"Grant Request"

I got an email from someone asing for a grant request so that they could record their music. This person sent me an email saying how much grant money they were requesting, what they wanted to use the money for and a detailed personal bio of themselves.

Thing number one - this person either neglected to read (and understand) my grants page. This page specifically states that I provide grant research and grantwriting. While they did provide some of the answers to the questions that I ask of all of my clients, they did not answer them all. Here is a quote from my grants page:

"If you want me to find you any grant program(s) and you are not a client, any information that you send to me will be returned to you."

While there are a number of grant programs that this person might be eligible to apply for not hiring me is not going to get them the information about the grant programs that they may be eligible to apply for. They have not done any of the work that is necessary to find this this kind of grant information or they would have found it by now.

GrantWriters - There Are Some Bad Apples!

Click on the link above and you will see a news article about a woman that defrauded a lot of people. The picture that you are looking at are some of the people that she defrauded who appeared in court to testify against her. She got prison time and has to pay restitution.

Unfortunately there are going to be "bad apples in every business and I know that the allure of "free government money" is alluring to a lot of people. However after reading the article myself and seeing some of the examples of the fraud I can't help but think as to why the woman didn't know about the actual grant programs that were available to help these people. Maybe she didn't want to do the work. But it is so sad because there are actual grant programs out there that she could have used to help those people.

That is why I provide all of my clients with the grant program information FIRST. Then that way they can decide whether or not they want to apply for the grant(s) themselves or hire a grantwriter (be it me or someone else) to write the grant for them.

I think that there is another message that should be understood here and that is that a grant is not guarenteed! You have to apply for the grant and your grant application will be reviewed. Then the decision is made on whether or not you will get the grant award.

Should Taxpayers Have To Pay For Inmate's Sex Change Surgery?

Should taxpayers have to pay for an inmate's surgery? Goodness knows that there are enough people on the outside that need medical attention and can't get it and I'm talking about medical things such as dental work, medication and so on.

However what is interesting to me is how much money has already been spent hearing this court case (again with taxpayer dollars!).

For more details, click the link above. I'll think you'll find it very interesting!

"A Grantwriter" by Rose

While a grantwriter does what the title says - write grants - what is often mistaken about the term is that 95% of the time the person wanting the services of a grantwriter doesn't have any idea of the kind of grant they want to apply for. That increases the duties of a grantwriter to not only include writing the grant but FINDING the grant programs as well. I have seen posts by other grantwriters about how someone wants to hire (or want the services of) a grantwriter but they fail to
mention (at least at first) that they don't have any specific grant program in mind. Their response is "Oh I thought you would have some grant programs for me." I have
even heard one grantwriter refer to these kind of people as "flakes" - someone that doesn't have ANY idea as to the process of finding applicable grant programs - and I stress the word applicable because unlike a magician a grantwriter can pull a grant out of his or her's "hat"! Time and time again (and I suspect that it will be an ongoing time and time again thing)people have posted about wanting a grant (which by the way shows they need more basic information because one is not automatically guarenteed a grant and if anyone says that they can guarentee a grant you had better think twice (plus it also shows that one does not know the
process of the "grant-making machine"!

Time and time I will get an email that says "I need a grant to start a daycare". First of all this lets me know that the person has not taken the time to read my daycare page where I have posted a LOT of information about the various day-care related grant program. It also lets me know that they are not familiar with the "grant" process. There is NO grant programs for someone that wants to "start a day-care".

• I have since come to realize that there are actually grant programs out there for people that want to start a for-profit daycare and it's not just limited to starting a daycare business but includes people that want to start a business of their own - period!

You can't decide that you want to start a daycare and expect to get a grant for it
and THEN decide the details later! It doesn't work that way! Sure there are day-care grant recipients that have received as much as $250,000.00 in grant money to start a
daycare but you can't honestly believe that they were awarded the grant simply because they just said "I want to start a daycare" - and nothing else!

Do you know what a grantwriter does? It can be comparable to what researchers and technical engineers do! Why? Because it involves finding information, deciphering it so that it makes sense. It's hours and hours of reading "fine print", mounds and mounds of papers (or disks - whatever the case may be), databases, searching and finding and searching some more, keeping up with the current programs and finding out about the new ones (and yes there are new ones being created). As a point for my own curiosity I'm wondering how many grantwriters out there wear glasses - you know all that fine print and all - because I am one of them! - LOL!

