business grants page lists
about 30-40 agencies that give business grants, sometimes even to start up
businesses. Settle down with a cup o' tea for this one.
The U.S. Federal
Government page is a search page that includes thousands of grants that are
available on thousands of topics. I could not believe what came through as
"hits" when I did searches.
For example, I
searched on the word "embroidery", and came up with nothing. Not
surprising. So I searched on the word "sewing" and got 2 hits!
One for a $18-22 million grant to develop "real life skills" for
junior high aged students in Indonesia. The other was for a $21 million
grant for storm damage mitigation in Haiti, which included replacing damaged
sewing machines.
"Teaching"
got 55 hits. "Soccer" got 1 hit, but "sports" got 20
hits. There was a strong demand for internet-savvy folks, with "web
sites" getting 555 hits, "develop web sites" getting 1,331 hits,
and "internet searching" with 356 hits. Even "start up
business" got 400 hits.
A lot of these
projects were overseas and many required special skills. I doubt, for
instance, that "developing web sites" was the only task in those grant
projects; the projects likely included a bunch else too.
Your 7-Step Business Plan
will help you make the strong impression that you need to capture a
government grant. Click on
book covers for more information.
Many
of These SBA Business Grants, and Grants from Other Agencies, Have the "Need" Already Identified
Many of these
SBA business grants have the job, the "need", already
specified, as do most of the business grants from other agencies. They are
looking for a person/company that can come in and fill that need.
Some, like the
scientist and the pre-school teacher noted above, do fund your dream. Even
so, it's pretty unlikely that you will find a
n
SBA
business grant to fund your ice
cream parlor franchise. (But, hey, if your ice cream parlor is going to be
in a disadvantaged rehabilitation zone, there may be any number of SBA
business
grants available, as well as grants from local and regional authorities.)
Buying
a Grants Directory
Now is when it
becomes okay to buy one of those directories that I referred to above with such
disfavor.
Finding business
grants is not easy. In fact, the difficulty is compounded because there
are so many places to look. There is the federal government, the state
government, the local government, charitable organizations, corporations that
are good citizens in their respective communities, and any number of coalitions
of these entities. In spite of what the SBA says, it does give grants to
special groups: it funds organizations like WNET (women's groups) and
MESBICs (venture capital for minority groups).
Yes, a huge amount
of information is on the internet, and in your local library. But, unless
you have a super fast internet connection, having the information on your hard
drive will make the search so much easier.
Look for a
directory that includes charitable organizations, as well as governmental
organizations.
For an
inexpensive ($39.95) directory that covers a lot of bases, I suggest the Online
Grants Directory. This directory includes SBA business grants, and
grants from thousands of other agencies and organizations. They also
provide individualized help at no extra charge, and have a full money back
guarantee.
