State Library opens grant database

SACRAMENTO — Billions of dollars in state grant opportunities from dozens of state departments and agencies can now be easily accessed at the California Grants Portal – grants. ca.gov – a new tool created by the California State Library.

All grant and loan opportunities offered on a competitive or first-come basis by California state agencies and departments are now available on this easily searchable website, designed using extensive input from grant seekers and state agencies, the library said in a release.

“These grant and loan opportunities exist to help California communities and innovators succeed. The easier we make it to find the right funding, the faster Californians can start putting it to good use,” said Greg Lucas, California’s state librarian.

The release said easy searchability is central to the design of the Grants Portal. Over the last 14 months, the State Library team surveyed and met with grant seekers and state grant makers multiple times to gather ideas and understand challenges.

“We wanted to create a welcoming and valuable tool, and to make sure that happened we partnered with nonprofits, local governments, and business organizations across the state – and our colleagues across dozens of state departments – during each stage of the process,” said Anne Neville-Bonilla, director of the California Research Bureau, the division of the State Library responsible for constructing the site.

Grant seekers can filter grant opportunities by using keywords or selecting from a wide range of categories. The Grants Portal also makes it possible to search by eligible applicant types, including nonprofit organizations, public agencies, businesses, tribal governments, and others. Subscriptions and updates on new grant opportunities for over a dozen categories are also available.

The California Grants Portal was born out of the Grant Information Act of 2018 (AB 2252), which required the State Library to build “a centralized location … to find state grant opportunities” by July 1, 2020.

“The new portal will be of great help to non-profits, to legislators, and to state agencies. Non-profits — especially those in marginalized communities — will have better access to funding opportunities,” said Jan Masaoka, the chief executive officer of the California Association of Non-profits.

“Legislators will have one place they can refer grant seekers to. And state agencies will get applicants from a wider array of geographic areas and different types of communities. We’re thrilled to have worked with Assemblymember Monique Limón on the bill and the outstanding staff at the State Library on the development of this innovative project,” Masaoka said.

Over the course of the project the State Library said its team heard from more than 1,000 grant seekers through surveys and online sessions and met with more than 120 state staff involved in grantmaking through one-on-one meetings and cross-department collaboration sessions.

“The State Library will continue to build on this website as we learn more about grant seeker and grant maker needs. We know this is just the beginning,” said Shivani Bose-Varela, the State Library’s project manager for the Grants Portal.

The Grants Portal’s data is also accessible via an API and a csv on data. ca.gov. It is updated every 24 hours.

“Our goal is to make this information available in any way our stakeholders need -- and to make it easier for anyone to analyze the data we have,” Neville-Bonilla added.

As of Wednesday morning, grant seekers could find over 100 grants and more than

$17 billion in available funding.