How can I find grant funding to develop a short film?

Before doing anything else, I'd suggest you focus pretty intensely on the subject(s) of your project. What are your areas of interest and passion? Are you interested in a narrative project or a documentary film?

Documentaries, while they need to be intensely researched, are often easier to get funded and necessitate fewer collaborators. Not to mention they're almost always a good deal cheaper to make. Once you have a topic and you've done your research (and made some connections) you can generate a rough budget and timeline, and then look for grants to help defray your costs.

As a theater person you know how involved the process is for putting on a play. Imagine all that work plus camera operation and sound recording, and the expenses to pay crew and actors. Plus there's a script that needs to be written, location fees, insurance, permits, meals, and so on. Making a film with actors and a crew is a pretty daunting challenge for a first-time filmmaker.

As a film instructor for 17 fairly successful years I always made my students start with short documentaries. But if narrative is where your passion lies, then give it a shot. But be realistic and plan to spend a good amount of time on it.

Hi Mallory,
Okay, you'll need to decide if your short film will be documentary or narrative. If documentary, I'm sure there could be federal funding or the state funding that Governor Brown added to his budget. Narrative? You could double-check the crowd funding online, especially the Kickstarter. You'll have to hire the crew, lease the equipment, sign several insurance contracts and provide the food and drinks. You could contact the ISA Development for their VIP classes. Best wishes.

Use Google like I did!

https://screencraft.org/fund/
http://www.filmdaily.tv/grants