Northwest Research

I am working on a database cleanup project and found this wonderful resource

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/charities/charities_store/ctdwcover.pdf

This is a 225-page PDF that provides full information on all charitable trusts in Washington! A great resource if you don’t have access to FC Search or a good foundation directory.

It includes both grant making and grant seeking organizations, average size of grants, contact information including email and phone numbers, geographic limitations etc.

According to Search Engine Watch, Firstgovsearch is now live.

First Gov search is the search engine of Firstgov.gov the U.S. government’s official web portal, but it also appears to search some state and local resources as well.

I think this site can be very useful for researchers in two ways:

A quick search on the word “salary” provided me with various Federal, State and Local salary tables including retirement tables. The search seems pretty flexible to me, so you can look for salaries by title, area, etc. It seems a bit easier than sloggin through Office of Personnel Management and state website.

First Gov search also is a useful place to search for a biography if your potential donor is a government official.

The URL is http://firstgovsearch.gov/

There are also advanced search possibilities.

Enjoy!

I just suggested this to someone on the ‘L as a way of confirming deaths.

Obituary Archives is Newslibrary’s (Newsbank) Obituary Archive. Like other Newslibrary’s products, it is a little expensive to actually see the article/obituary, but searching is free.

Often I am able to confirm someone’s death using just the search, and don’t pay for the obituary.

Allbusiness.com is a free resource which provides a variety of business resources, business blogs, forms and other advice.

The following is a description of from the website:

AllBusiness.com is an online media and e-commerce company that operates one of the premier business sites on the Web. Founded in 1999, the site has received critical acclaim from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business 2.0, Fortune, and other publications. AllBusiness.com helps entrepreneurs, small and growing businesses, consultants and business professionals save time and money by addressing real-world business questions and presenting practical solutions. The site offers resources including how-to articles, business forms, contracts and agreements, expert advice, blogs, business news, business directory listings, product comparisons, business guides, a small business association and more.

Allbusiness.com is particularly useful for prospect researchers as it provides a great range of full-text searchable free business periodicals. I found an excellent biography of a potential donor from the October 2001 edition of Inside Business.

You do have to sign up, and make sure you don’t accidently deluge yourself with newsletters, but I think this is a wonderful resource.

Periodicals by title can be found here

http://www.allbusiness.com/periodicals/

And appear to go back quite a bit (for example the ABA Journal goes back to 1989). The search interface isn’t the best, but is adequate.

Enjoy!