Is A Federal Grant The Answer To Your Small Business Need?

So, you're considering going for a Federal Grant. What can you do with Federal Grant Money?

For the most part, federal grants are given to organizations and non-profit organizations to achieve specific societal and social aims. This doesn't preclude them being used for business, but the best way to get federal grant money in this fashion is to apply for the grant in partnership with a non-profit, so that the non-profit can hire your company to do the work needed.

Exceptions to this are the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs, which are designed to foster research from small companies into solving problems various federal agencies want solved. SBIR grants are research grants, for the most part. You have to demonstrate that you have the capabilities to meet the problem. SBIR grants come in three phases – phase 1 grants tend to be small, around $100,000, and are there for people to make proposals to win larger grant development processes. From the SBIR program's perspective, it's better to spend for 20 phase 1 grants and sort through the applicants for the phase 2 grants, to finally award two or three phase 3 grants to, to take the concept on to implementation.

Most SBIR grants are given in technical fields, such as military training and simulation, medical research, and ecological remediation.

Other grants that can be had are educational grants, grants given to people of assorted ethnic groups and grants given to women starting small businesses. There are several grant giving agencies listed on the Internet, and, as always, a little library time can pay off for you.

Project grants are a category of grant given for the completion of a specific project. This is good for covering project development costs, but not the overhead of running a business – still, if you're looking to supplement the income stream of your business, project grants are a good way to go about it.

Federal money for other functions related to business can be searched for at www.govbenefits.gov.

As you read up on individual grant programs, keep an eye peeled for restrictions on what you can use the funds for. You will have to provide an accounting of how the money was spent, and on what.

Make sure you take advantage of all of the grant programs the federal government offers. If these grant sources aren't used, they will disappear.