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Funding: Search Tips
This section provides tips on performing effective searches. If you
are unfamiliar with searching, these step-by-step instructions and tips
will help you get relevant results. For descriptions of the fields, see
the field help text. For more assistance
with searching, read the Frequently Asked Questions.
Performing a Simple Search
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Decide on a single word or concept that describes your need. Simply enter a word(s) in the appropriate field(s).
For example, if you are searching for funding opportunities for the homeless, enter "homeless"
in the Search all Text field. Click on Search.
Searching Phrases
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If you want to search for two or more words next to each other in that
order, you must use quotes.
For example, to search for all funding opportunities in either San Diego
or Los Angeles, enter the following:
Truncation
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Right-hand truncation is available in this database by using an asterisk.
Using truncation enables you to search for more than one form of a word
by entering a root word and placing an asterisk at the end of it.
For example, if you enter the term "child*" in the Funder field,
the database will search for all funding opportunities with the root
"child" in the Funder name.
Your results will include these titles:
Friends of Rainbow Children Foundation: General Fund United Childrens Fund: General Fund Announcement Hasbro Children's Foundation: General Fund Announcement Ronald McDonald Children's Charities: General Fund Announcement
Punctuation
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The system does not understand most punctuation. If you are using any
form of punctuation in your search and get an error message or no results,
remove the punctuation and try your search again.
Operator to Connect Terms Within Fields
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The "Operator within fields" is the operator used to link terms within
fields. From the pull-down menu, you may choose either "and" or "or."
Operator Within Fields-and
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If you select "and," the database will search for
funding opportunities that have all of the words you enter.
Example:
To find funding opportunities that have both the words "drug" and "abuse"
anywhere in the database, enter the following:
Operator Within Fields-or
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If you select "or," the database will search for
occurrences of any of the terms you enter. Use this operator if you
are searching for synonyms.
Example:
To find funding opportunities from either the Ford or Kellogg Foundations,
enter the following:
Your results will include these funding opportunities:
Ford Foundation: General Fund Announcement.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation: General Fund Announcement.
Operators to Connect the Fields
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The "Operator to connect the fields below" is the operator used to
link together the terms you have entered in the different fields. From
the pull-down menu, you may choose either "and" or "or."
Operator to Connect the Fields-and
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If you select "and," the database will link all fields for which you
have entered information.
Example:
To find funding opportunities for project grants dealing with mental
health, enter the following:
Operator to Connect the Fields-or
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If you select "or," the database will search for all occurrences of
terms in any of the fields.
Example:
To find funding opportunities from the Chicago Foundation for Women
or in Texas, enter the following in the "Funder" and "Location" fields:
Refining Your Search
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If You Find Too Little:
If you find that you are not getting any funding opportunities, or not
getting as many as you would like, you need to broaden your search.
Here are a few options:
Remove one of the terms from your search. If you are using too many
terms, you might be restricting the search too much. Look for misspellings in the terms you have entered. Change one of the terms to a broader term. For example, replace
"peer counseling" with "counseling." Change an acronym to the full name of an organization. For example,
replace NAPWA with "National Association of People With AIDS."
If You Find Too Much:
If you get too many funding opportunities, you need to narrow your search.
Here are a few options:
Make your wording more specific. For example, change your request
for "research" to "clinical trials." Add another word into a field. If you are searching for the word
"health," you are likely to find too many records. Limit the search
by entering another word to the same field, such as "mental." Also,
add a term to the Funder, Type of Support, or Date
fields.
Interpreting Your Search Results
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When you select Search, the database runs your search. The
results will appear on your screen.
The database will display the number of funding opportunities you
specified on the search page. (If you did not choose a number, the database
will display the first 50 funding opportunities.) Funding opportunities
are displayed by Fund Title, Type of Support, and Application Deadline.
Click on a funding opportunity to review its contents.
Stopwords
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A stopword is a word that you cannot use to retrieve documents. The three
operators and, or and not are stopwords. The system
will give you an error message if you search any of the stopwords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Included here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Funding
Database. If you would like to suggest a FAQ for this list,
send a message to us.
Question: Why doesn't the Funding Database retrieve any records on
my topic?
Answer: It is possible that the database may not find any records
for the topic you request. This might happen for several reasons:
You may be searching on a subject outside the scope of this database.
The words you used may be misspelled.
Your search may be too specific. You do not need to use every line on the search form.
Each line adds another restriction to the search.
Question: My search results gave me too many records. How can I narrow
my search?
Answer: To narrow your results, enter another term. You may enter
this term either in the same field or in another field.
Question: Does it matter if I use upper or lower case letters?
Answer: No, the database does not recognize the difference between
upper and lower case letters.
Question: How do I know what words to use?
Answer: If you think the database should have information on
your topic but you are not finding any records, you may be using a term
that is different from the one the database uses. Try to think of another
way to phrase the concept you're looking for. Also see Refining
Your Search.
Question: Why don't all the fields show up for each funding opportunity?
Answer: Fields that do not show up do not have data.
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