Paid grant lists and guaranteed awards

Not every paid service is a scam. Plenty of nonprofits pay for research tools, consultants, and training and get their money's worth. The pitches below are different: they sell something that doesn't exist, or sell you what's already free.

"Guaranteed" grants

No one can guarantee an award. Grant decisions are made by the funder's reviewers against competing applications. A writer or consultant who guarantees funding is either lying or planning to disappear after the deposit. A reputable grant writer will quote a fee for the work, tell you their track record, and refuse to be paid as a percentage of the award (most professional associations consider contingency fees unethical, and many funders disallow paying them from grant funds).

Lists of "secret" grants

Government grants are public by law. Foundation giving is disclosed on IRS Form 990-PF, which is public. There are no hidden grants that only a seller can reveal. A service may save you time compiling them, which is a fair thing to pay for, but "information you can't get anywhere else" is, as the HHS guide notes, a classic script line.

Pay to be listed, pay to be matched

Some sites charge nonprofits to appear in a directory funders supposedly browse, or to be "matched" with funders. Funders find applicants through their own calls for proposals, not by shopping directories. Treat any fee framed as access to funders with suspicion.

What's reasonable to pay for

• A research database with funder profiles and deadline tracking, if your team will use it. Know that the underlying grant listings are free on the grantor's site, and that the application link is never legitimately behind a paywall at the funder's end.
• A grant writer paid a flat or hourly fee for defined work.
• Training from a known provider.

Before buying any of these, read the funder's guidelines yourself. If the service's pitch contradicts what the guidelines say about fees, eligibility, or the application process, the guidelines win.

Sources and where to report

• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Avoid Grant Scams
• Federal Trade Commission, Prize and Grant Scams
• Report a scam: reportfraud.ftc.gov. Impersonation of a federal grant program: the HHS Fraud Hotline, 1-800-447-8477. A California state program being impersonated: contact that agency directly through its listing on grants.ca.gov.

Grants for Nonprofits is an independent directory. We do not investigate scams or take reports; use the official channels above.