Spokane Nonprofit Library

Grant writing resources, management and technology training, and population research: tools and support for the Spokane regional nonprofit community.

A valid library card is all you need to get started.

Supported by Spokane County Library District and Spokane Public Library, the resources on this page are available at no cost to residents and organizations in Spokane County service area and the City of Spokane.

The Spokane Nonprofit Library is a collaboration between Spokane County Library District and Spokane Public Library.

In developing a single county-wide platform featuring combined resources, our goal is to provide all Spokane County residents with greater access to the resources currently offered by the Spokane County Library District and Spokane Public Library.

To access these services you will need a valid library card.

Get a library card:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

COVID-19 Resources for Nonprofits

With stay-at-home orders and the inability to hold in-person fundraisers, many nonprofits are looking for resources to help them through these tough times. Here are some recommended places to get started. Contact your nonprofit librarian for an online consultation if you need more direct help.

Foundation Directory Online

For the rest of the year, library cardholders can access Foundation Directory Online Essential remotely if they have a Spokane Public Library card or a Spokane County Library District card. FDO Essential is a more basic version that includes grantmaker information, but not grant or recipient information. Your nonprofit librarian can still do a Foundation Directory Online Professional search that shows grants and recipients. View this short video on how to use FDO Essential.

Innovia

Your local community foundation is asking about the most important community needs right now and will fund accordingly.

National Council of Nonprofits and Washington Nonprofits

Nonprofits are able to take advantage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. Check out these two websites to see what steps to take to maintain your finances and keep serving your community.

SBA Coronavirus Relief Options

Nonprofits with staff can read more about Coronavirus relief options at the Small Business Administration.

Candid

Read up on funding opportunities for coronavirus.

More Resources

Seattle Public Library is maintaining a continuously updated list of other resources for nonprofits.

Start Up and Development Assistance

Secretary of State's Corporations and Charities Division

The best place to start when forming a nonprofit in Washington. The Washington Nonprofit Handbook is a great basic overview.

Washington Nonprofits Eastern Washington Region

The state association for all nonprofits, Washington Nonprofits makes sure nonprofits have what they need to succeed through networking and education.

SCORE Spokane

SCORE can help you create a strategic plan at no cost to your organization by matching you with a mentor experienced in nonprofit management.

Gonzaga Law Clinic

Gonzaga's School of Law offers legal services for nonprofits, including incorporation and contract law.

501 Commons

501 Commons' mission is to boost the capacity of nonprofit organizations to thrive over the long term and effectively serve the community, with a focus on Washington State.

Grantspace by Candid

Candid's easy-to-use self-service tools and resources help nonprofits worldwide build more viable grant applicants and strong, sustainable organizations. Much of the training is open to all with no subscription required, including a Nonprofit Startup Assessment.

Wayfind Nonprofit Legal Services

Wayfind supports nonprofits so they can focus on their mission by connecting nonprofits with volunteer attorneys who help them with their legal needs.

Gale Legal Forms features Washington state and federal legal forms useful for starting and managing nonprofits.

The Gale Legal Forms Library offers access to hundreds of legal forms in several document formats, such as MS Word and Adobe PDF.

Some examples of the forms available include:

Nonprofit Bylaws
Articles of Incorporation
Employment Agreements and Contracts for Nonprofits
Liability Waivers
Forms for Churches

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

Grant Writing

Foundation Directory Online Essential can be accessed remotely during the rest of 2020. Foundation Directory Online is the premier resource you need to search for foundations most likely to offer funding for your organization. FDO Essential is a more basic version of Foundation Directory Online that includes grantmaker information, but not grant or recipient information. Contact your nonprofit librarian (upper right corner) for tips on using this resource or see below for information about accessing FDO Professional within a library.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

Foundation Directory Online Professional is the premier resource you need to search for foundations most likely to offer funding for your organization.

Foundation Directory Online is a thorough database comprising more than 140,000 grantmakers, updated weekly so you can count on the accuracy of results.

