Going Deeper — Enriched Funder Profiles

A match score tells you a funder is worth considering. An enriched profile tells you how to approach them. This is where prospecting shifts from discovery to intelligence — turning raw data into the context you need to decide whether and how to pursue a funder.

What an Enriched Profile Contains

When you move past the initial match, you need deeper information. An enriched funder profile brings together data from multiple sources into a single view:

Giving history

How much has this funder given, to whom, and for what purpose over the past 2-5 years? Patterns in giving history reveal what a funder actually prioritizes, beyond what they state publicly.

Financial health

Total assets, annual giving as a percentage of assets, endowment trajectory. A funder with a growing endowment and stable giving is different from one drawing down reserves.

Geographic patterns

Where do they actually give? Not just what state or region — but is the giving concentrated in certain cities? Rural or urban? National or hyperlocal?

Recipient profile

What kinds of organizations do they fund? What's the typical budget size of their grantees? How many years in operation? This tells you whether your organization fits their grantee profile.

Grant characteristics

Typical grant size, duration, type (project vs. general operating vs. capacity building). Median and range matter — a funder with a $50K median and a $10K-$200K range is different from one with a $50K median and a $40K-$60K range.

Trend signals

Is this funder increasing or decreasing giving in your area? Have they added new program areas recently? Are they growing or contracting overall?

Reading 990 Data

What 990s actually tell you

Form 990-PF (for private foundations) and Form 990 (for public charities) are filed annually with the IRS and become public record. The most useful sections for prospecting: Part XV (990-PF) lists every grant made that year — recipient, amount, and purpose description. Part IX shows total expenses including grants paid. Part II shows net assets, revealing the funder’s financial capacity. These filings are available through ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, Candid, and other services. The lag is typically 12-18 months — a funder’s 2024 filing might not be available until mid-2025 or later.

990 data is a solid starting point for understanding a funder’s actual behavior. But it’s backward-looking. A funder’s most recent filing reflects decisions made one to two years ago. Pair it with current information — their website, recent press, and any direct communications — to get the full picture.

Turning Data Into Intelligence

Raw data isn’t useful until it answers your questions. When you’re reading an enriched profile, you’re looking for answers to specific things:

Should I pursue this funder? Does the giving history confirm alignment? Is the grant size appropriate? Do they fund organizations like mine?

How should I approach them? Is this a cold outreach or do I have a connection? Do they accept unsolicited proposals or only invited applications? Is there a letter of inquiry process?

When should I act? What’s their funding cycle? When are deadlines? Is there a rolling application or a fixed window?

What’s my angle? Based on their giving patterns, which of my programs aligns most strongly? What language do they use in their guidelines that I should echo?

An enriched funder profile isn’t just data — it’s the strategic context you need to decide whether to pursue a funder and how to position your organization. The best prospectors don’t just find funders — they understand them before they make contact.

In Grantable

In Grantable, enriched funder profiles are generated automatically when you investigate a prospect. The AI pulls 990 data, analyzes giving patterns, maps geographic focus, and writes a narrative brief explaining the funder’s priorities, trajectory, and fit with your organization. You get the intelligence without doing the research — and as you interact with the profile (adding notes, updating status, recording conversations), the intelligence deepens.

When to Stop Researching

There’s a point of diminishing returns. Once you know the funder’s focus, capacity, typical grants, and approach process, you know enough to make a go/no-go decision. Don’t spend an hour building a perfect profile for a funder you’re going to pursue anyway — invest that time in the proposal instead.

Pro tip

If you’ve answered the four questions above — should I pursue? how to approach? when to act? what’s my angle? — you have enough intelligence. Move forward.

Check your understanding

You're reviewing an enriched profile for a funder whose 990 shows $2M in annual giving across 40 grants, with a median grant of $35K. Their website says they fund 'innovation in K-12 education.' But their grantee list shows 30 of 40 grants went to after-school programs. You run a literacy program. What's the most important insight?

Key Takeaways

Enriched profiles go beyond match scores — giving history, financial health, geographic patterns, and grant characteristics
990 data shows what funders actually fund, but lags by 12-18 months — pair with current sources
Turn data into intelligence by answering: should I pursue? how to approach? when to act? what's my angle?
Know when to stop researching — once you can answer those four questions, move to action

Next Lesson

You’ve discovered funders and evaluated them in depth. Now you need a working structure to hold it all — a prospect table that organizes your opportunities and drives action.