The Little Rat field guide
You don’t need to know grant jargon. Start with one organization, find a promising opportunity, and take one next step.
Opened this from your workspace? Keep this guide beside it and follow along.
Start with who you’re helping
Your account is your sign-in. A profile holds an organization’s name, work, location, and matching details so you don’t have to type them again.
Serve more than one place? Select your state, then list cities, counties, or both. Separate names with commas or new lines. If you serve whole counties, leave cities blank. For example, you can enter “Polk, Dallas, Warren” under Counties served. Each organization can keep its own list.
Answer the questions about your organization. Add what you know; the extra matching details are optional.
Your details will fill in when you search. Check that they describe the work you want funded.
Use Manage profiles → Edit profile to change the name or other answers. If you edit details in the search form, choose Save to [your organization] to keep them.
Free arts workshops for young people.
Des Moines, Iowa
These details are ready for your next search.
Your saved work stays together here.
Practice only. Nothing here changes your real profiles.
Prefer no profile? Choose Just exploring at welcome. You can type details for each search and use Create a profile later. If you already have profiles, choose Exploring without a profile in the menu; your saved profiles remain available.
Pick your starting point
Use this to look for opportunities and funders that may fit your organization.
Use your selected profile or type the details. Add optional matching information if you know it.
Read the results and their reasons for matching.
Check who can apply, what is funded, and the current deadline.
A donor or funder is an organization that gives money. Use this to learn about one you already know.
These help Little Rat compare the funder’s giving with your work.
An EIN is a U.S. tax identification number. Select the right funder from the results and enter your request amount.
Review past giving, fit, and any available application guidance.
A fit score helps you compare possibilities. It is not your chance of winning a grant. A funder’s past giving does not mean an application is open today.
Too few useful matches? Make your description concrete: who you serve, what you do, and where. Try “We deliver meals to older adults in Polk County” instead of “We improve lives.”
Keep the useful things
Sign in to keep your work. Use the save option on a result, then return to the tools at the top of the home page.
Your collection of saved programs, funder leads, and donors to research. Come back here when you want to pick up a lead.
Your work board. Saved programs and funder leads appear here. Open a card to track its stage, contacts, notes, and next action.
Dates attached to your saved programs and leads. Add missing dates and check them against the official funder’s page.
After a funding search, choose Save this search & alert me. Review new matches here when you return, or choose Check now. These are alerts inside Little Rat.
A checklist for organization records and application readiness. Track what is current or needs updating. This is one shared checklist per account.
A little untangling
You can explore without signing in. Sign in when you want to save leads and use your workspace. An organization profile is optional, even after signing in; it saves you from retyping matching details.
Check the email beside Signed in as on the home page. Use Switch account if you are in the wrong account. Then open Saved. Choosing a different organization profile does not switch your account or hide saved work.
Saved research belongs to your account. Organization profiles change the details used for matching, while Saved, Pipeline, Deadlines, Alerts, and Compliance remain shared. Select your organization and run a new search for fresh matches.
A saved search keeps the matching details it had when you saved it. Editing or switching an organization profile does not rewrite that search. Run a new search with the updated details and save it; pause or remove the old alert in Alerts if you no longer need it.
Little Rat helps you research and organize opportunities. Follow the official application link and submit through the funder’s process. Saving a grant here does not send an application.
Wait for the current action to finish and use Try again if it appears. If saving fails, retry before leaving the page so you keep your answers. If your session expired, sign in again. For a recurring problem, use the Suggestion Box and tell us what you clicked and what happened.
You can come back to “Lost?” whenever you need a hand.