It is a LOT of work finding these programs and I will repeat that again because it bears repeating - IT IS A LOT OF WORK FINDING THESE PROGRAMS!

Grant For Art Organization - Grant Spotlight!

Grant Program Spotlight

Who - for non-profit organizations with art/design-related projects that need financing

What - this grant program has been established for projects that protect, share, or celebrate our collective design heritage. These include, among others:

• Historic preservation activities.
  
  
• The exhibition and publication of designs of the past.
  
  
• Conferences and other gatherings that promote the heritage and conservation of design.

When - August 2007

Where - The United Stated

Grant Award Amounts - maximum grant award is $150,000.00

additional information - work samples must be included with application

How To Apply - Since this is a government grant program you must submit your application electronically via their website

You Know there are certain kinds of grants........

You know with all the questions that I have seen about grants to pay off credit card bills and grants to buy a car it suddenly dawned on me that such grants exist! These are the kind of grants where you can spend the grant award any way that you want - which means that you can use the grant money to pay bills - including credit card bills and even to buy a car!

One of these grants awards $100,000 in cash! Surely you can think of a lot of ways to spend that!

Mind you there are not a whole lot of these kinds of programs but really how many do you need unless you decide you're going to be greedy about it. And I have always said in the past that you can and should apply for as many grants as you're eligible to apply for - and that would include these catagories of grants as well. I'm almost ashamed to say that I forgot about them but now that I have remembered them this just makes my work a whole lot more easier for my clients who come to me with those "impossible" kinds of grant requests!

Is There An Easier Way?

Someone emailed me and asked me if there was an easier way to get through all the information there is about government grants in order to find the kinds of grants that they are eligible for. My answer is "NO"! You have to take the time and the effort if you want the information about the kind of grant that you are eligible for. When I am finding grant programs for clients there is no shortcut here. After I receive the information that they are required to fill out I take that information and find the grant programs that they are eligible to apply for. There are no shortcuts to this process.

Now you can ask someone who is familiar with grants to help you find grant programs that you are eligible for and whether or not they are able to help you is their choice.

Another "easier" way is to find someone or business that has received the kind of grant that you are looking for and ask them about how they got their grant.

Another thing that you can try is to get in contact with your nearest social service agency because they are familiar with many government grant programs and they have helped many other people apply for them so they would be a good source for you to try out for more information about grant programs.

All in all if you are not willing to go through the necessary effort to find these grant programs then you are not going to find these grant programs - It is just as simple as that!

Need Daycare Grant for Daycare

Good Afternoon Rose,

I have been reading your post on the teachers website for some time now and I decided to write to you/poor my lil heart to you about finding a grant.

I'm a African-American woman in Louisiana, where Hurricane Katrina affected (not bad, but Baton Rouge was the satilite city for MOST evacuees.
I have a daughter that has special needs. I had been searching for a daycare to accept her, but was turned down by all. I decided to open up a special needs daycare, none that are in the city and it is so greatly needed. I have appeared on several news channels telling my story and what my plans are. I get a big pat on the back from everyone in the community and them telling me that this is a program that is NEEDED. Since then, I have found a building, have 8 kids including my own but finding it really hard to get appropriate playground equipment to accommedate my kids here. I have been doing this since Nov, 2006 with no help from NO ONE. I have researched and researched like you would not believe. i have sent my business plan out to many foundation that states they help child care centers, but get no reply or get a NO. I have been scammed in so many ways by theses grant seekers until its a shame. I'm desperate now. I'm known in my community for taking a chance with this type of facility and everyone respects what i'm trying to do. I have done fundraisers, dinners etc to raise money for my special needs daycare. as stated, i have a proposal, business plan. everything you could ask for to complete a grant propsal, i think!

I need some direction as to where to go. I have joined many sites for grant seekers, foundation finders etc. NOTHING............. I am ending up empty handed. If you know of anything, info or just a name of someone i could talk to or send me business plan to, i would greatly appreciate it. God knows my heart is in the right place, i just need the right direction.

