Funding

The Foundation Directory Online® is the largest database of private foundations and corporate grant funding programs available. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) purchased a campus-wide subscription of the Foundation Directory Online® (FDO®) professional version.

The FDO® professional version will allow JSU faculty, staff, and students to search for fellowships, grants, or scholarships. To search the FDO® , just use a computer that is connected to the JSU network. All computers on the JSU network will allow access to the FDO®.

To use the Find Funding search bar on the FDO® homepage, just connect to the FDO® and type in a description of your need.  Typically, a mission/issue and geographic location of where your work will occur is a great way to start.

A step-by-step video how to use the search bar is available.

When you are ready to conduct your search, click the dark blue search field button.

You may search the FDO® by using Advanced Search and Filters. From the main FDO® page, click on the Advanced Search and Filters link to the right of the search box.

Once you click Advanced Search and Filters, a box will display containing these search fields: Subject area; Geographic focus; Population served; Organization name; Location; and Who's who. Often, there is not one perfect set of search criteria and the best possible set of prospects are identified by conducting multiple searches, using different words/phrases to describe the work you do (subject) and where (geographic focus). When you are ready to conduct your search click the dark blue Search field button.

As a tip, including who you are serving (e.g., poor; veterans; homeless; undergraduates), what you are doing for them (e.g., job training; counseling, academic support), and why it's needed (e.g., employment, workforce development, college success) can be very important to the quality of your search results, but in some instances, your search may be too specific causing you to miss some funding opportunities. It is recommended that you try different search criteria patterns.

When you are using the Advanced Search function you can also apply Additional Filters to your search. Click on the blue Additional Filters link to the right of the Advanced Search window. When you click on Additional Filters a box will display with these additional filters: Support Strategy; Transaction type; Organization type; keyword and EIN (EIN is the Employee Identifications Number assigned by the federal government to the organization). Clicking in the first three (3) fields returns a drop-down list of information that you can apply to your search.

You may also enter a keyword that corresponds to your interest. When you are ready to conduct your search click the dark blue Search field button.

To access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from a FDO® search page, just scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click of FAQs on the lower left side of the screen. On the FAQ page, click on Foundation Directory for questions/answers about the FDO®.

If you have any problems with the FDO®, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs at 256-782-8144 or at mwetherholt@jsu.edu.

To assist you in creating seraches that will provide appropriate results you may access the FDO® search terms and their definitions.

The page contains the FDO® taxonomy used by the database. Clicking on subjects, populations, organization type, transaction type, support strategies, and resources will display useful information that you can use to refine your searches to identify applicable funding programs. 

 

If you have used SPIN^® before and have forgotten your SPIN^® username and/or password, please email mwetherholt@jsu.edu or lgarner@jsu.edu for assistance. For a new password, you will receive an email directing you to reset your SPIN^® password.

If you have any questions regarding SPIN^® or its use, contact the OSP at 256-782-8144 or mwetherholt@jsu.edu or lgarner@jsu.edu.

Go to the MyJaxState Portal and on the Employee card

• Click, More, then click, “Grants SPIN Database”.
• Click, “Need to create a new profile?”
• Click the dropdown box and scroll down to Jacksonville State University and select it.
• Next, enter your First Name, Last Name, Email Address and a Username (The email address you provide the system is the one SPIN^® will use to email you funding opportunities that match your profile should you choose that free service).
• Then check, “I am not a robot” and then click “Save”, then close out of SPIN^®.

SPIN^® will send an email to an OSP SPIN^® Administrator immediately who will activate your SPIN^® Profile upon receipt of the email.

It may take a few minutes, but you will receive an Introductory email from the SPIN^® server that says your Profile must be approved by an OSP SPIN^® Administrator. New SPIN^® profiles are approved by OSP SPIN^® Administrators within minutes of receiving a new SPIN^® Profile request.

Once an OSP SPIN^® Administrator approves your profile, you will receive an email from SPIN^® that contains the username you entered and a link to set a password for your Profile. Click the “Reset Password” link displayed on the email.

You’ll access a page where you will create and confirm your SPIN^® password and then click “Reset”.

Then, you’ll be directed to the SPIN^® login page where you can access the database.

SPIN^® provides three ways to search the funding program database which are: Basic Search which is a free text search and works like Google^®, a Keyword search (Highly recommended by the OSP) and an Advanced Search.

Just click on “Search” on the left side of the black bar to gain access. Select “Keywords” and a page will open that has the word, “Keywords” in blue text above a search field. Click on the blue “Keywords” link.

After you click on the blue “Keywords” link a page will display with a text box containing Category 1 Keywords. Click a Category 1 Keyword that meets your research and/or programmatic interests. Note: You may repeat this step repeatedly, but for now, just click a single Category 1 Keyword. For example, select “Education”.

Another text box will display. Now, look at the text box with Category 2 Keywords. You’ll notice that Category 2 Keywords are more detailed than Category 1 Keywords. Some Category 2 Keywords have “>” displayed on the far-right side. This “>” means that under the Category 2 Keyword there are more selections available. For example, select “Higher Education”.

You’ll notice that when you select the Category 2 Keyword “Higher Education” that much more detailed Category 3 Keywords are displayed and are also located in the lower left side text box at the bottom of the page that says, “Choose Keywords”. For now, click some or all of the Category 3 Keywords in the “Choose Keywords” text box.

When you have finished selecting Category 3 Keywords just click, “Save Selections and Continue”.

You’ll now be directed to a page that has a text box that contains all the Category 3 Keywords that you selected. You’ll notice that next to each Category 3 Keyword there is a number in parentheses. Such numbers tell you how many grant funding opportunities are currently in the SPIN^® database that are associated with the specific Category 3 Keyword. Now, click “Locate Funding”. By clicking “Locate Funding” you trigger the SPIN^® database to pull the specific grant funding programs that match the Category 3 Keywords you have selected.

