Minority Grants

Federal Government Business Grants

Find The Right Kind Of Federal Government Business Grant


In the United States of America, Federal government business grants refers to the economic aid that is issued by the government of the United States from the federal revenue. The purpose is to provide opportunities for business to women, people from the minority community, or people with a low income. Sometimes non-profit organizations like the foundations and charitable trusts also provide grants for business development. All these non-profit organizations are collectively referred to as "charities". Apart from these government funding for business, there are various subventions as well as subsidies offered by the private charities or the government which sponsor programs or projects to meet the funding requirements of the grant-giving agency or donor. Any kind of government funding for business can be used by the recipient in any way within the domain of the activities of the organization of the recipients or they may even be restricted to a particular purpose by the grant giving entity.

Federal and State grants receive criticism quite frequently because of excessive rules and regulations. These criticisms include duplication, problems of overlap, excessive categorization, arbitrary federal decision-making, insufficient information as well as varying requirements. The Federal grants may even be biased towards people most familiar with exploiting the whole system, instead of the entities that needed it the most.

There are more than 900 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-giving agencies. These programs fall into 21 categories which include- Agriculture, Arts, Business and Commerce, Community Development, Consumer Protection, Disaster Prevention and Relief, Education Regional development, Employment, Labor and Training, Energy, Environmental Quality, Food and Nutrition, Health, Housing, Humanities, Information and Statistics, Law, Justice and Legal Services, Natural Resources, Science and Technology, Social Services and Income Security and Transportation.

However, the principal drawback in Federal Government Business Grants is that there are no government grants available for setting up a small business, though there are several loans that provide the money. The US Small Business Administration doesn't provide grants for starting and expanding small businesses, however, it offers a wide range of loan programs. Although SBA offers some government financial aid programs, these are usually designed in order to expand as well as enhance organizations that provide small business management, financial or technical assistance. These government financial aids usually support the intermediary lending institutions, non-profit organizations, and local as well as state governments. The US Government agencies, however, do offer hundreds of millions of dollars for specific services, programs and researches in the form of grants. These grants can be a source of significant funding. For companies dealing in specific domains such as energy, transportation, housing, college education, security and other industries, a wide range of grant programs are available. Some federal government small business grants are even meant for businesses that are owned as well as run by women and other minorities.

The ideal place to begin research in regard to business with government help is the website Grants.gov. This website is operated by the Government of United States of America and controlled by the US Department of Health and Human Services which allows organizations and agencies to electrically trace and apply for over 400 billion dollars in Federal Grants. Grants.gov website is the only access point for more than 1000 grant programs that are offered by all Federal grant-making organizations. There are, however, many other online resources regulated by the US Government agencies that can provide you with information about conducting business with government help. You will get a fair idea by reading through their contracts.