Federal Grants for Small Business

Federal Grants for Small Business

If you are considering starting your own business, or have a business that you would like to expand, you should be aware that there are billions of dollars in federal grants for small business available every year. These grants can be used for everything from buying equipment to hiring new employees and the best part is – you do not have to pay it back!

Many entrepreneurs go to a bank for financing and borrow money with a loan or a line of credit. To qualify for this you will have to put up personal possessions, such as your house, as collateral for the loan. Others who want to start small businesses look for investors who believe in their idea and are willing to put up investment capital. Both of these paths put extra pressure on the small business owner because of the additional consequences of failure.

Federal grants for small business allow entrepreneurs to start out without that pressure. There are websites that offer information and resources for finding the type of government grant that could apply to your business idea. You can quickly narrow down the type of grant you should apply for. You are not limited to applying for only one grant so increase your odds by applying for all of the grants that you qualify for.

Read the grant descriptions carefully to make sure that you meet the criteria for each grant before you spend the time to apply so that you make sure you are not wasting your time. The government has very specific criteria for each different type of federal grant for small business and they will not accept applications that do not meet all the criteria. Do not be discouraged however, because there are quite a few different grants available and you are bound to find one or more that will apply to your situation.

There are websites that can help you organize the information you need for a successful application after you have determined the grant you want to apply for. This is helpful because each grant will require different information on the application depending on what the focus of the grant is. Working through the website will help you to wade though the thousands of grants out there and find the right one, and then it will help you successfully apply for the grant of your choice.

Not only do the requirements for each grant differ, but so do the periods of time between application and award of grants. This varies based on the government agency responsible for administering the grant. Be sure that the grant money will be available at a time that will coincide with your business plans. Otherwise it will not be worth your time going through the process if the grant money will not be available when you need it.

If you have no experience with federal grants for small business then you may want to employ the services of a grant writer or a lawyer who is familiar with the process. These professional can make sure that you apply for the grant that is the best match for your business as well as ensuring that your application is as strong as it can be.

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