I've even met with the governor of Louisiana to try and gte inclusion in childcare centers here, but most daycares don't want to take that chance, but me.................I know i have a winning program, because there is nothing like it here in my center. i have a young lady that drive 45 minutes here to bring her child, because no one else would accept him, but me.

Thanks for listening to me vent............

L

If you take a good look at my Daycare Basics 101 page you will see that I mention in great detail about grant programs that place a special interest on those daycares that deal with special needs/low-incomed children. On this same page I mention about at least one grant program that provides for the funding of playground equipment. In fact my Daycare Basics 101 page talks about grant programs for daycares - period.

So I don't know what sites you have been to but as someone who researches grants I can tell you that there are more grant programs for daycare then you will ever need in your life.

Seeking Investors....

I saw this very interesting tv show tonight. It was all about people wanting to be entrepreneurs by building the next big internet site. They were looking for investors. Interestingly enough there were plenty of investors to go around! But the hard part was convincing the investors to invest.

As I have said many times before the way to getting an investor is with the presentation that you make. This kind of advice has been compared to "telling your story". Tell your story about your product to your potential investors. Tell them why your project would be a good investment for them. Show them "what will be in it for them!"

I have heard investment money amounts like "half a million" and $60,000 being thrown around as potential investment amounts. You can be sure that if a potential investor is going to invest those kinds of monies into your business they are going to want to know "what's in it for them".

I didn't put this information on my Working From Home Blog because I felt that this topic was more grants-related than it was working from home-related.

So if you are seeking investors then you will be quite happy to know that there are still many investors and investment companies out there. But you have to show them why they should invest in your business!

Questions Asked And Answered

...........Can you answer one question what am I doing wrong. and what kind of work do you do.do you work for the government..................................

S

It really is too hard to say "what you are doing wrong" because I just don't know who you're applying to, I don't know what you're applying for and I have no idea of the specifics of the programs that you are applying for. The kind of work that I do includes grant research - which means finding grant programs for clients, grantwriting which means writing and preparing the grant applications for clients and I also consult on grant matters with and for clients. Do I work for the government - No - I work for myself, out of my home with lots and lots of files and papers and my computer desk!

Faith-Based Childcare Grant

Grant Program Spotlight

Who - this grant is intended for faith-based childcare facilities

What - to help provide faith-based childcare facilities financial help for equipment

When - N/A

Where - Michigan

Grant Award Amounts - varies

additional information - also provides grants to help pay for childcare for low-incomed families

Your Local Social Services Agency

So many people posting and asking about government grants and other kinds of assistance programs.

One of the best places to find out more information about grant programs and other kinds of assistance programs would be your local social service agency. If you don't know where yours is then you should be able to find it in your local phone book. You should also be able to find it by looking online at one of the websites that have local listings of your area.

One of the best things about going this route is that it does not cost anything to talk to these people. That means its free! They are the best place to go for information regarding grant programs and other kinds of programs that provide assistance. Why? Because they do it for other people!

A good part of the number of social service agencies are part of our government. That means that government workers work there and the government programs run through there. So who would know better about government grant programs than the facility that is run by the government?

If your local social service organization is in a hard to get to area remember too that you should be able to contact them by phone and by regular snail mail too. I have even done some occassional work with them via fax.

Seeking Investors

I keep seeing this alot! People are posting to message boards and forums that they are seeking investors. Then they post that they want the potential investors to contact them by email.

I don't think that this is a very good way to get investors. When you have nothing else to work with then this way is better than nothing but if you're really serious about getting investors then you should really get serious about getting investors.

First there are still investors, angel investors and venture capitalists around. Some of them advertise and some of them don't. But what they are all going to want is to know just how serious you are about your venture. Remember you have to convince them why they should invest with you - "What's in it for them?"

You should be planning and then creating a presentation to present to your prospective investors. How do you find the investors? You look! I remember reading about one guy who was looking for investors and he went to some "millionaire's" club where he got investors from there. I have seen people write a prospectus and present it to potential investors and they manage to get their investment money that way. What is a prospectus? How do you make one? All of this information can be found online.

So the good news is that "yes" there are still investors around but the bad news is that you have to work to get them!

If You Don't Apply For That Grant Someone Else Surely Will!

