FDO - Industry Standard grantseeking software. Expensive but worth it.
February 13, 2020

FDO - Industry Standard grantseeking software. Expensive but worth it.

David S. Levine, CFRE | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Foundation Directory Online (FDO)

FDO is used for researching and tracking all institutional fundraising opportunities from prospecting to stewardship. For all prospects, we use it to have a profile of the target organization. It is particularly helpful for those foundations/grantmakers who do not have their own websites or whose websites do not provide much information.
  • Grant research (best online database of grantmakers and grants).
  • Grant management for nonprofits (you can track your progress and documents).
  • Need more staff (they do a ton of input from 990s and such, need more people to help them).
  • No integration with major CRMs (for Christodora, an integration with Salesforce would eliminate several steps in our prospecting).
  • More prospects (and eventually more grants).
  • Cleaner and leaner institutional fundraising opportunity tracking.
CyberGrants is more of a grant request software so that's pretty different. Grantseeker by Fluxx is a good tracking software for keeping track of your institutional fundraising progress, but ultimately FDO's database of information dwarfs any other.
Any question is answered within 24-48 hours, professionally. If one person can't answer right away, they will seek answers within their support group and find the answer for you.

Do you think Foundation Directory Online by Candid delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Foundation Directory Online by Candid's feature set?

Yes

Did Foundation Directory Online by Candid live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Foundation Directory Online by Candid go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Foundation Directory Online by Candid again?

Yes

Beyond any pros or cons, the simple fact is that FDO is the industry standard for grant prospecting databases. Others like GrantStation, GrantSearch, and more can offer some other functionalities or different UX/UI, but ultimately I've never found something that other search platforms had that FDO did not. If you are a non-profit organization, you need a subscription to FDO if you have any serious interest in prospecting (and getting) institutional funding.