Grantsmart

Grantsmart, also known as grantsmart.org, was a non-profit organization founded in 1999 [ "Alexa, The Web Information Company" [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main/grantsmart.org] Accessed April 11, 2008. ] whose mission was to provide online "free access to information that assists grant seekers in locating funding for their projects." [ Grantsmart.org “Adios” statement [http://web.mac.com/john_downing/Site/Grantsmart_Adios.html] Accessed April 11, 2008. ] In addition to a searchable database it also offered research tools and an on-line discussion forum. [ [http://web.mac.com/john_downing/Site/Grantsmart_Adios.html] Accessed April 11, 2008. ]

History

Beginning in 2000 the IRS required all United States charitable foundations to file the 990-PF form, which details information for each foundation, including the total value of all assets, the investments held by the foundation, as well as complete listings of gifts, contributions and grants paid to nonprofits during the tax year, and grants that have been approved for future payment. Fundraisers and nonprofit researchers also use 990-PF tax returns to research which individuals or corporations are supporting the foundation, and information about the foundation's officers, directors, trustees, managers and contractors, their compensation, and grant application criteria, deadlines and geographical relationships. [ Internal Revenue Service Official Website [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990pf.pdf] Accessed April 11, 2008. ] By accessing and utilizing the 990-PFs, Grantsmart made information available on all foundations, including ones lacking annual reports or websites. The Grantsmart model enabled persons and organizations seeking foundation funding to bypass print directories and use a simple, comprehensive, searchable free database. [ Marc Green, “Finding Local Funding: A Guide to State Foundation Directories,” The Grantsmanship Center, 2001. [http://www.tgci.com/magazine/Finding%20Local%20Funding.pdf] Accessed April 11, 2008. ]

Ending the project

In early 2008 the organization’s founders decided to end the project, issuing a statement online: “After eight years of providing a free, on line, comprehensive data base of tax returns from non-profit organizations we have decided to end the project. Our mission has been to provide free access to information that assists grant seekers in locating funding for their projects. By providing this information for free we encouraged others to do the same. We are pleased that others in the non profit and government agency sectors are now offering much the same information on the same terms. Our work is done and it’s time to do the next big thing.”

Equipment donations

Grantsmart announced its intention to donate the organization’s hardware, which included two Apple Xserves with dual G4 processors, mirrored system drives and SCSI boards, one Apple Xserve with dual G5 processors and a fibre channel board; two Nexsan ATAboy RAID arrays (14 ata drives) with dual power supplies and dual SCSI connections with 4 to 6 TB each. In addition they offered a single Nexsan SATAboy RAID array (14 drives) with 9 TB and a fibre channel connection. They invited applicants with a message, “If you have a great project underway that can use some or all of this hardware please drop us an email detailing your project, why it’s important and how you can use this hardware."

In addition they offered to make their database and technology, archived in a MySQL database (multithreaded, multi-user structured query language database management system) available to any organization that would continue its mission of making the information searchable for free. [ Grantsmart.org [http://web.mac.com/john_downing/Site/Grantsmart_Adios.html] Accessed April 11, 2008. ] NOZA, Inc. was chosen and in March 2008 combined Grantsmart's 990-PF database with its own searchable database of donors and nonprofit organizations. [NOZAsearch.com Official Website [http://www.nozasearch.com/pdfs/Noza_990_Database_beta_PressRelease80_FINAL.pdf] ] Grantsmart donated its Xserve and two NexSan ATAboy RAID arrays (totaling 9 Terabytes) to the SETI project at the University of California at Berkeley, and announced that in January 2008 all remaining hardware and equipment and the domain name would be auctioned on Ebay. NOZA, a searchable database dedicated to nonprofits' use, acquired the database and the domain, which now redirects to its Official website. [ [http://www.noza990pf.com] Accessed April 11, 2008. ]

References