Someone was quoted as saying that the daycare industry is a Billion dollar industry! Would it surprise you to know that there are daycare franchises that know just how to take advantage of all the government grant programs that they are eligible for? I have seen case by case details of how the owners of these daycare facilities use the government grant system to their advantage. While they still do provide adequate daycare to children that still leaves a number of other daycare facilities that are out there that if they just knew how these franchises were getting the government grants they would do the EXACT same thing to get the exact same grant funding.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have seen about finding grant programs is to find a business like the one that you want to start - a business that has received a grant - and find out how they got their grant!

Another sad fact that has to be faced is that a lot of grant recipients don't want to (or don't like to) talk about the grants that they have received. One of the reasons is because they may want to apply for the grant again and the less people that know about them then the less people will apply for them meaning that those that know about and apply will have a better chance of winning the grant award simply becasue not as many people have applied.

You may not be aware of it but there are a LOT of for-profit daycares that are receiving government grants because they know how to do it right!

One of the biggest arguments concerning grants is....

getting the information about the grant program(s) itself. About 90% of grant program information can be found online! In fact if it is information about a government grant program that you are seeking then that information should DEFINITELY be online. Why? Because the government has to make sure that information about its grant programs are made easily accessible to the public. This they have done by providing both a website and written publications that are available in public libraries. But even with this kind of availability I still get people bemoaning the fact that they can't find any grant information. Just take a look at my daycare page. How many examples of grant programs do you see there? How many examples of for-profit/in-home daycare grant programs do you see there?

These programs did not just drop out of thin air. A lot of them have been around for years! And how did these daycare businesses get these grants? They either found it theirselves or hired someone to find it for them. There is also the occassional situation where the grant provider came to the daycare business itself - they approached them about their grant program.


I am afraid that no matter how many times a person has said that they have looked for grant information and "couldn't find any" the truth of the matter is that they just have not looked enough - because simply put if you have looked hard enough then that means that you have found the information. If you have not found the information then that means that you did not look hard enough.

There are 2 programs listed on my page about grants - programs that are open to those that want to start their own for-profit daycare (or other for-profit business) - and as a matter of fact one of the recipients of the grant program that got the grant award used it to START her own daycare business.

My page also includes comments by those who have gotten daycare-related grants......


So there are daycare-related grant programs out there and yes there are even daycare grant programs for for-profit daycare start ups. All you have to do is look. And if you can't find it then guess what? You'll just have to look some more! Because these programs are out there and people are getting these daycare-related grant monies!

Grants For Artists

Here is a typical example of a grant program specifically aimed towards artists. In fact the organization that is awarding this grant is encouraging artists in the area to apply! In this case the grant program is only available to artists who reside in certain parts of North Carolina.

To be eligible for this grant you must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the area. All disciplines of art media are eligible. You must submit examples of your work and details about the project that you want the grant for. You also have to show how serious and committed you are to the project that you want the grant for.

Maximum grant award is $1,200.00

The deadline to apply for this grant is Aug. 2007!

I don't know what it is with people that say that there are no grants for the individual artist when I have just noted an example above. And this is just one example of a current grant program that is open to individual artists.

No Grants To Start A Business Huh?

Now comes news of a new grant program that has been created in one state to help encourage women and those that are disabled and want to start their own business. This is just another example proving that there are grants available to start a business - if you qualify. For example in this newest grant program in order to be eligible you have to be a resident of and live in the state that it is being offered to. You must also be a woman or disabled in order to be eligible enough to apply. The grant award is $20,000.

I know that government funding has been cut but that doesn't mean that these grant programs are non-existent. In fact the grant program that I mentioned above was just created! And that says a lot to the comments that you hear about there being no grant programs to start a business.

The people who say this are wrong!

Grants - Canada

I talk a lot about grants and grant programs for the individuals but probably one of the best known kind of grants are the ones that schools and universities get. Like for instance in Canada, the University of Toronto has received over $60 Million Dollars in grant monies alone!

The entity that is behind this grant program also has similar funding programs for professors and students. For the professors there ia a grant program for research. There is also a separate grant program for students who do research. There is such a need for research that the need is being filled with the grant programs.

Even though the above example that I have given is outside the United States, the United States itself has had some pretty big grant awards for its own universities and colleges.

