There are thousands of websites online that offer information about grants online. There are also hundreds of companies and government entities that offer the opportunity to apply to grants and business loans as well. Sometimes it is hard to know where to lock because your average every day surfer will be deluged with information.
Here is a tip to help narrow your prospects down. Start by looking in places such as the Google and Yahoo directories for the information you are looking for and try being very specific when you type your search phrase in the search engine field. For instance if you want to open up a pool cleaning business than type in “small business grant pool cleaning.” If you are starting a nail salon then type in “small business grant nail salon.” This should help filter and prioritize what you are searching for a bit.
It is also important not to just browse the first top two or three results that show up. Take care to look at the sources of grants that are not in the first couple of search engine result. Keep scrolling down and clicking next as there may be real opportunities in the non-profit or philanthropic sectors if you do this. This is a good idea because your competition may not be bothered to be looking down so many pages for grants. They may only be searching for the top three or four. Your odds of getting a grant are greater if you apply for the ones that are less popular or publicized.
To make sure that you have the best chance possible to get the grant you want to make sure that you request the actual grant application be sent to you from every funding source that remotely is applicable to your program or project. You might wonder why you would want to clutter up your inbox and mailbox with grant applications but the fact is that many websites do not describe the entire granting amount or the full scope of the funding online. The most valuable and comprehensive information tends to be in the guides brochures and packets that are sent to you by snail mail.
You might be wondering why a funding agent might not fully describe all of their grants online or on the phone and that is because they do not want to be overwhelmed by applicant. The idea is that if someone goes to all of the trouble of finding out about their obscure grants then they should deserve to be a candidate for it. So do not be afraid to look at grants that are less advertised or that do not seem to publish the results of who got funding last time.
