Pro7 minute read· Updated 5 November 2026
Build funder lists from public records, without buying one
Use free public registers of grants, aid and contract awards to build a list of funders that back work like yours, and find the right people ethically.
The best funder list is not for sale. It is already public, spread across tax filings, charity registers, aid data and contract award notices. Every foundation grant, aid disbursement and public contract leaves a record of who paid whom, for what and when. This guide shows you which registers to search for climate and nature funding, how to turn records into a ranked list with an AI assistant, how to find the right named people ethically and what data protection asks of you.
Inside this playbook
- What you need
- 1. Know which register answers which question
- 2. Search each register the way funders describe your work
- 3. Pull the records
- 4. Combine and rank with an assistant
- 5. Find the right people, ethically
- 6. Handle personal data properly
- 7. Keep the list alive
- Checklist
- Further reading
Read the full playbook with Pro
Work from our playbooks: step-by-step guides to reaching funders, writing proposals and tender responses, and AI tools for your pipeline. Pro opens the full text of all 21 playbooks: the steps, the templates and prompts you can copy, and the checklists, alongside alerts, funder names and the funding flows log.
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