How do I go about getting a grant?

Question

I am the co-founder of a business and I have been advice on several occasions to apply for a grant, but I don't know the first thing to do to get one. My business falls in the category of "community development", and it is non-profit. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

grants.gov

Answer 2

There are essentially only 4 sources for grants. A little known fact it that you do NOT have to be a non-profit to get a grant, regardless of what others tell you ... I've helped for-profits apply for grants.

Federal grants are called Small Business Innovation Research grants. These are given primarily for some new innovation. You can find out what's available at:
http://www.sbirworld.com
There is also info on this site about how to apply.

Some cities offer grants to small businesses if they will locate in the downtown area, for the purposes of building up downtown traffic. Check with City Hall.

There are some governemnt grants for minority businesses. You can find info at:
http://www.mbda.gov

Finally, private foundations offer grants. You can get a list of most US Foundations and private grant sources at http://www.foundations.org/grantmakers.html.

Answer 3

Your best bet is to seek for private grants or grants from private foundations.

The best resource for this is Foundation Center http://www.fdncenter.org . They have a very good database covering all organizations giving grants and you can find foundations that are interested in supporting your type of cause. However, it's a subscription based website ($19.95 per month I think is the cheapest subscription price). But it certainly is worth the fee. You can subscribe one month, and make sure you get all the info you need and then stop the subscription.

If you want to try federal sources, 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.

CFDA has several ways to search for grants. I suggest you search by beneficiary and select Private Non Profit Organization and you can find listings of grants available http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show

Big businesses also give out grants to non profits. I suggest you check out the private foundations of many of these top corporations to see if they support your type of activities.

An example is Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/citizenship/giving/ which provides support to Community-Based Technology and Learning Center (CTLC) organizations including Nonprofit—in the United States, 501(c)(3) designation—or a nongovernmental organization; Government funded and operated—a nonprofit organization that receives government funding or is a partner with a governmental; and schools.

However, to be able to get grant awards, you need to be 501C(3) certified from the IRS http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/index.html

Answer 4

Yes there is a book called grants for dumbys which im not calling you that. its the name of the book, also go to the website type in grants for non-profits it should come up, But be very care, you need it in detail everything about what kind of non profit you have how many people work for you where the money goes you all so have to have your tax id showing you are a non profit, and they like pictures of your bussiness to, just be very detailed, and then wait, I would do more then one at a time. some times it could take months to get one.

Answer 5

You should try Grant.com. It's a nice source for free grants in any field.