Find grants.gov on the web. Click the Getting Started tab. Find the checklist link for individuals. Go from there. Try that 1 day long registration ordeal.
Register. A one time process. I'm required to register with a *Credential Provider?* And register with grants.gov. My individual application must be open to individuals and posted on the web site. Individuals do not need a DUNS number. After registering I can log into my account to change or update personal info.
Clicking the Credential Provider link. Credential Provider, here I come. The credential provider is a means to securely log into the system. First, I must enter a Funding Opportunity number of a grant that I intend to apply for. *sigh* So now we get to look for interesting grants. How is that done? But before we go flying off the handle the second step is easy. Just hit the "Register" button.
Clicking on 'Find Grant Opportunities' link now. Wow, Absolutely nothing of help here.
Clicking on FAQ. Clicking on the Getting Started FAQ. Now we are getting somewhere. Why couldn't they put this in a more prominent location? Maybe the Getting Started Page would help. An actual list with the order of events to apply:'
Let's start with Step 1. But first a note that appears further down this FAQ page. Concerning applying as an individual:
If you are an individual looking for information on government benefits, refer to GovBenefits.gov , the official government benefits website, a free, confidential tool that helps individuals find government benefits they may be eligible to receive, as well as information on how to apply.
As an organization, there are different steps to go through after finding the grants you want. This includes getting DUNS number and registering with the various services. Apparently individuals can't do that. I may have to come back here and try registering my business. But not now.
Let's check out govbenefits.gov now.
Welcome to GovBenefits.gov! GovBenefits.gov is a FREE confidential prescreening tool. Search for benefits you may be eligible to receive
Seems to be fairly friendly to use. Many types of search tools for finding benefits that might be suitable. You will just need to apply throughdifferent means. Namely, directly to the source that offers that benefit. Doesn't sound like getting a grant directly. More like getting services through various government agencies. There is a questionaire that attempts to ask some general questions with more specific things to try to narrow down all the areas you may qualify for benefits. I'm going to try that route. You can also do a search by keyword or category. The category search still will ask some of the questionaire questions at some point to help determine eligibility.
Here we go.
A maximum of 133 questions remaining.The first page has 24 general type questions. I stopped to see what results it gave me. Quite a few programs there. Now for more questions.
You may be eligible for 27 benefit(s) A maximum number of 58 question(s) remaining.
After another 24 questions the list narrowed down a little but is still a pretty good one. I tried to go back to the questions but am getting an error. I did manage to email a copy of the page to someone. Also I saved a copy on my hard drive using standard saving commands.
Time to look at some of those results. Ok, well maybe not right now. I'm still getting a page error from the govbenefits.gov site. Besides, I'm beginning to suffer from brain overload. More to come later but I think that what will be here is a list of organizations like Social Security, Unemployment, Veterans agencies, Food Commodities and the like. I also expect that there will be contact and application info there. We'll find out later.