Sunday, September 6th, 2009

How To Get Easy Grants for Small Businesses from the Government

Several states have small business government grants. These are not offered by the federal government but a number of state-run development agencies provide free government grants. The states that offer these are Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Utah. Other states provide financing through loans with incentives to those who want to start a small business rather than free government grants.

Instead of money the government will give free advice and training to those who want to make their business grow. The United States Government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) is where the free government grants originate from. Since fifty percent of the labor force comes from the twenty five million small businesses in the United States and that contributes more than half contributes to more than half of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), there isn’t much question why the government is interested in the quandary of the small businessman.

The free government grants come with free counseling, training, and technical assistance. The Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) have full and part time staff that will get help from the private sector to give the business whatever help that they need. This help usually comes in the form of consultants, engineers, and testing laboratories. The grants offered can be found in the Catalog for Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) website http://www.sfda.gov under the “Small Business” and “Small Business Person” beneficiary category. You can browse this free government grants for small business at CFDA free of charge.

The SBA has no funds of its own actually available to supply to small businesses. They depend on the private sector such as banks, credit unions, coops, etc. to provide loans then they guarantee the loans. These loan programs are Loan Guaranty Programs, SBA LowDoc Loans, SBA Express Loans, and Microloan Programs. Targeted Loan Programs are also offered such as defense-delta loans, CAIP loans, Pollution control loans, and Export Express Loans. These loans are meant to target or meet specific needs. Since these places are all ready aware of the SBA you only need to mention SBA for the banks etc. to know immediately what to do.

While free government grants could of course be very useful to any business. The help that a business receives need not be money to be useful. The advice that a business receives can be just as invaluable. The professional service could be worth more than money itself. As the old line says “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.” The success of these businesses can only be beneficial to the government in the long run so the advice given is definitely the best.

Gregg Hall
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-to-get-easy-grants-for-small-businesses-from-the-government-53690.html

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 6th, 2009 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Free Grants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “How To Get Easy Grants for Small Businesses from the Government”

Be Saved II Says:
September 6th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

Is there an easy way to get a small business grant from our government?
A lot of red tape so to speak is really confusing HELP!

earl Says:
September 7th, 2009 at 3:05 am

i don’t know about a grant but a loan is lots of red tape but the people there can help.anything you do with the govenment takes a lot of jumping thru hoops.
References :

imisidro Says:
September 7th, 2009 at 3:07 am

It’s not a question of red tape, but more of a question of availability. Grants undergo a review process by a committee composed of federal employees as well as experts in the field

It is hard to find grants to start a business. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK – lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.

Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently. But still the info is the same – hardly any grants for starting a for profit business.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html

"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."

If you look at CFDA and what the grants available to small businesses are http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show

10.053 USDA Dairy Indemnity Program
10.162 USDA Inspection Grading and Standardization
10.163 USDA Market Protection and Promotion
10.212 USDA Small Business Innovation Research
10.674 USDA Forest Products Lab: Technology Marketing Unit (TMU)
10.775 USDA Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program
11.611 DOC Manufacturing Extension Partnership
11.612 DOC Advanced Technology Program
14.167 HUD Mortgage Insurance_Two Year Operating Loss Loans, Section 223(d)
14.412 HUD Employment Opportunities for Lower Income Persons and Businesses
14.506 HUD General Research and Technology Activity
15.630 DOI Coastal Program
15.635 DOI Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation
16.110 DOJ Education and Enforcement of the Antidiscrimination Provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act
17.207 DOL Employment Service/Wagner-Peyser Funded Activities
19.300 STATE Program for Study of Eastern Europe and the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union
20.500 DOT Federal Transit_Capital Investment Grants
20.907 DOT Minority Institutions
47.070 NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering
59.002 SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans
59.005 SBA Internet-Based Technical Assistance
59.006 SBA 8(a) Business Development Program
59.007 SBA 7(j) Technical Assistance
59.008 SBA Physical Disaster Loans
59.009 SBA Procurement Assistance to Small Businesses
59.011 SBA Small Business Investment Companies
59.012 SBA Small Business Loans
59.026 SBA Service Corps of Retired Executives Association
59.037 SBA Small Business Development Center
59.041 SBA Certified Development Company Loans (504 Loans)
59.046 SBA Microloan Program
59.049 SBA Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Certification and Eligibility
59.050 SBA Microenterprise Development Grants
81.079 DOE Regional Biomass Energy Programs
81.108 DOE Epidemiology and Other Health Studies Financial Assistance Program
93.361 HHS Nursing Research
97.065 DHS Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT – Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center’s Foundation Grants for Individuals Online. It’s a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don’t have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

http://www.cfda.gov
http://www.grants.gov
http://gtionline.fdncenter.org
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/grants.htm
http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html
References :

bigrob Says:
September 7th, 2009 at 3:09 am

Easy–Government, one of these words doesn’t belong with the other.
Government–Confusing Red Tape, now that’s more like it!
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