Government Grant

Government grant is the kind of Award from a federal agency to provide financial assistance to a recipient to perform some valuable task for public. Grants are the individual loans for financial assistance. In United States of America 26 federal agencies annually provide 1000 grant programs in various categories. Approximately these programs offer grants to 21 different categories.

• Agriculture
• Arts
• Business and Commerce
• Community Development
• Disaster Prevention and Relief
• Education
• Employment, Labor and Training
• Energy
• Environmental Quality
• Food and Nutrition
• Health
• Housing
• Humanities
• Information and Statistics
• Law, Justice and Legal Services
• Natural Resources
• Regional Development
• Science and Technology
• Social Services and Income Security
• Transportation

TYPES OF ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY GOVERNMENT AS GRANT

Currently 15 types of Grant are provided in different areas. These Grants may be in the form of Financial Assistance as well as nonfinancial assistance.

• Formula Grants
• Project Grants
• Direct Payments for Specified Use
• Direct Payment with unrestricted Use
• Guarantee Insured Loans
• Insurance
• Sale, Exchange, or Donation of Property and Goods
• Use of Property, Facilities, and Equipment
• Provision of Specialized Services
• Advisory Services and Counseling
• Dissemination of Technical Information
• Training
• Federal Employment

Formula Grants
Formula Grants are allocated for continuing nature of activities and they are not limited to any specific project. Grant is allocated to states or their subdivisions according to distribution formulas approved by law or administrative regulations.

Project Grants
Project Grants are the funds allocated for fixed periods for specified projects. These grants include fellowship, traineeship, experimental and demonstration grants, evaluation grants planning grants, technical assistance grants, survey grants, and construction grants.

Direct Payments for Specified Use
It is financial assistance or grant provided by federal government directly to individuals, private firms, and other private institutions to encourage the particular activity by preparing the receipt of the assistance on a particular performance by recipient.

Direct Payment with Unrestricted Use
It is a financial assistance or grant provided by government directly to individuals who fulfill the eligibility criteria of federal government. There is no restriction to how the money is spent. It includes payments under retirement, pension and compensatory programs.

Direct Loans
Direct loans are the lending of federal government money to individuals or companies for specific time period which has to be repaid to government. Direct loans are a type of grant that may or may not require the payment of interest.

Guaranteed/ Insured Loans
Government assures the lender against part or all of any defaults individuals who are responsible for the repayment of loans.

Insurance
It is the financial assistance or grant provided to compensate for losses under specific conditions. This type of grant is provided directly by government or through private carriers. It may include the payment of premium or may not.

Sale, Exchange, or Donation of Property and Goods
It is a grant program that provides sale, exchange or donation of federal real property, personal property, commodities, and other goods including land, building equipments, food and drugs. Loan, use or access to Federal facilities or property is not included in this grant program.

Use of Property, Facilities, and Equipment
This program provides loan, use and access to federal facilities or property without giving possession or ownership to the user or recipient of the grant.

Provision of Specialized Services
It provides Federal personnel or workforce to directly accomplish certain specific tasks for the benefit of communities or individuals. These services may be performed in collaboration with nonfederal personnel. It requires practical performance more then consultation and advice.

Advisory Services and Counseling
To provide such assistance government provide federal specialists as consultants to advice or counsel communities or individuals and invite and include them in conferences, workshops, or personal contacts. It may also utilized published information but on secondary stage.

Dissemination of Technical Information
Such grant programs provide publication and distribution of information or data of a specialized or technical nature frequently through libraries. It does not include conventional public information services that are designed for general public consumption.

Training
Such programs provide training directly by federal agencies for individual who are not employed by federal government.

Investigation of Complaints
Such grant programs include direct activities of federal administrative agencies in response to requests either formal or informal in order to investigate claims of violations of Federal laws, policies, or procedures. Claims must come from outside the federal government.

Federal Employment
Such program shows the government responsibilities of the office of personnel management in the hiring of the federal civilian agency personnel.

Government Grants Small Business - Part I

If you are thinking about starting a new business, but do not have the money to do so, then you need to investigate government grants. Small business start ups sometimes require a lot of money, sometimes not. Either way, government grants could easily be the best source for initial financing.

What is so special about grants is, unlike loans, you do not have to pay them back. Not having the burden of a monthly loan payment helps tremendously in the first year of a business' life. Of course, you could sell equity in your need business to fund it, but then if everything goes the way you hope, and you sell the business in a few years, you are going to be giving away a substantial amount of money to your original investors. Wouldn't you rather keep it all for yourself? Besides, not everyone comes from a family where members have the sort of money you might need and the entrepreneurial understanding to let you have some of it.

Where can you get government grants? Well, from local, state, or federal governments, as well as from private organizations. You can use grants from both to start your business. As I said, the great thing about grants is they do not have to be paid back. The problem with grants is a) finding them, and b) getting them. There are usually a tremendous number of forms to fill out and hoops to jump through to get a grant. There is also a lot of competition for these grants. Everyone else wants free money, too!

Having said that, if you are the kind of person who is going to let a few forms stop you, then you might not be entrepreneur material, anyway. Problem solving is the hallmark of entrepreneurship! Either you figure how to address problems, or your competition does.

You are actually in luck! There are a lot of resources out there that can help you. The Foundation Center and Grants.gov are two. The Foundation Center is a well-respected, private organization that disseminates information about grants. Take a look at their website! They also have a lot of great online courses and other resources on their website that might help you. Just Google "The Foundation Center."

Grants.gov lists federal grants, thousands of them. You can browse their site and get a real feel for what is out there. Do not worry if you do not find what you are looking for at first. Finding the right grant is a real needle in a haystack experience. It can be done, though.