Techniques for Searching by Grantee Name

When searching for grants or notifications using the Grantee Name, only exact character-for-character matches will be returned from the database unless you select the “Include Surnames that are similar in spelling” option to expand your search.  

Include Surnames That Are Similar in Spelling

 When you check the Include Surnames That Are Similar in Spelling box, the system will search and retrieve any results with letter combinations that it recognizes as similar to the one that you keyed in to the Grantee Name field (e.g. MacTavish-McTavish, Smyth-Smith, Lee-Lei). This is accomplished through a system that incorporates complex letter combinations and breaks them down through a phonetic routine in order to locate words of similar spelling and phonetics. This is a useful search technique when you are not sure of how to spell a name but are familiar with how it is pronounced.
 

Wildcards

You can also expand your search using wildcards to represent unknown letter combinations. This allows for a broader range of grantee names to be retrieved from the database.  Making your grantee name search “open-ended” in this way will increase the chances of returning the grant or notification you require, although you may have to sift through a number of similar grantee names to find it.
 
There are two wildcard search options available to you: the percent (%) wildcard and the underscore (_) wildcard.  Both wildcards can be used in conjunction with one another within the same field.  The First Three Letters Rule does not apply to Grant search.  This rule, which is applicable in other types of searches (e.g., Quick Search by Name, etc.) states that before a wildcard can operate, the first three letters of the full name must be keyed in.

The percent (%) wildcard can be used to represent a string of unknown letters and spaces for the position that it holds within the grantee name.  For example, if you are looking for a grant or notification issued to John Doe but are unsure of how his name appears (i.e., character-for-character) on the grant or notification, you can use the percent (%) wildcard to broaden your search to include all grantee names beginning with the letters “john”.  To do this, you would key “john%” in the Grantee Name field and then select SEARCH . This search would bring back all grantee names beginning with the letters “john” and display them in the Grant Information screen. 

The more open-ended your search criteria are, the more open-ended the results in the Grantee Information screen will be.  The search described above would bring back many different grantee names such as John Doe, Johnny Smith, Johnathon Davis, etc.  You would then have to review the results list and select the required grantee name.  See the end of this section for more examples on how to use the percent (%) wildcard.

The second wildcard technique that is available is the underscore (_) wildcard.  This wildcard can be used to represent one unknown letter.  It is a one-for-one wildcard that can be used in place of any other letter.  For example, you are searching for the grantee name “Joe Smith” but are unsure of the correct spelling (e.g., Smith or Smyth).  You can use the underscore (_) wildcard in place of the letter that you are unsure of.  To do this, you would simply type in “joe sm_th” in the Grantee Name field, and all names with this letter combination would be returned in the Grantee Information screen.  See the end of this section for more examples on how to use the underscore (_) wildcard.

NOTES:

  • A space is considered a searchable character in Grant Search by Grantee Name.  Any space keyed in the Grantee Name field will represent a character in an exact character-for-character match search.  If you are unsure of how many spaces appear between names (e.g., the name John T. R. Doe may or may not have a space between the initials “T.” and “R.”), you can use the percent (%) wildcard or the underscore (_) wildcard to represent the space.  Alternatively, you could use the percent (%) wildcard to represent the string of characters between the given name and surname (i.e., “John%Doe”) to ensure that all the spaces and other characters would be included in the search results.
  • The Grant Information screen will not exceed 300 search results, or records.  If your search returns exactly 300 results (as indicated at the bottom of the Grant Information screen), your search results may be incomplete.  Try refining your search criteria to bring back fewer results.  If you are unable to bring back search results under the 300 maximum or require a complete list, you can make a Bulk Data Application by calling the Customer Support Team (1-866-275-4721).  This Bulk Data Application will supply you with an exhaustive results list based on the criteria you have selected.

Below are several examples for you to examine if you are unsure of how these wildcard techniques function.

  • %johnson – this will bring back any grantee names with the last name johnson.  The percent (%) wildcard represents any string of characters (e.g., all first and middle names).
  • joh%_ or joh_% – both of these will bring back any grantee names with the first name beginning with the letter combination “joh” followed by any other letter combination [as represented by the percent (%) wildcard] (e.g., “John T Doe”, “John Doe”, “Johnny Boy”).  The percent (%) and underscore (_) wildcards, when placed beside each other, act as the percent (%) wildcard would alone.
  • _err_ jac_bs_n – this will bring back any grantee name with a letter combination as follows. 
    • First name: any letter [as represented by the underscore (_) with the letter combination “err”, followed by any letter [as represented by the underscore (_) wildcard] (e.g., “Jerry”, "Gerry". "Gerri" or “Jerri”).
    • Surname:  the letter combination “jac”, followed by any letter [as represented by the underscore (_) wildcard], followed by the letters “bs”, followed by any letter [as represented by the underscore (_) wildcard], and ending with any other letter “n” (e.g., “Jacobsen”, “Jacibsan”).
  • Grantee names such as “Jerri Jacibsen” or “Gerry Jacobsen” could be returned.
  • wil%m b_n% – this will bring back any grantee names beginning with the letter combination “wil”, followed by any other letter combination [as represented by the percent (%) wildcard], the letter m, space, the letter b, any letter [as represented by the underscore (_) wildcard], the letter n, followed by any other letter combination [as represented by the percent (%) wildcard] (e.g., “Wilhelm M Bunt”, “William Bonney”, “Wilbur Liam Binter”).  Remember, the percent (%) wildcard can represent spaces as well as letters.