does anyone know what gov't agencies offer grants?

Question

i want to know what agencies i should apply/send a proposal to; every one says free grants -- noones tells who to get them from.
i'll write my wn proposal, i just need to know to whom to send it to.

Answer 1

If you are in the US, 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 FREE sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants.

In the CFDA, you will find the government agencies that offer grants from the Dept of Agriculture to Dept of Defense, etc. But to apply for a grant -- there is ONLY ONE place and that is Grants.gov where you apply for grant whatever the department handling the grant. Grants.gov is the central processing body for grants

Browse through the CFDA listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes. Once you find a grant where you can qualify, apply for it at Grants.gov

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.

Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. 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. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.

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

Note also that there are a lot of SCAMMERS out there. One way is to avoid at all cost going to any .com or .net or .org website that promises to give you grants. Go only to a .GOV website -- that's a government website. You may want to read the warnings FTC has issued against these "grant" companies:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/03/grantresources.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt134.htm

Here is also one of the warnings issued by the Better Business Bureau http://www.concord.bbb.org/tips_timesharescams.html