Everyday I speak with at least one person who claims to have found a website with a guarantee for a free government grant. What they want me to tell them is that it is true. The truth is there are no guarantees anyone can make or keep about who gets a grant, whether it is from a private institution or the federal government.

The guarantee that anyone can get a grant for any reason is completely untrue. What determines whether you receive a grant or not, is in how you approach and complete the granting process. Requesting funding for you to take a vacation or buy yourself a new luxury sports car is waste of your valuable time and clutters the granting committees' evaluation process with frivolous grant requests.

Most of what you see and read on the TV and the internet are true. There are thousands of grants available for just about any worthy project. You do not need to be a minority or non-profit, but many of the grants are designed to benefit that segment of society. Grants are not designed to benefit just the individual, but rather the community as a whole.

Many businesses, new and established, have received grant funding if they are providing a service to the community that is needed, promoting economic growth, or providing jobs that do not already exist. A well thought out business strategy is the first step to developing a plan to request grant funding.

Among other claims made are that you will receive a grant in a determined amount of time. Grants are awarded through out the year by many different organizations and the government. The closing dates for grants are always posted and very few are awarded on a case by case basis. Sometimes the wait can last up to a year to know if you will receive funding.

I always encourage all my clients to work on their grant proposal continually so they will be prepared when they find an appropriate funding source. The only guarantee I can make to my clients is that if they do not seek grant funding in a professional and timely manner, they will never receive a grant.

Another misconception is that you can pay to get a grant. Once again, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not. Anyone who advertises that for hundreds of dollars they will get you a grant is probably just a scam. There many good programs out there that will help you learn the process for under $50. For more information and a list of some good granting programs that I have researched myself please go to http://www.grantsformoney.com

Learn more about this author, Kevin Riley.
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