Government Grants USA

In the United States, government grants are economic aid issued by the United States government out of the general federal revenue. A government grant is an award of financial assistance from a federal agency to a recipient to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States.

Grants may also be issued by private non-profit organizations such as foundations, not-for-profit corporations or charitable trusts which are all collectively referred to as charities.

Thanks to Wikipedia for a most succinct definition about government grants.
It was this information that led me to look further into the possibility of free Grant money.

There are over 900 government grants programs offered by the 26 federal grant-making agencies. These programs fall into 21 categories:

* 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
* Transportation

How to Apply for Government Grants?
The action required is described on the US Government website, http://www.grants.gov.

The first thing to do is to determine the Grants you can apply for and your elligibility by examining the list of Grants and the elligibility requirements.

Then you must complete the Grants.gov registration process. Registration can take between three-five business days or as long as two weeks if all steps are not completed in a timely manner.
Then applicants must download a Grants Application Package which allows for the applications to be prepared off line.

Instructions on how to open and use the forms in the package are on the application package cover sheet. Agency specific instructions are available for download when you download your application package, which will include required information for your submission.

You have to remember to save changes to your application as you go, Grants.gov does NOT automatically save changes. The package cannot be submitted until all required fields have been completed.
After you have entered all the necessary information, checked the package for errors and saved your package; applicants need to click the "Save & Submit" button on the cover page, and the application package will automatically be uploaded to Grants.gov.

The Department gives a tracking number so that you can check on the progress of the application through the system.

This is the "long and Hard" method. The short and easy method is to find a computer program which will automate the whole process and provide templates and step by step guidance to make the applications.
So now, the research is all done what are you waiting for?