Get Government Grants For Women

Find. Apply. Succeed

That is the mantra of the Federal Governments Grants website – Grants.gov. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? But unfortunately it can be trickier than it looks, so many trying to find free Government grants for women give up before they find their way through the system. The site is good for learning about grants, but for seeing whether you are eligible for them is a little bit harder and will require a large time investment.

One thing it will not tell you is if you are entitled to Government benefits or other types of personal financial assistance such as student loans or small business start up loans. Grants.gov just deals with grants, which are in effect free Government money, rather than repayable loans. Their website has improved the service offered to the public by allowing people relatively easy online access to information about over 1,000 grants programs available as well as online applications to attempt to secure the $500 billion awarded annually as such grants.

What is a grant?

A grant is not something you are entitled to from a public assistance program but is rather money awarded to you so that you can carry out a public purpose that the Government wants supported or stimulated. When you realize this is the definition, you can understand why so many of the ‘Get Your Free Money From The Government Here’ claims that are bandied about by underhand companies are so false. Claims that grants are available for clothing and home improvements hardly follow the definition of being for a public purpose. The 1,000 grant programs that are available cover many diverse areas – just starting off the list are those for Agriculture, Arts and Business & Commerce.

Who is eligible for a grant?

Unfortunately the hype being touted by late night commercials and many websites trying to sell you ‘Grant Kits’, that everyone is eligible for a share in the free Government grant money is rubbish. Most grants are only available to organizations and whilst some are open to individual applicants, none offer assistance for your personal finances. If you use the advanced search function on Grants.gov you can select Individuals under Eligibility to see what is available. At the time of writing there are only 25 programs that come up including such opportunities as environmental internships.

The organizations that are typically eligible to apply for grants include Government organizations, education organizations, public housing organizations, non profit organizations and for profit organizations other than small businesses.

Small business grants are a bit of a misnomer as such businesses generally have to meet certain size criteria, which can hardly be called ‘small’, to be eligible. Standards such as 500 employees for manufacturing companies or 100 employees for wholesale industries are not going to be met by many businesses that call themselves ‘small’.

As such small businesses are stuck with obtaining financing through loans – more information can be found at the Small Business Administration’s website.

How to find a grant

To find a grant on Grants.gov you do not need to register, but should you find one that you wish to apply for then you will need to register before you apply which can take 3-5 working days.

First go to the ‘Find Grant Opportunites’ page via the left sidebar from the home page or by clicking our link. You then have the choice of whether you want to do a basic search, where you just type in a keyword related to the type of grant you are looking for, a category search, where you choose from one of the categories available such as Arts or Education, or you can search by the agency that is funding the grant. The Advanced search page allows you to mix and match all of these options to better define your interests and eligibility. The more specific you are the fewer options you will have to trawl through on the results pages.

Once you have your results you can click on the ‘Opportunity Title’ to find out more information about the grant and whether or not you are eligible. Each program will have a synopsis which provides a description of the requirements as well as a list of who is eligible. There will also be a full announcement and application pack available for download. You can use the website up to this point without registering but to proceed any further you will need to sign up.

How to apply for a grant

Registering with Grants.gov is necessary before you can submit a grant application. This process differs depending on whether you are registering as a business or individual but generally involves requesting a DUNS number, registering with CCR as well as Grants.gov.

The first step once you have registered is to download the grant application package if you have not already done so as part of finding a relevant grant. You should then save this to your computer for future reference and so you can read and complete it offline.
Now comes the hard work as you need to complete the application form with all of the information it requires. The application instructions should help you with any queries that you have as you work through it. Save your work as you go and make sure you complete all the fields or online submission will not work.

Click ‘Save & Submit’ when you are happy with your completed application. This button will not work until all of the required forms are complete and saved. If you think you have done all of this but the button is still not active, click the ‘Check Package For Errors’ button and amend anything as necessary. To verify the application click on ‘Sign & Submit’. You will then need the username and password you selected when you registered to login if you have not already done so. Once the application has been uploaded you will come to a confirmation screen where a tracking number will be shown at the bottom. Write this down for future reference along with the submission date and time.

Once you have sent off your application you can check on how it is progressing via the tracking system , ‘Track My Application’, using the tracking number you noted down on submission.

Good luck!

If you are looking to further your education beyond high school, then you will need to work out how you are going to pay for it. Education can be expensive, but it will help you be more successful in the long run. Managing the cost of your education can be difficult so finding federal student aid can be an immense help. This aid can be found as educational grants, loans or work study programs and will help you pay for your college tuition fees, study supplies costs, transport costs and living expenses.

Government education grants do not have to be repaid whereas loans do, but federal loans are attractive for their low interest rates and flexible repayment terms. Work study programs provide part time jobs for students in financial difficulty so they can earn some money to help pay for their education. The work would be in the community and related to your study course if possible.

Looking for Government education grants for women can be a long task but the following excellent resources should help speed up your search.

Federal Student Aid

The US Department of Education student aid programs offer the biggest source of funding for students, but they are not the only source. Find out if you are eligible, but if not, you should contact your college to inquire about non federal financial assistance and scholarships.

The main Student Aid Government grants for education are as follows:

• Federal Pell Grant – you can receive up to $5,550 annually if you are in exceptional financial need and do not already have a degree.
• Academic Competitiveness Grant – up to $750 is available if you graduated from high school in the last four years, completed rigorous secondary education, are in exceptional financial need and are enrolled at least part time. The annual award increases to $1300 if you are in your second year and got a 3.0 GPA in your first year.
• Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant – again if you are in exceptional financial need you can be given up to $4,000 if your college participates in this program.
• National SMART Grant –SMART means Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent and under this program you can be awarded up to $4,000 if you are in your third or fourth year of an eligible degree such as maths or computer sciences and your GPA is 3.0. You must also have exceptional financial need as for each education grant.
• TEACH Grant – TEACH stands for Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education and this program is open to those studying to be elementary or secondary teachers. Grantees must agree to work full time in a high need field in a school for low income students for at least four years.

State Student Aid

State government also offers financial assistance for students. Contact your state higher education agency for more details.

Student Grants for Study Overseas

If you are looking to study overseas, Boren Awards may be for you. They provide up to $20,000 to undergraduate students to study in countries such as Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East, as these areas of the world are critical to US interests and the national security program. Unfortunately no such monies are available for students wishing to study in Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. These awards will be of interest to you if you are hoping to study less commonly taught languages, such as Arabic and Chinese. When applying you will need to show how your studies and future career will contribute to national security, whose scope is now very broad and includes things like global diseases and economic competitiveness.

Foundation Grants For Individuals

The Foundation Center runs an online database of many thousand grant programs that offer funds to students, artists, researchers, and other individual grant seekers. The database includes amongst other things information on educational support, arts awards and research support. There is a monthly subscription of nearly $20 per month to use the database but paying for one month would give quick and easy access to their many grant programs.

Good luck with finding funding for your education. Once you have achieved your goals, don’t forget to look for any government grants for women in business that you may be eligible for.