Becoming A Government Contractor

This is different than getting a grant from the government (although it may probably surprise you that there are companies that get both government contracts and government grants!

Becoming a government contractor means that your business has the government as your customer. For instance there is one company that makes robots for the government and that company gets 40% of their income from being a government contractor and government grants!

Of course in order to be considered as a government contractor your business has to go through some pretty specific steps. You can go to the government's website to find out more information about this.

Student Loans - The Dark Side of....

I just posted in my Financial Basics Blog about a recent article I was reading about student loans.It seems that some colleges and schools were receiving "kickbacks" and other things from student loan companies. Some of the for-profit schools and colleges were even accused of accepting students who didn't even have a good chance of graduating just so that student could apply for (and the school would get) the student loan.

Some of these student loan companies are protected by the federal government if some of their student loans go into default so getting as many students as they can to sign up for these student loans means more money for them.

I also talk about some of the programs that help students pay back their student loans on my Grants Related page.

What is being done about this? Well one congressman wants to introduce a bill that will stop the colleges/schools from acting as the middlemen for these student loan companies.

Are Grant Programs Decreasing?

Well the answer to that is really hard! While there are some grant porgrams that have been stopped, new ones are always being created. Besides there are still so many grant programs out there that I think the average person would have enough programs to keep them busy for quite a long time!

Even though there are a lot of big grant award programs.....

Please do not discount those grant programs that award smaller amounts of money. For instance there is a grant program that I am investigating now which is open to teachers who teach grades K-6 in either public or non-profit private schools. The eligible subjects are science and math. Since this is June the deadline for applying to this grant program was last month (May) but it does give the teachers another year to become eligible for this kind of grant.

The maximum grant award for this program is $1,000.00

Deadline - June 26, 2007

If you're located in the New Hampshire area and your home was damaged by the Patriot's Day storm then you have until June 26th to call the FEMA Hotline. The regular FEMA office in that area has already been closed down but you still have until June 26th to reach them through their hotline number.

Over 2 million dollars has been allocated to the area for direct assistance which includes grants. Over 1500 people have already applied for the grant and the average grant award has been $2700 and on the average the money is received within 4 days!

Public assistance grants are also being made available.

"How Do I Become A Client?"

This is another question that I have been asked and the answer appears below:

I am very interested in becoming a client of yours. Please let me know the process I need to follow................................

Here is an excerpt from my grants page:

What kind of services do you provide?

Can you find a grant program for me for free?

What do you charge to help find grants? / Do you accept Paypal payments?

Do you also help apply for the grants?

Each research project is done on a customized basis according to the type of grant that you and/or your organization is looking for regardless of whether you or your organization is a for-profit or non-profit. Included services will be the finding and locating of the available grant programs that can be applied to your project, research of the grant-making organizations and an analysis of them to identify likely funding sources for your specific project and/or organization. The research will include searches from an existing database(s) of all federal, state and local grant programs as well as grant programs offered by non-governmental entities (such as foundations and businesses) that also offer grant programs as well. Research/services may also include non-electronical fact-finding via telephone or written correspondences.

The basic fee is $875.00
* basic fee will increase on July 1, 2007!


(please refer to the payment information page at:

http://members.aol.com/Roseb441702/payinfo.htm

but larger projects may require additional fees based on the scope of the project.

If you want me to find you any grant program(s) and you are not a client, any information that you send to me will be returned to you. I actually never thought to accept Paypal payments until you mentioned it and I have made a provision for PayPal payments. You can find this on my payment information page. If I can not find a grant program for your project, organization or business after the 30 day period, I will refund the cost of the research!


Once you have the information on the grant programs available to you, you can then decide whether or not you will want to apply for them on your own or you can hire me or another grantwriter to prepare the application(s).

Picky, Picky, Picky!

I just got finished reading an article online about how one university wants to ban grants by tobbacco companies. Of course the whole university doesn't feel this way - just enough though to make it come to a decision.

While this is all fine and well - I don't want to hear them claim that they can't get any grant money ever again!

Quote - About Clients

"In my experience (granted, mostly in a different type of consulting),
the clients who are most difficult from the beginning, expect an
unrealistically low price, etc. are the ones most likely to stiff me."

