The Foundation Center offers searches of our research database designed according to your specifications. These searches can help you prepare a report for your board, identify funding partners, research philanthropic assets and giving in your locality, investigate possible new areas of funding activity, and identify potential grantees.

The Foundation Center's database contains current and historical financial and programmatic information on more than 70,000 grantmaking foundations. It also includes individual grant records of $10,000 or more awarded by a sample of roughly 1,000 larger foundations. Research staff can produce customized versions of the data tables and rankings we release in Foundations Today and in our benchmark studies on subsectors of the field. Searches commonly performed include summary financial data tables, recipient or foundation rankings, and tables showing grant distribution patterns by subject area, type of support, recipient type, population group, and geographic area. Here are a few examples of grantmaker requests we have fulfilled recently:

• When California grantmakers were called upon to testify before their state legislators concerning foundation payout levels and the benefits of their grantmaking to local organizations, we provided detailed statistical analyses used in testimony.

• When the C.E.O. of a national child welfare organization needed background information for a panel discussion on trends in foundation funding for child welfare, we created rankings of the largest funders of programs in adoption, foster care, and prevention of child abuse for the years 1990, 1992, and 1996.

• When the legislative affairs division of a national philanthropic association sought to inform selected Members of Congress about the impact of U.S. grantmakers in their respective states, we produced several rankings of the top foundations awarding grants and top nonprofit recipients of foundation grants by state.

• When a San Francisco Bay area foundation requested detailed information on giving patterns specific to their area of grantmaking in preparation for a conference, we generated a table showing the distribution of international grants for the social sciences by subcategory. Findings from the search were used in a speech made by the Foundation's executive director.

Searches are designed and executed by a professional search analyst experienced with the Center's statistical data. Data can be delivered on hard copy or in an electronic file. There is a fee for this service based on the data requested and the staff time required. Some of the most frequently requested statistical tables are available for free at the FC Stats area of our Web site. For information or to order a statistical search, e-mail Steven Lawrence, Director of Research, at sal@fdncenter.org, or phone him at (212) 807-2410.