by Tami Erickson

Created on: May 01, 2009   Last Updated: May 03, 2009

Various departments within the federal government have money budgeted to fund various grant opportunities at any given time for a wide array of uses. Most are targeted toward special groups such as non-profit agencies or special interest groups. Sorry, folks, if you're looking for a grant to get you out of personal debt there are no federal grants for that.

Federal agencies such as the

Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, Small Business Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture are examples of just a few of the many federal agencies that make funding available to organizations on a regular basis.

There are project grants, formula (also known as block) grants; categorical grants and earmark grants. Some grants are further categorized as mandatory or entitlement grants.

If you are interested in obtaining federal money via a grant there are some important things to consider. First of all, do your research! In today's economic times there are more and more websites popping up advertising guaranteed grant money if you subscribe/order the information from that particular company. Avoid getting sucked into one of these scams.

Instead, role up your sleeves and do the research on your own. The federal government has grant information available on numerous federal websites such as Grants.gov and announces grant opportunities each day in the Daily Federal Register. They also publish the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) that lists grant opportunities.

To narrow down your search in an overwhelmingly large volume of information, determine what your project topic is before you start looking. If you work for a particular organization and know what you want and need, the search will go much quicker.

Once you've identified the scope of your search you can go directly to the department's website to search for grant announcements. If your project concerns housing, check out the Housing and Urban Development site. Looking for funding for an arts or humanities project? Check out the National Endowment for the Arts or National Endowment for the Humanities sites.

The government agency announcements will include specific information about their available funding. Your next step is to read the RFP/RFA (Request for Proposals/Request for Application) very carefully.

Pay special attention to the eligibility requirements and read it thoroughly to determine if you meet them. Also pay special attention to the time-lines. Some funding opportunities

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