The database's Advanced Search helps you to quickly identify your best potential funding sources with multiple filters and options. In your results, you'll find grantmaker profiles, insights into previously awarded grants, maps and charts, and lists of key decision makers and leaders. The list of grantmakers, grants, and grant recipients will help you match your needs to the missions of potential funders.

Access this resource:

Foundation Directory Online is only available on site at certain locations:

Spokane Public Library: South Hill Library
SCLD: North Spokane Library, Spokane Valley Library, and Cheney Library

Spokane County Library District

SPL South Hill Library

Grants to Individuals is the premier funding research tool for finding foundations that provide financial support for individual grantseekers.

Find information about 10,000 foundation profiles at your fingertips, including foundation and public charity programs that have funded individual grantseekers for everything from scholarship opportunities to research needs.

Updated on a weekly basis, Grants to Individuals provides the most up-to-date information available on foundations that fund individuals, including artists, students, researchers, and those looking for professional development support. It's a great resource for helping your staff or clients find funding for specific needs.

Access this resource:

Grants to Individuals is only available on site at certain locations:

Spokane Public Library: South Hill Library
SCLD: North Spokane Library, Spokane Valley Library, and Cheney Library

Spokane County Library District

SPL South Hill Library

Grants.gov

An easy way to search for government grants.

Innovia Foundation

Formerly known as the Inland Northwest Community Foundation, Innovia works closely with nonprofit organizations and others throughout the region to identify and respond to a wide range of community issues and opportunities.

Spokane City & County Funding Opportunities

The City of Spokane invests over thirteen million dollars to foster economic development in services and housing to support extremely low to moderate income citizens and to build neighborhoods. Look under Funding Opportunties for more options. If you provide services in Spokane County, look for funding opportunities here.

Population and Community Research

Gale Business: Demographics Now includes neighborhood demographics, interactive maps, and more.

"Who are my clients or members?" "Where do they live?" "What do they do?"

Access demographic information, such as: Population, Income, Housing, Age, and Education.

Discover demographic statistics for specific areas
Identify household spending patterns for things such as health care or utilities
Upload a membership list to find locations with similar people for targeted marketing

Gale Business: Demographics Now includes the Dun & Bradstreet business database.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

AtoZdatabases lets you create lists of potential members or donors based on location and interests, as well as find new homeowners or potential business partners. For Spokane Public Library resident or paid card holders.

AtoZdatabases includes 30 million business & executive profiles, over 220 million residents with interests, hobbies and lifestyles information, 2 million new businesses, over 12 million healthcare professionals, over 12 million new movers, 2 million new homeowners, and much more. The databases are ideal for mailing lists, market research, background searches, finding friends, relatives and a whole lot of other possibilities.

Access this resource:

Spokane Public Library

ReferenceUSA lets you create lists of potential members or donors based on location and interests, as well as find new homeowners or potential business partners. For Spokane County Library District resident or paid card holders.

ReferenceUSA is the leading provider in business and consumer research. Reference USA database selections and real-time access to more than 20 million businesses, 222 million consumers, U.S. new businesses, and U.S. new homeowners and movers make research easy and fast.

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Spokane County Library District

ProQuest includes full-text access to nearly 10,000 publications including the Spokesman Review going back to 1994.

Great for local research! ProQuest provides full-text access to the Spokesman Review going back to 1994 and the Spokane Journal of Business to 1991. Search for articles on individuals or potential partners or funders. Experian credit reports are also available to give you an idea of the financial stability of a potential business funder.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

Inland Northwest Insights

Although focused on counties south of Spokane, you can use the map to pull in data from 100 different sources, including various health and lifestyle statistics, for other locations, including Spokane and Northern Idaho.

Spokane Community Indicators

An online community resource offering a centralized location to learn more about Spokane County, including economic vitality, housing, and transportation statistics.

Spokane Regional Health District Public Health Data

Reports and fact sheets about community health issues, as well as publications on communicable diseases and many other health statistics for Spokane County.

