I need information about small business grants that don't require a credit card to have it sent to me. help???

Question

I am a single parent with two minimum wage jobs. I have the best kid in the world. She is 11. I want to give her the world. I have been trying to get information on small business grants ( to open a gift shop ) and I keep running into the same problem. I dont have a credit card to get the info sent to me. As big as the world is, I have to believe there is a website somewhere that doesn't require money that I don't have to be sent to them in order to receive the information I seek. I have great faith in karma. Someone please educate me.

Answer 1

All the infomercials and spam email about the Government giving away tons of money to start a business are very misleading. Don't give those companies any of your money--- you will be really disappointed with the information you get.

All information about government grants is a matter of public record. You can find the information and even the applications online using any search engine. You do have to weed through the crap, though, because as soon as you type "government grant" into your search engine, you'll get about 9 pages of junk before you get to the legitimate government sites.

Simply make sure that whatever site you visit ends in .gov before you trust it.

All the government agencies will tell you about their programs for free. They don't even charge you postage. But be prepared--- it is not as easy to get these grants as the infomercials would have you believe, nor are there that many of them.

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I just took my own advice--- went to Yahoo search engine and typed in Government Grants and I got the site you need in about 12 seconds of work. Here you go: http://www.grants.gov/ That's the governmet-approved site. No offense, but if you want to be a small-business owner, you must learn to be more resourceful and figure things out on your own. I mean, this took me less than 20 keystrokes to get the information you need. You're going to need to write proposals and projections and business plans to get approved for your grant and you're going to need to put a lot of work into them... no one's going to hand you $25,000 just because you ask for it. So be prepared. Because if you couldn't even find the site using a search engine, those proposals are going to be very challenging for you.

Answer 2

It is hard to find grants to start a business. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK - lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.

Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants -- all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently. But still the info is the same - hardly any grants for starting a for profit business.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html...

"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."

Here is a listing of federal grants for small businesses. See if there is any available for individuals for starting a business -- THERE'S NONE.
http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women's Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center's Foundation Grants for Individuals Online. It's a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don't have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

http://www.cfda.gov
http://www.grants.gov
http://gtionline.fdncenter.org
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/grants.htm
http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html

Answer 3

simply contact SBA. 2. go to a bank that does Sba loans. 3. fyi sbs provides loans if u put down appx 30 percent down.
Remember find one with low rent