Want Capital? So do We.
Many websites and publications have recently been devoted to Free Government Grants along with a variety of national and state level capital financing programmes. Awards from these programs don’t have to always be paid back. Sounds great in theory, but, for me, that also raises a number of more questions – If it’s that simple why is it that thousands of dollars go unclaimed in this type of assistance each year? And why don’t I know any one who’s ever got some sort of government loan for their small business?!
Apparently, after some researching (and a lot of coffee!) apparently the only solution to the question is that people are simply not aware of the actual programs available or that they don’t find out how to make the most of them. Easy to understand, the bureaucratic bungling of the federal government can’t be also expected to figure out a reliable marketing campaign now can they? – it would be all just way too much work. Furthermore, most people don’t understand how to apply for them anyway nor possess the time to do all of the tiresome research to find what they’re looking for. Nevertheless, If all this cash is going unclaimed – why don’t I just leap on it? In fact, if it’s that simple… undoubtedly the word should have spread long before now.
So, just what is the real truth about government business grants?
The great news appears to be that they are indeed real and thanks to the entrepreneurial attitude of the government’s new open-door policies, they’re not particularly tough to track down once you know where to look. But that’s a huge “IF”!
The reality is: The actual federal government web pages where they are listed are generally so poorly kept that they contain about one-tenth at best of the programs available and of those many are years out-dated and don’t exist any longer. This challenge on it’s own happens to be about as irritating as being stuck in traffic.
so here are the basics:
The majority of funds accessible to private businesses are financed through federal government agencies; after all, they are the ones with access to the media channels that make the cash. Typically, profit-creation based businesses are not qualified to receive funds through charitable groups, corporations, and foundations, yet if your undertaking pertains to the arts, education, science, or a similarly unique cause, you may be the exception to this rule.
Even with government funds, (conditional in which country where you live in) there’s really no free supper. They aren’t actually giving out money. They expect something of value for it such as exploration, job creation, work carried out, and so on. In fact, in north america a number of grant programs require “corresponding funds” dissimilar to in Australia most federal grants are generally given simply upon terms of creating your own personal small business and getting off the tax-funded welfare system.
At any rate, back to the idea. A fast browse for possibilities available to small businesses (businesses with under 500 employees) returned 587 clear offers inside the Usa along with 400+ in australia.
So, what’s the chance of finding a funding option to expand your retail store? On one hand, slender. On the reverse side , if you could possibly make a case that your retail store could turn out to be a local tourist destination – possibly extremely high. More favorable yet, if you are able to demonstrate that you are likely to produce jobs for the local university drop-outs flipping burgers inside a low-income region – The money might be given to you upon a silver tray. Likewise, if your growth involves recruiting the homeless, career coaching, innovation, energy conservation, smog reduction, or a myriad of initiatives our government has zeroed in on with regard to the global endeavor to re-build the pre-GFC economy you may just be eligible for your slice of the cake.
In the event that you don’t mind lots of paperwork (of course , if you have already got a company, you’re already accustomed to it – or you are fantastic at palming it off to your assistant), frequent red-tape, and numerous lines of impossible-to-understand fineprint, the following is a quick guideline to the time-consuming procedure of uncovering grant dollars for your company:
1. If you qualify for any special small business status – like minority-owned business enterprise or organization disadvantaged company or enterprise, woman-owned business, or veteran-owned organization – begin the official recognition process as fast as possible . In certain cases, it’ll provide you with preference above non-accredited business owners.
2. Combine your information. Yes, you’ll want to have your Tax File Number and company registration information handy.
3. Just like with your high-school examinations. Cheat. Use your Freedom Of Information (FOI) privileges to access effective earlier government funding proposals of the type of funding you happen to be applying for.
4. Look slightly more deeply: you are able to locate grants which can justify just about anything. A number of years back an Australian grant of one thousand USD was given to a couple of lazy university grad students to research exactly how long the perfect amount of time is to dip your chocolate biscuit into your early morning cup of joe was before it had gotten a chance to fall apart!
5. Think to yourself “Will this be for the universal good” – should you have a project that serves the needs of the nation (i.e. employment training, returning to work, hiring the disabled, reducing health care costs, lowering co2 emissions, growing security, etc.) there’s most likely government money to pay for it. If it stimulates international or regional tourist dollars.. there’s possibly capital to invest in it.
6. When you need a grant or loan that is presently closed to private enterprises, find a not-for-profit that may possibly need to collaborate on the project and share in the profits with.
7. While the United states-centered Grants.gov does a fair job of databasing national government funding programs for small business inside the United states you may also need to consider that the majority of of the grants that are possibly a lot more related with regard to your enterprise (and which may have a lot fewer people submitting an application for them}, will be the resource choices that no-one has troubled to add to the grants.gov web site anyway (usually as a result of an 8-hour government employee shift includes a 7.5 hour coffee break).A great illustration of this point is the Australian equivelent of grants.gov called Grantslink. When I searched it, I immediately identified 400 federal grants had been posted on the website,yet with just one google search, within 10 minutes i had found another one thousand+ government grants that had been unlisted on the grantslink site- (then yet another 500 more within the next twenty minutes!) Hmmm.
In addition, for non-public/non-government grants, and charity grants – you would require weeks or months to search through all this information.
Recently however, a number of sensible online businesses have sprang up who’ve collated all of the newest grant funding and government loan options data into 1 product – these are generally constantly going to be a superior resource of information because they’re privately researched, up-to-date, complete and accurate. GovernmentBusinessGrants.com.au offers entrepreneurs on-the-web subscription-based access to an ever-growing database of grants in addition to a information-copy on DVD for the business proprietor. You will find numerous businesses within the Us, United kingdom and Europe who offer similar products. This is often hands down the easiest option and definitely will save you a great deal of analysis time that you could be better off making use of to be effective on developing your business
8. Be in it for the long haul. The majority of grant programs are distributed at particular times of year. Generally, the deadline for proposal application submissions tend to be incredibly stringent. Prepare yourself so that you don’t reach the event just as everyone is going home for the night.
9.Pay special attention to particulars. No ADHD(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Looking for and winning grant cash is an exercise in preciseness. One wrong-step and you could be right out of the running. Government departmental thru-hoop-jumping has the potential to be a real headache if your submission is received by a moody proposal reviewer who was made to come back early from her 7.5 hour snack-break.
If reading this article leaves you a little lost… then you’ve already got a good sense for the joy of Government Grants and Financing. Nonetheless, should you have a unique remedy to the world’s difficulties, a unique technological capacity or just the brain-power to obtain your cash free..
10. Just dive in the deep-end and do it. In the long run, the simplest path to prosperity is always to simply take that one leap of faith outside your comfort zones.
