Some time has passed since my last article on the topic of Government Grants. I read my other articles to review my previous findings. In a word, confusing. In summary, grants do exist. You can get them. It is not easy and not available without a lot of running in circles. To read the info from the grants.gov site, an individual can't apply. The best you can do is go to govbenefits.gov instead and see what existing programs that you may qualify for.
What about all the claims that government money is available to all citezens. Anybody can get it. Well, the best I can figure out is that as an individual person, the main thing that is available fall under two areas. Getting money for buying real estate and getting money for starting or expanding a business. Money can be had if you are a first time home buyer. Which means that if you previously owned a home, you can still qualify if you have sold your home and have not owned another in the past three years. More on the business thing in a minute.
I haven't gotten back to the grants.gov site lately, but I think that doing searches related to buying property might pull up grants related to buying properties that you can fix up for yourself to live in. Also to rehab property that is in underpriveledged areas. There are supposed to be grants to remodel or renovate your home if you are elderly or disabled. The application process is still an uphill battle. The government agencies that you apply to are extremely particular on filling the application out correctly. Spelling, grammar, neatness all count. Be prepared to be told no endlessly.
An individual might also get grants to start up a business. First you need a business plan or you will get nowhere. Your business can be doing anything but if you can't present it in a way that will convince the government, it won't happen. You could start a business in real estate. Fixing uprun down properties as mentioned earlier. Repairing properties to rent out. Refitting properties to qualify for Section 8 subsidies and so on. There are grants and other programs for all these things. There are a lot more possibilities if you are ready to start a business of your own. Even to expand your existing business.
First you need to find the grants that suit your needs. Use the search tools on grants.gov and knock yourself out. The really hard part is still in the application. Doing it yourself is difficult for many reasons. You could hire a lawyer for the legal type language you might run into. That costs some big bucks. You could hire a grant writer, or a grant writing company. That also costs lots of dollars. As much as in the five figure range by the time the research and writing is done. That is money that you pay before you even see the federal money you hope to get.
Some of the more reputable companies that I have found on the web can help with the location of grants as well as the writing of the applications and so forth. Depending on the company, you may only pay a few dollars, $30 to $60, and end up with little more than some partial databases and out dated info and vague instructions on how to do it on your own. You may not get any customer support or help in your ongoing ordeal. Once you pay the money, you may find there is not a refund policy for a service that is lacking in results.
The better companies have counselors that you can call to help you find the grants and programs that will suit you. They can help you write the grant proposals and even assist in getting a working business plan written out for you. Those companies are not cheap, but very much more affordable than a full blown grant writing firm. We're talking around a thousand dollars, give or take a little.
Still too much cash for you? Well, you have to ask yourself how motivated you are to get those government bucks afterall. Why do you want that money? Why do you need that money? What is it worth to you to get it and how skilled or motivated are you in getting it? You can do a truckload of work and agonizing and get the money yourself for free. Good luck. You could spend just a few bucks and most likely still be doing all that same work on your own, minus a few bucks for some questionable information. You could pay a bit of cash out for some decent coaching, mentoring and support while you apply on your own. You are still doing some of the work, but you are hiring some folks who can help pave the way for you. Or last, you can pay huge amounts of cash to big business and legal types who won't consider you much unless you have really deep pockets.
For now, I'm going to let this topic lie. I may come back to it at some point but other ventures are calling for me to investigate.