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 starting a for-profit business.

One possible exception is for companies developing or exporting agricultural goods, including food and forest product. Another exception could be the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/sbir/index.html , which fund the research and development of technological innovation that meets specific government needs.

Your best bet actually will be from the states if they offer grant programs for business startups (or any other special interest groups — minorities, women, disabled, veterans, etc). Or check with non profit organizations, particularly women organizations (if you’re a woman) if they offer grants.

Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business/loans-grants-funding/grants

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” The federal government does NOT provide grants for starting and expanding a business. Government grants are funded by your tax dollars and therefore require very stringent compliance and reporting measures to ensure the money is well spent. As you can imagine, grants are not given away indiscriminately.
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Grants from the federal government are only available to non-commercial organizations, such as non-profits and educational institutions in areas such as, medicine, education, scientific research and technology development. The federal government also provides grants to state and local governments to assist them with economic development.”

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 (you’d barely see any).

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

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center’s Foundation Grants for Individuals Online http://gtionline.fdncenter.org . 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.

Another option for you that can help you raise funds (though I doubt the full capitalization) is through crowd funding sites, where other people can give you funds for your business. Some supports creative endeavors while some are for businesses. Make sure to make your story compelling. Some examples of these sites are (for the complete list, see in the source)

- Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com/
- Indiegogo http://www.indiegogo.com/
- Chipin http://www.chipin.com/
- Citizen Effect http://www.citizeneffect.org
- Cofundit http://www.cofundit.com/

The Housing and Urban Development in their Grants Available page makes it clear that they do not provide grants to individuals — hence no grants for a person to buy a home http://www.hud.gov/grants/index.cfm

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“While HUD does not offer direct grants or loans to individuals, we do work through local governments and non-profit organizations to make financial assistance and counseling available.”
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It is also 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.

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 SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/mostrequesteditems/CON_FAQ2.html

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“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.”

Leave that online crap alone most of those are scams that want your to pay for information on a job or a company that does not exists so don’t waste your money.

You must be enrolled in an accredited school in a program of study leading to a degree in order to qualify for any Federal or State financial aid. You cannot just take random classes with no ending point and no degree.

There are links for programs and assistance for women-owned businesses that might be applicable for you.

The Foundation Center has a page with information on starting a nonprofit organization at http://fdncenter.org/learn/faqs/html/starting_nonprofit.html and an online directory of available grants at http://www.foundationcenter.org/

There are essentially only 5 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.

Most of the 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 your City Hall for details.

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

And, there are some minority organizations that provide grants … La Raza and the NAACP sometimes do.
http://www.nclr.org
http://www.naacp.org

Private companies sometimes help fund start-ups, especially if they think they will see some benefit from it. These are very difficult to find, but can sometimes be the easiest to get.

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.