The authors discuss the challenges and ways of grant support of librarianship, and review the most popular Russian sponsor foundations. The grants make the commonly available way to get investment support that enables noncommercial organizations to accomplish their socially and profes- sionally valuable projects. To win a grant, the applicant has to identify the “right” sponsor among different categories, their specialization and recommendations on application and documents to be submitted for the contest. The authors characterize Russian charity foundations and classify them by the founder type, e. g. governmental, private, corporate, and agencies. The foundations provide grants along the lines corresponding to projects and programs of non-profit organizations within the information and library sphere. The authors describe the key thematic vectors for grants awarding; indicate the websites, and provide brief recommendations on how to prepare grant applications.