Who Can Avail Fed Grants?

With everyone claiming to have knowledge about the fed grants, there is a lot of misinformation about these grants. But when you plan to apply for these grants, you should have a good idea about whether you are eligible for them and whether you should search frantically for someone to write your business proposal. In the US, a federal grant is financial assistance given to a person for furthering a charitable cause or for the good of the community as a whole. After you get the grant, you will be expected to fulfill certain obligations. If you fail to do so, you may face severe penalties and be punishable under the law. The state and county governments are eligible to get federal grants. If you are a 501C3 tax-exempt organization under the Internal Revenue Service tax code, these grants can be claimed by you.

Contrary to popular belief, fed grants are not given to individuals and small business entrepreneurs. You can take the help of state development agencies for getting a grant, but they too cannot help you get a federal grant. Even if you want to start a non-profit organization, you have to first form a 501C3 nonprofit corporation to be eligible for getting federal grants.

There are many types of fed grants. One of them is project grants which are given for medical and other similar types of research. Categorical grants are given to people who can add an amount equal to the grant money for narrowly defined purposes. Block grants are similar to categorical grants but the grantee is given a little more allowance to use the grant money. Earmark grants are given for specific purposes and you cannot bid for these grants. These grants maybe utilized for personal reasons by the authorities and so have come under great criticism.