Awarding Grants to Individuals: A Topical Resource List

The following resources are designed to provide grantmakers with practical and legal information on how to make grants to individual grantseekers.

Beggs, Sara. Awarding Grants to Individuals. Washington, DC: Association of Small Foundations, 2005. 10 p. (Primer Series).

The guide explains how develop a program to make grants to individuals. The six steps include reviewing governing documents, understanding IRS regulations, desiging the program, obtaining advance IRS approval, making and monitoring the grant, and complying with tax filing requirements.

Filmore, Scott T. "Get Grant Making Right: Private Foundations Must Follow Correct Procedures for Grants Made to Individuals--or Face Serious Consequences." Trusts & Estates (December 2005): p. 28-33.

Hopkins, Bruce R. and Jody Blazek. Private Foundations: Tax Law and Compliance. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 2003. xx, 628 p. (supplemented annually)

Intended as a desk reference for lawyers, accountants, and tax practitioners, covers federal tax laws related to the establishment of private foundations, disqualified persons, self-dealing, mandatory distributions, excess business holdings, investments, taxable expenditures, tax on investment income, unrelated business tax, tax compliance and administrative issues, termination, charitable giving rules, and the distinction between private foundations and public charities, and donor-advised funds. Appendices include sources of the law, Internal Revenue Code sections, table of cases, table of IRS revenue rulings, and an index.

Nober, Jane C. Grants to Individuals by Community Foundations. Rev. ed. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations. 2004. xii, 268 p.

Covers the legal and tax implications of giving directly to individuals by community foundations. The types of support included are scholarships, travel grants, disaster relief, achievement awards, and educational loans. The special rules that relate to limitations of the grantee pool and employee-related scholarships are reviewed. Appendices include IRS forms and regulations as well as numerous sample guidelines and forms in use by various community foundations. Indexed.

Nober, Jane C. "What the IRS Says about Disaster Relief Grants." Foundation News & Commentary vol. 42 (November-December 2001) p. 13-4.

Peckham, Virginia. "Setting Up Scholarship Funds." Foundation News & Commentary vol. 39 (January-February 1998) p. 39-43.