Outcomes Measurement

Data Playbook

An excellent overview of what data to collect, how to collect it, making meaning of the data, and communicating your results.

Candid's Common Results Catalog

The downloadable Catalog provides suggested data points to gather for various types of nonprofits, including topics such as animals, education, human services, and environment.

Investing in Results

Explore what it takes for nonprofits, funders, and government to achieve outcomes and focus on the root causes of social problems.

Issue Lab by Candid: Measure Results

A series of collected readings and articles on measuring results from Candid, the merged institution of GuideStar and Foundation Center.

National Council of Nonprofits Evaluation and Measurement of Outcomes

Links to many other data and evaluation resources appropriate for nonprofits.

Training Opportunities

Gale Courses features hundreds of instructor-led online courses, many relevant to nonprofit funding and management. For Spokane County Library District resident or paid card holders.

Gale Courses offer a wide range of highly interactive courses taught entirely online by college instructors and experts in the field, ensuring a high-quality, high-impact educational experience.

Courses to support nonprofit management, such as marketing your nonprofit, running events, and starting a nonprofit.
Computer and technology courses that suit skill levels from beginner to advanced
Grant writing courses

Courses run for six weeks and new sessions begin every month.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Gale Presents: Udemy helps you learn and improve skills across business, tech, design, and more. Includes 6,000+ on-demand video courses in multiple languages, including those relevant for nonprofits. For Spokane Public Library resident or paid card holders.

Gale Presents: Udemy is a curated list of highly-rated Udemy courses taught by experts in the field. Search the term "nonprofits" to find courses on grant writing, sponsorships, video creation, and fundraising.

Courses range from beginner to advanced levels. You can enroll in multiple courses and there's no completion time limit. Many courses include assignments, quizzes, coding exercise, or other activities. You'll also find classes that will help improve business and computer skills for nonprofit staff.

Access this resource:

Spokane Public Library

Lynda.com from LinkedIn features on-demand technology, creative, and business training taught by industry experts.

With nearly 4,000 online courses all taught by industry experts, lynda.com offers on-demand training to help members achieve their personal and professional goals.

Every Lynda.com course includes free video tutorials and is designed for users to set their own pace. Lessons and tutorials can be watched from your preferred browser on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. Instructor and practice files are provided with each course to aid in the learning process.

Useful courses for nonprofits include Social Media for Nonprofits, Nonprofit Foundations, and Nonprofit Essentials. Expand your abilities with project management and media campaign tutorials.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

Business Source Complete features the full text of many nonprofit professional development journals such as Nonprofit World and Nonprofit Quarterly.

Business Source Complete is a scholarly business database providing a collection of bibliographic and full text content in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance and economics. Keep up on the latest developments in the nonprofit world by easily searching for topics of interest such as board development and volunteer management.

Access this resource:

Spokane County Library District

Spokane Public Library

Candid YouTube Channel

Candid, the merging of GuideStar and Foundation Center, has a wide variety of training videos on everything from finding grants, diversity and inclusion, and donor engagement.

Candid Nonprofit Overdrive Collection

Candid offers hundreds of ebooks through their Overdrive account on nonprofit management, grant writing, and other topics. Just sign up for an account to get an access code. Ask library staff if you need help adding this library to your Overdrive app. Since this is a world-wide collection, waiting times for books may be long.

Candid Learning

Washington Nonprofit Institute

The Washington Nonprofit Institute is a website that provides anytime, anywhere nonprofit learning to organizations of all sizes. Includes training on starting a nonprofit, strategic planning, finance and board development.

CoWorking and Meeting Room Spaces

All meeting rooms closed until COVID restrictions are lifted.

Spokane Public Library Meeting Rooms

Spokane Public Library offers meeting rooms of various sizes open to the public, but the Downtown and Shadle Libraries will be closed for renovation for the next year or more. The Downtown Library at the STA Plaza has a small meeting room open to the public, but the To Be Continued Library at Northtown Mall does not. All other libraries will have meeting room space, but availability may be more limited during this time.