This is an excerpt from the free guide Supporting Community Based Organizations (CBOs) through Your Collective Giving Group. The full guide makes the case for funding CBOs, as well as provides best practices and tips for how collective giving groups can root their grantmaking strategy in community and trust. Download it for free.

Many collective giving groups struggle to find small local nonprofits. If you have found it challenging to connect with local groups, know that you are not alone!

Below you will find tips for finding CBOs:

Ask Your Members

Members of your giving circle likely know about organizations working on your focus issues. Reach out to them for input, as this fosters engagement and collective ownership in the decision-making process. Some members might not be fully familiar with the local organizational landscape but may know someone who is. Encourage them to consult their contacts. If your giving circle has a search committee, they can also reach out to local leaders, members, and other funders to see who might be a good fit for your gift.

Activity: Have members map their connections as an activity to see who they might ask for recommendations for groups to fund.

Follow Your Local News

Follow local news sources to learn about the most pressing issues facing your community. Look into organizations writing op-eds or discussed in news stories. Use local news as a way to gain a better understanding of your community and the players working to make change in it.

Connect with Local Leaders

Is there a well-known leader in the area familiar with your focus area? Someone you respect? Call them up and ask them about the organizations they support and respect, including the ones that most people don’t know about. Have you talked to staff members at organizations you’ve funded in the past? They may have partner organizations to recommend to your circle.

Tip: Always be sure to respect people’s time and if appropriate compensate them for their support. Everyone loves receiving a thank you note in the mail!

Get Out in Your Community

Get involved in the community! Volunteer at organizations you admire, visit your local library, attend community events and listening sessions, talk to your neighbors — these are all great ways to start to build trusting, authentic relationships with the communities you are seeking to impact. Notice who is collaborating or organizing community events - who do they work with? Are they looking for funding?

Tip: Approach new spaces with humility and respect. Remember trust is something you must build.

Look at Local Funders

Find a funder you admire (e.g. a local community foundation, another local collective giving group, or an issue-specific funder) and review which organizations and projects they have previously funded. You can also ask to speak with one of their leaders or program officers and ask them to give you information on the organizational landscape as a whole.

Tip: One thing to note is that while organizations already funded by other philanthropic groups are likely doing great work (hence why they got funded!), they may not need as much help/support as newer organizations, those with less staff capacity, or those with smaller budgets.

Remember: Some philanthropic groups are also averse to funding organizations doing activism-oriented work, and/or ones led by people who are undocumented or unable to file for nonprofit status, etc.

Search the Web

There are many great tools and databases available on the internet these days that are free to use. Look at lists of curated nonprofits like on Giving Gap (Black-founded and -led organizations), Giving Compass (social justice oriented lists), and Every.org (search by cause or issue).

Tip: Artificial intelligence like ChatGPT can be a good starting point for finding local groups. While this should not be the only way you find groups, it can get you started on your list. Remember the more specific your question, the better the results.

Tips for What to Look For

There are hundreds of thousands of CBOs across the globe and most likely there are many in your backyard. This can make it difficult to create a short list of groups to fund. When thinking about which CBOs your collective giving group would like donate to, Philanthropy Together recommends you take into account the following elements:

Leadership that Mirrors the Community they Serve

It’s important that nonprofit leadership is reflective of the community they’re serving. Look for organizations where 50% or more of leadership staff and board members identify with the communities they serve.

Close Connection to the Community

Take the time to research and understand your partner organizations’ records of impact in the communities they serve. Don’t just base your opinion on the organization’s website: Look at news articles, talk with staff members, and dig in deep to their work. You’ll build deep relationships and see first-hand the work your partners are doing. This practice will make you a great advocate and resource for your partners — when you’ve experienced their work, you’ll be better equipped to help amplify their messaging and reach more people.

Gift Size Relative to Organizational Budget

Try to give your gift to an organization that could use the extra support, they may have a smaller budget which means your gift could have a great impact.

Push for Equity

As noted earlier, organizations led by and serving marginalized communities are often underfunded. When searching for CBOs consider prioritizing organizations led and serving these underfunding communities including but not limited to: rural groups, groups led by Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people with disabilities, the LGBTQIA2S+ community, immigrants, youth, faith minorities, and more.

Note: There are several websites that rate nonprofits. While these may be useful in understanding the organizations you are seeking to support, a negative rating should not dissuade you from considering funding. Many of these sites only rate organizations with 501(c)(3) standing and may only use financials to rate the nonprofit. Try to make the rating process more equitable by remembering these ratings only tell part of the story.

Download the full guide from Philanthropy Together