[danno52000]

A few years ago I managed to get a grant for $200k to buy a business in the BID of my town. It was a restaurant on the verge of bankruptcy (which is the hardest business to get money for) but I realized after getting rejected several times that two things pay off when getting a Government grant are

(1) Finding the right program. I was a 25 year old white male - which means that all of the grant programs out there for women and minorities weren't available to me. There are a TON of grants out there and there's requirements attached to nearly all of them.

(2) Submit MORE than the application asks for. Almost EVERYONE I've come across will take the time to fill out the minimum on 100 different grant applications. The "spray and pray" method may be a decent marketing ploy but it WON'T work on the government. They want to see you're serious about running a business (or buying real estate, or whatever else you're getting money for). I didn't learn this until my third time applying for the same program. I prepared a 40 page business plan (which I had a consultant write for $100) and submitted sample marketing materials and monthly projections going out two years. This made the difference.

Check out my site OfficialGovernmentGrants.com for some sample business plans and links to some good state programs.

[Jay Brass]

Um, cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Crysco]

Its good to hear, thanks for the tips

[warrensway]

some good info sad but true in some cases

[danno52000]

It's just that SO many people I talk to could probably qualify for a grant MUCH easier than they think....It is kind of a pain in the ass - but I highly recommend trying it....

anyway - good luck and hope it helps!