Getting Started on your Government Grant

by: Michael Saunders

Grants are not Benefits or Entitlements. A Federal Grant is an award of financial assistance from a Federal agency to a recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States. Grants are not Federal assistance or loans to individuals.

Since 2002, the federal government has been developing and implementing Grants.gov as a collaborative cross-government program focused on streamlining grants management for the Federal grant community.

Most people in the United States are either unaware of, or biased against, government grants. They feel that applying for a grant involves too much red tape, and there is the popular myth that there are always strings attached. In reality, getting government grants is easy, and there are no strings attached because the government is mandated by congress to give these grants away for the benefit of United States citizens. Here are the basics you'll need to start applying for a government grant today.

Requirements for grants - the only real basic requirements for getting a government grant is that you must be at least 18 years of age and a United States citizen. It's that simple. Everything else is dependent on other variables based on the type of loan you're applying for. Additionally, there are even special grant programs dedicated to addressing the common needs of citizens who belong to specific ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds.

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Did you know?

Applying at Grants.gov can reduce your costs and the time required to find government grant opportunities and process your application. The site provides access to multiple grantors and reduces paperwork.

By downloading a grant application package, you can view it offline, giving you the flexibility to complete the application when and where you want.

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Getting Started on your Government Grant
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About The Author Michael Saunders has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He edits a site on Government Grants for Small Businesses and also edits HandsNet - A Human Services News Website.

Additional Government Grants Resources

California Housing Finance Agency
The California Housing Finance Agency, otherwise known as CalHFA, is an independent, self-supporting agency that was chartered to as the State's affordable housing bank to make low interest rate loans through the sale of tax-exempt bonds; with these bonds being repaid by revenues generated through mortgage loans, instead of taxpayer dollars.

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Agriculture Loans From GovLoans
Are you a farmer or a rancher who is tired of scouring the world wide web for benefits and loans from the United States Government only to find yourself annoyed and frustrated due to the rather complex and confusing process of looking through hundreds of pages from numerous websites?

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State Vital Statistics Improvement Program
In keeping with this mission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established the State Vital Statistics Improvement Program in an attempt to is to enhance the operational efficiencies of the state vital statistics programs and their ability to provide timely, high quality, and comparable data to the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS).

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Water Resources Research National Competitive Grants Program
The United States Geological Survey has recently constituted the Water Resources Research National Competitive Grants Program wherein they intend to focus on water problems and issues of a regional or interstate nature beyond those that only concern a single state.

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National Science Foundation: Ocean Acidification
The Ocean Acidification Program is geared towards the acquisition of a better understanding of the potentially adverse effects of slowly acidifying oceans.

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United States Institutes for Student Leaders on US History & Government
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has recently established the United States Institutes for Student Leaders on US History & Government Program.

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Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program
The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program revolves around improving then country's information infrastructure through the utilization of funding projects that are designed to address the education and training needs of certain professionals who help build, maintain and provide the public with immediate access to some of the world's vast and wide-ranging information systems and resources.

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