Tag: Government

Five Tips to Getting a Government Grant

A free government grant may sound like a dream come true. You apply. You get money. You don’t have to pay it back. Unfortunately, government grants are difficult to obtain and generally have stringent application requirements. Advice from business financing experts on obtaining a government grantThey are out there though, and for those businesses that meet the specific needs of the agency awarding a grant and can demonstrate their worth, a government grant may provide a significant infusion of funding. Note that government grants are not available to individuals, and they are not used for personal financial assistance, general ongoing operations or business launches. With these caveats in mind, here are five tips to help you get a government grant.

1. Find the Grant That’s Right for You.
The federal government has two programs that provide technology research grants, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. These programs look for small businesses to undertake Research and Development (R&D) projects that meet federal R&D objectives and have high potential for commercialization. The SBIR program encourages domestic small businesses to engage in R&D themselves; in the STTR program, small businesses work in partnership with research institutions.

You can find a list of open grants of all types at Grants.gov. Agencies that have participated include: National Institutes of Health (NIH); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); National Park Service (NPS); National Science Foundation (NSF); Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS); Bureau of Land Management (BLM); Department of Education (ED); Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); Administration for Children and Families (ACF);National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Dept of the Army (USAMRAA);Geological -Survey; Department of the Interior (DOI). Many, but not all, of the grants are for 501c-3 non-profit organizations. Use the helpful filters on the left side of the grant search page to narrow down your search.

2. Go Local.
Local government grants are usually intended to provide a boost to the regional economy or to promote an important cause. This might include areas such as energy efficiency, child care, tourism, local technology, education, or the arts. The best place to begin looking for local grants is the local economic development agency for the area where you intend to provide products and services.

3. Follow the Guidelines.
Granting agencies can be very particular about how grant applications are completed. Read the application carefully. Underline or circle every question, component, or requirement that needs to be addressed, and pull together your responses for each. Too often, proposals are rejected is because they don’t address what is being asked of them. Be specific and honest about your project budget, and remember to include your qualifications and references.

4. Give Yourself Time.
Make sure you have allotted enough time to put together a polished proposal before the deadline. It is essential that your grant proposal be well-written, with concise and professional language, careful organization, and required content. You want to leave yourself time to gather information and estimates from sub-contractors, if necessary, and go through careful editing and rewrites. Build in time to have at least one other reviewer besides the grant proposal writer review the proposal.

5. Watch Out for Scammers.

There are many companies out there who will offer to give you access to grants or provide you with grant proposals, and many are happy to take your money without delivering anything that is already available freely from the grant-issuing organization. Beware of scammers. Carefully check references for people you are considering hiring to help you with this process.

If you think your small business is a good candidate for a government grant, don’t be afraid to go after it. Do your research, plan and prepare your proposal carefully, send it before the deadline, and confirm its receipt. Then, cross your fingers and hope for the best!

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How is Your Small Business Affected by the Sequester?

The word of the year for 2013 is “sequester” (or the more formal and ominous-sounding “sequestration”).   As you have probably learned, the sequester is the term being used for the mandatory automatic federal budget cuts that took effect as of March 1, 2013.

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Will your private sector small business feel the cuts?

The sequester calls for $85 billion in federal spending cuts to defense and domestic programs that will occur in 2013, and $109 billion in cuts annually from 2014 to 2021.

 

Where are sequester cuts being made?

Cuts are being made to the discretionary spending within both military and domestic programs across the board. Although whole programs will not be cut, existing government contracts may not be extended, and new contracts may not be funded. This will affect directly the estimated 35% of suppliers to the US Defense Department that are bona fide small businesses. In addition to these direct suppliers, there are untold numbers of small business vendors that supply prime federal defense contractors. In some cases, these small businesses are so far down the food chain that they may not even be aware of the extent to which that their goods and services ultimately support the US Defense Department.

 

 

On the domestic side, as the number of government contracts shrinks and the scope of existing work goes down, both direct and indirect small government contractors may need to reduce headcount and operations. To make matters more difficult, the US Government will no longer extend $902 million in small business loans via the Small Business Administration (SBA), making funds tighter for small businesses.

 

Will your private sector small business feel the cuts?

Experts vary on their assessments of the impact. Some, such as Professor Stephen Fuller of George Mason University see significant impacts. A recent New York Times article quoted Fuller as saying that 1.4 million private sector jobs will be lost and that half of those will be from small businesses[1]. Other experts feel differently. In that same article, Holly Wade, senior policy analyst at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), was much less pessimistic, stating that “few small businesses have contracts with the federal government, and few small businesses get loans from the S.B.A.” According to Wade, if credit is a problem for Main Street, it will be due to a downturn in the economy more than a drop in federal programs under a sequester budget.

 

A downturn in the economy cannot be treated lightly, however. Even if you don’t do business with the federal government directly or indirectly, your customers may be affected, and these effects could trickle down. People will lose jobs. Some full-time workers will become part-time. Agencies will shift to bring overhead down, and as they reduce operations, suppliers will cut staff and investment. That means pink slips, lower travel budgets, perhaps fewer conferences, and leaner service offerings. Consumers will have less money to spend and therefore, will shop less. If this is the case, it will be harder for the private sector to grow, or even to hold on to what they’ve got. Small businesses, even more than the Lockheed Martins of the world, have little leeway to maneuver to stem the pain. Do you agree? What’s your prediction? Has your business been affected by the sequestration?