-Cedarville, Huntertown, Harlan, Monroeville, Hoagland, New Haven, Woodburn, Grabill and Aboite.
SAVI (The Polis Center's Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators Program) is another free online resource providing data focused on the central Indiana counties of Boone, Brown, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Putnam and Shelby. Along with the data, SAVI provides the tools to visualize and analyze the data for nonprofit strategy development and proposal writing preparation. Statistics include historical and current data on Poverty, Education, Housing, Crime, Population and Community Assets.
STATS Indiana provides easy, one-stop, online access to critical statistics for counties, cities, towns, townships, regions, census tracts and more within the state.