I saw this quote and I just HAD to add it here! I can't tell you how many times I have gotten an email or phone call from someone that wanted me to find them a grant program. They mention nothing about paying me, they don't even answer the questions that appear here. I'm just supposed to know - sight unseen - about which grant program they can get.

This also tells me a lot about the person in question because I have said time and time before that you don't automatically get a grant. You have to apply for the grant.

Have I ever got "stiffed" by a client? Yes - once - and that is why it is NEVER going to happen again!

Non-Profit Daycare vs For-Profit Daycare?

In my honest opinion I think that it would be best to operate your daycare as a combination non-profit/for-profit business. I have recommended this advice all the time and the primary reason is because when you operate your daycare as both a for-profit and non-profit you are getting the best of both worlds!

There is a situation going on in Canada now as far as daycare grants are concerned. As I have said many times before there are areas where the need for childcare is so great that for-profit caycares are eligible to apply for the grants as well. Such is the situation going on in Canada - in fact a lot of the non-profit daycares are afraid that the for-profit daycares will take over all the available grants!

Grants For Starting A Daycare?

I get a lot of email from people that say that they want to start a daycare and they want me to tell them what grant programs are available to them.

The problem is that is all they say. For the most part most of them don't even say what kind of daycare they want to open. I don't know if the daycare they want to start is going to be a for-profit, a non-profit or will it be a combination of both? There are so many questions that have to be answered when one is looking for grant programs that they may be eligible for. That is why every client that I have has to answer the questions that appear here.

Although there are some grant programs that aren't just limited to starting a daycare the more specific you are about the kind of daycare that you want to start the better.

Are there grant programs for starting a daycare? Of course the answer is yes but it will depend on the KIND of daycare it is that you want to start!

Grants And Credit Card Debts?

Their have been a LOT of questions asked about whether there are grants for people to pay off their credit card debts. While this has been talked about in Washington nothing has been made into law yet. However there are some grant programs where you can spend the money ANY way you want and that would include paying off credit card debts.

I know of one grant program that awards $100,000 in grant money and you can use that money any way you want. However there is a big note here - you have to be eligible to apply for the grant!

Getting Investors

I see a lot of "investors wanted" posts all over the Internet. Somebody has an idea for a great invention and they need investors so they post to the Internet. I used to think that this was a very futile kind of thing to do but in the back of my mind was always the thought "you never know". Its one of the things that I talk about on my consultation page - about the fact that you never know where your opportunities may come from.

So tonight I was watching this program about a man who invented a different kind of sneaker and what was so surprising to me was that an investor sought him out instead of it being the other way around where he went after investors. Did you know that he got a check from his investor for $150,000!

So this kinds of puts things in a new perspective as far as those who are looking for investors go. If you got a good invention and you need investors - SPREAD THE WORD! You never know who's listening!

Grants For A For-Profit Daycare?

A lot of the email that I get has to do with people asking about grant programs for starting a for-profit daycare business. On my grants page there is a grant program spotlight about a grant program for minorities that want to start their own business. What that spotlight doesn't mention is that one of the recipients of this grant was someone that started their own daycare business. Further down the grants page I talk about 2 grant programs that can be used to start a for-profit business. They are both open for those that want to start a for-profit business. The first is a program that awards $50,000 and it was put in place for those aspiring to start their own business. This funding program was started to help encourage the entrepreneurial spirit! Although not everyone is eligible to apply, once you read their eligibility requirements you can determine if you are eligible to apply.

The second grant program has a $100,000 grant award and what is so significant about this funding program is that you can use the money any way that you like! This funding program was put in place to help people fulfill their dreams and it is open to people that want to start their own business, artists, scientists and teachers.

But getting back to those that want to start their own for-profit daycare business you have to know that there are funding programs out there for you! Just go to my grants page or my daycare page to read more about these funding programs.

Requests For Information

When you send me an email and ask me to send you "all the information that you have" you just do not know what you are asking. First of of I have a lot of information - too much to be sending "everything I have".

Clients get their information about the grant programs that they are eligible for emailed to them in a zipped file. The file is zipped because there is a lot of information besides the information about the grant programs themselves.

If you are a client but don't know how to unzip files, please email me and let me know.