In the course of your research you'll find funding sources specifically for organizations, and also for individuals. Often foundations support artists with very specific backgrounds -- children of people who work at certain businesses, graduates of specific colleges, artists who come from specific cultural or ethnic backgrounds or who were born in certain locations. Look at your candidacy from every possible angle, and use multiple research sources.

If you are seeking funds as an individual, review "Foundation Grants for Individuals," published by the Foundation Center as a book and CD-ROM.

The Visual Artists Information Hotline emphasizes emergency needs -- places to turn when you're evicted or have a fire in your studio -- but other kinds of funding are included.

Arts International publishes directories and a provocative journal, but you'll want to check out its "advised funds and regranting" information for both artists and organizations wanting to work internationally.

Alliance for Artists Communities serves organizations offering artists retreat and studio (usually temporary) facilities, and provides a national directory of these opportunities (local groups include Headlands Center for the Arts, Villa Montalvo and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program). Some of these organizations provide financial support for artists in addition to opportunities to work in creative settings.

Keep track of service organizations in your artistic discipline, like Dance USA, Theater Communications Group, Meet the Composer and Chamber Music America. Sometimes foundations give them money to "regrant" to artists. Locally the Kala Institute (for printmakers), San Francisco CameraWork and Film Arts Foundation manage artists' awards on behalf of the San Francisco Foundation; Theater Bay Area manages the CASH arts grants on behalf of the Packard and other foundations; and New Langton Arts manages the Potrero Nuevo Prize for the Potrero Nuevo Fund.

Government funding is not covered in Foundation Center directories. "The Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance" is an exhaustive resource on government funding, but also research the California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, the Arts Commission's Cultural Equity Grants program and the Marin Arts Council. These organizations also offer fellowships and prizes, opportunities to work "in residence" in schools and institutions, and commissions to create public art.

Public charities are grantmaking entities that both raise money and give it away. Some local public charities you might want to investigate are the Art Council, Inc., the Potrero Nuevo Fund, the Tides Foundation and the Women's Foundation.