Depending on the specific grant funding programs in the SPIN^® database at this time the system will display results of your search but if it doesn’t this means that current grant programs in the database do not match your Keywords. However, new grant funding programs are added to SPIN^® by the InfoedGlobal staff daily.

Depending on the number of grant funding programs displayed you can scroll down the list and review each grant funding program.

Look at the displayed page. The headings are:

SPIN ID: This is a unique number the InfoedGlobal staff has assigned to a particular grant funding program.

Opportunity Title: This is the name of the grant funding program. You may click the name to get a comprehensive overview of the grant funding program.

Sponsor Name: This is the organization that is offering the grant funding program.

Sponsor Number: Sometimes a Sponsor will assign a unique number to a particular grant funding program.

Deadline Date: This is the due date for an application to a specific grant funding program.

Funding Amount: Sometimes a Sponsor will voluntarily provide the maximum amount that can be requested from a particular grant funding program. Usually, Federal grant funding programs will have a maximum amount of funding that can be requested.

Bookmark:  You can bookmark a grant funding program by clicking the “+” and a window will display that says, “Bookmark Program”. In this window you can “Create new group” and save other grant funding programs under the group. Once you “Create new group” the group name will be available for other programs to be bookmarked. For an example, name the group Test Search.  Now click, “Save Changes”.

Once you “Create new group” the name of the group will be available for any other programs that are displayed in your searches that you may wish to bookmark and save in the specific Bookmark Group named.

As already mentioned, what you have just conducted in SPIN^® is called a Search and you may save the search by name. Once you have created a Search, click “Save” and a popup window will display that is titled, “Save Current Search”. Give your Search a name and now it is called a Named Search. Once you provide your Search with a name it will appear in the dropdown under the term “Save Searches”. If you click on “Saved Searches” your Named Search should appear. Any time you want to manually rerun your named Search just click on “Saved Searches” and select the Named Search you wish to rerun. You may want to manually rerun your Named Search once a week in case any new grant funding programs have been added since the last time you ran your Named Search. You can also direct SPIN^® to automatically email you if the database matches a new grant funding program with your SPIN^® Profile of Keywords.

SPIN^® looks at your compiled Category 3 Keywords that you selected as tools and as such it can automatically email you if it finds a grant funding program match to any of your selected Keywords.

In the “Save Current Search” window you have given your Search a name, so it is now a Named Search as viewed by SPIN^®. The OSP recommends that you name your Searches with words that will tell you what the search is based upon. For example, let’s say that you built a search based on the Keyword “undergraduates”. So, you could name your search, “Undergraduate Search”. Hence be creative with the names of your searches.

Then next to “Receive email updates?” you must tell SPIN^® if you want the database to match your Keywords to grant funding programs for you automatically. The SPIN^® system conducts a Keyword match at about 4:00 am (EDT) daily. If you desire the database to email you with any matches, the OSP recommends you select, “HTML”.

Then you must tell SPIN^® how frequently you want the database to email you any grant funding programs that match any of your Keywords. The OSP recommends you select “Daily”. If you receive too many emails from SPIN^® daily, you can always change the frequency to “Weekly”.

Click “Save Changes”.  If you want to add Keywords or delete Keywords at this step, SPIN^® will display a window that says, “Confirm Overwriting Named Search”. The database is just informing you that you are about to make changes to your Named Search so if you ever change your Named Search, you’ll see a window that says “Do you want to continue? If so, click “Yes”.

You may now exit out of the database. The system is now set to email you any new grant funding programs that will be added to the database that match any of your Keywords you have selected.

As you can see SPIN^® is a very versatile system. You can have as many Named Searches as you wish. You may desire to have numerous searches based on specific Keywords or topics. Or you can add all your selected Keywords to a primary Named Search. Always remember, you control your SPIN^® Profile.

Another way to tighten your Named Searches for either a manual search or SPIN^® automatic matching is to set your SPIN^® Preferences.

At the main SPIN^® search page, you may set your Profile Preferences by clicking on the Preferences link on the black bar. Preferences selected can be just dragged to the right text box and dropped. Preferences are embedded within lengthy dropdowns so make sure you have followed the particular Preference all the way to the end of the dropdown.

Specific SPIN^® Profile Preferences are:

Applicant Location: Initially select Americas > North America > United States > Alabama then drag and drop. If there are other locations either nationally or internationally where you would like to conduct your project, then drag and drop those locations as well then, “Save and Exit”.

Applicant Type: Select Individual Applicant and drag and drop your selections, then select Organizational Applicant and drag and drop your selections. Then click, “Save and Exit”.

Project Type: Go through Individual Funding and drag and drop your selections then select Project Funding and drag and drop your selections. Then click, “Save and Exit”.

Citizenship: Some sponsors limit awards to individuals with certain types of citizenship. Select the appropriate classification that applies to you and drag and drop. Then click, “Save and Exit”.

Sponsor Type: This is the type of sponsor from which you are seeking external funding. Leaving the selection blank will direct the database not to filter out any sponsor types. The OSP recommends leaving the Sponsor Type window blank and just click, “Save and Exit”.

Once your Preferences are selected, SPIN^® will apply them.   

By setting your Preferences you have tightened your Named Searches to reduce the chance that you will receive grant funding opportunities that do not clearly match your research and/or programmatic interests or can also be applied to a particular location such as a specific state or country.

You always have control over your SPIN^® Profile and you may edit it at any time by just logging into the system.

If you have any questions regarding SPIN^® or its use, please contact the OSP at 256-782-8144 or mwetherholt@jsu.edu or lgarner@jsu.edu.