A funding notice asks for a school district, a research partner or a community group, and your contact list doesn't have one. Cold emails to strangers rarely go anywhere, and a name pulled from a web search tells you nothing about whether that organization can do the work.
The better route is to look where organizations already show their work: public award records, coalitions, conferences and funders' own lists. This article covers where to look, how to read what you find and how to approach someone you haven't met.
Start with what the partner needs to do
Before you search, write down the job. "A health system that can refer patients" is a search you can run. "A good partner" is not. If you haven't done this yet, our article on choosing partners who will deliver walks through it.
Note the practical filters too: geography, the population served, whether the partner needs to be a nonprofit, a public agency or a university, and whether the notice requires a particular kind of organization.
Read public award records
If a funder has already paid organizations to do work like yours, those organizations are findable, and they have a record. Federal award data is public, and several searches are worth knowing:
- USAspending.gov lets you search federal awards. The Congressional Research Service notes that it provides data on federal prime grant awards and first-tier subawards, which prime recipients report. That makes it useful for seeing not only who won, but who they work with.
- HHS TAGGS (Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System) is the place to look up past HHS awards. You can filter by fiscal year, agency, Assistance Listing number and state, and clicking a recipient name lists every award made to that organization.
- NIH RePORTER lists NIH-funded projects. You can search by organization or principal investigator, which is how you find the universities and research teams already working on your topic.
Other agencies publish their own award databases, so check the agency behind the program you're targeting.
What to look for
Search for the program you plan to apply to, then work backward through the past recipients:
- Note organizations in your region or serving your population.
- Look at how they describe the work, and whether it overlaps with or complements yours.
- Check for repeat winners. An organization that has held several awards has experience managing them.
- Look for subawardees. A small organization that keeps appearing as someone else's partner may be looking for a lead, or for a bigger role.
An award list tells you who has been funded. It doesn't tell you who is a good colleague. Treat it as a map of who to talk to.
Look at the networks that already exist
Many partnerships start in rooms, not databases. Places to look:
- Local coalitions and collaboratives in your field. Members are already used to working across organizations, and the meeting notes often name who is doing what.
- Conferences and regional convenings. Presenter lists show who has something to say about your topic, and the hallway is where first conversations happen.
- Funder grantee lists. Many foundations publish their recent grants. A funder that backs three organizations in your area has a reason to want them to know each other.
- Your own contacts. Ask board members, volunteers and current partners, "Who else is working on this?" People often know a name you've missed.
Public agencies and universities have their own entry points, which later articles in this series cover: partnering with universities and evaluators and partnering with government agencies.
Make the approach about shared goals
The first message should not be "Will you sign our letter?" Lead with the problem you both care about and the specific thing you noticed about their work.
A short outreach email has four parts:
- Why them: one sentence on something specific you saw in their work.
- Why now: the shared problem, and the funding opportunity if there is one, with its timing stated plainly.
- The ask: a 20-minute call, not a commitment.
- An easy out: say it's fine if the timing doesn't work.
Say a rural food bank wants a partner to run nutrition classes. Its development director finds two organizations in neighboring counties in past award records for a state health program. She writes to one: "I saw your cooking-and-nutrition program in the county's grantee list. We distribute produce to about the same communities and don't offer classes. Could we talk for 20 minutes about whether there's a way to work together on a future application? No pressure if the timing is wrong." That message is specific, short and easy to answer. (The food bank and the figures here are hypothetical.)
Be honest about the deadline. If the application is due in five weeks, say so. A partner who learns that late may feel used.
Start small before you apply together
A large application is a poor first test of a partnership. If you have time, try something smaller first:
- A shared event or referral agreement. See how each organization follows through.
- A joint small project. A pilot funded by a local foundation, or a single shared program day.
- A trial data exchange. Share de-identified numbers, agree on definitions and see how quickly each side replies.
Even one small joint project gives you evidence for the proposal and a track record to point to. It also shows you how the other organization behaves under pressure, before you've put its name on a budget.
If there's no time for a pilot, do the next best thing: ask for a past reference and talk to someone who has worked with them.
Your next step
Pick the program you're targeting, open its past recipients in the relevant award database and write down five organizations that might fill a gap on your team. Next to each, note one sentence on why they could be a fit. Then choose one and draft the outreach email using the four parts above. Send it once you've confirmed the notice actually expects partners.
Once a partnership is agreed, SoliContraX can help you get the application started and finished. Upload the notice, approve a concept and work from a draft built from your own materials, including what your new partner shares about their work. See how to get started.