Government Grants

Is it true what the infomercials say, that there are millions in free money waiting for anyone to take advantage of, and all you have to do is apply for government grants? As it turns out, it is not that simple. While it is true that there are millions of dollars in grant money given away by the various levels of government every year, the bad news is that little of it is earmarked for individuals. So who does get it, you ask? In order to even apply for most of the government grants out there, you have to be an organization. That means, you have to be a government yourself, either state or local or a recognized Native American tribal government.

Another option is if you are a school district or aid organization or a certified 501(c) nonprofit agency recognized by the federal government. If you are an individual, you would in turn apply to these smaller governments or organizations in order to get a piece of the money. Or, there are federal government grants available to individuals, but they are few and far between and much less common than the type of government grant given to organizations. At any rate, if you are applying for a government grant, make sure that the type of grant you are applying for (if you are an individual) is available to individual applicants. Otherwise you may be going through a lot of hard work for nothing!

In addition, if it's just money or financial assistance you are looking for, it is not a government grant that you want to apply for. It is one of the aid agencies that the government has available to individuals and families, such as Medicaid, Social Security, and the Food Stamp program. One has to qualify in order to obtain any of these services. In order to get a grant, you usually need to be an organization doing work in a particular field. Then, your organization would apply for government grants by category based on what the organization's purpose is. There are educational grants, science grants, technological research grants, and many others. The point is, most of these are not for individuals but for organizations.

There are small business grants for businesses that do under a certain amount of sales per year, but those grants are usually in the form of loans that the business will eventually need to pay back.