Our experience shows that grant money is rarely made available to for-profit ventures for purposes of obtaining capital. Only under special circumstances where technology is involved do grant opportunities exist for private for-profit businesses. There are several web sites on which one can search for available grant monies.

Unfortunately "free" grant money for for-profit companies is not nearly as available as those who are selling the "how to" books and seminars would like you to believe. Recent articles (Click here to see an article from MSNBC or here for an article from the Better Business Bureau) have highlighted the exaggerated claims of the people selling "free money" books and seminars.

Finding grants is a competitive and research-intensive process. We do not want to discourage you from seeking grants, though, you should be aware that most small businesses obtain their financing through more traditional means. (See our financing section.) Researching grants can be done on the Internet and at the public library. Some websites you may wish to visit are listed below.

Kansas Grants Clearinghouse provides information and links to federal, state, and industry-specific grants. Visit their website at http://www.kansasgrants.org.

The US Small Business Administration, in addition to providing loans and loan information, has an extensive list of links to federal and state grant sites. Visit their website at http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html.

Other federal grant research sites are listed here and can be visited by clicking on the website http://www.grants.gov, http://www.cfda.gov/, http://www.ala.org/acrl/resjuly99.html, and http://www.neh.gov/.

A site which provides information on the SBIR/STTR (technology grants) program is http://www.zyn.com/.

For more information on other financing sources, visit the Access to Capital and MicroLoans pages on this website.

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