Government grants for women are a source of business funding every female entrepreneur needs to think about. There are a lot of grant possibilities out there for women. If you are a woman and a minority, it gets even better! Getting a grant is not necessarily difficult, just a lot of work. It helps a lot if you know some about the grant process. If you are a halfway decent writer that helps, too.
To start you need to educate yourself about the grants that are available, and how you identify them and write a proposal. One great resource is The Foundation Center.
The Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy. Since 1956, they have served as a conduit between non-profits and grant makers. Of interest to the new grant seeker is The Foundation's online courses, many of which are free. They offer courses in foundations and fundraising, proposal writing, and non-profit management. Some of these courses cost money, but compared to what you learn, they are very cheap.
The information you find at The Foundation Center should help you understand what tools and abilities you will need to be a successful grant applicant. Another resource, Grants.gov, is a great place begin looking for a grant that might fit your needs.
Grants.gov was established in 2002 and bills itself as a storehouse of over 1,000 grant programs. Through Grants.gov you have access to over $40 billion in grants each year.
Grants.gov has an excellent search capability. Even before you get serious about finding a grant to fund your project, Grants.gov is a great place to spend some time just reading about potential grants. Check out their New Opportunities This Week link near the bottom of the home page. There you will see a representative sample of grants that are newly available.
Often grant seekers look at a site like Grants.gov and are overwhelmed by all the possibilities, none of which seem to actually fit what you are looking for. Finding a grant can be a needle in a haystack type experience, but then on the positive side of this is the fact that grants, unlike, loans, never need to be repaid.
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