Getting Serious About Grants

You mean you don't enjoy being poor? Well, what's "wrong with'cha", huh? Either get real about the lack of the buck- or, pay attention, close, personal, involved, emotional and yes, even heated up NON PC attention to the next three steps- 'cause darlin if it ain' you- it will be someone else. Get it - if you don't get the grant, you can rest assured- they will! Now for the real kicker - that just really doesn't have to be the case, but, you don't have to pay folks for a special book to tell you how! Right here, in this little article, your gonna get all that...so...read on.

STEP 1: What do I really need this grant for? Be real, your a home owner and you need to increase the value of your property, and somehow, doesn't it seem a tad dishonest to you that the government would have funds to do so? Guess again my freind, it's right there- "right where?" you'd ask- and the response is always going to be - Grants.gov - every endeavor for grant money coming from the government has to begin there. NOW - that's not a drop dead shocker for most of you who have thought about a grant, you've probably even gone to their website http://www.grants.gov, but now here comes a shocker - so, take a breath, sit down, grab that water; coke, or whatever, and really focus on this: There are other sources besides the goverment- ONE MORE TIME - because everyone who knows all about grants is gonna tell you that the best source is the goverment- only- the goverment is just one source- but there are others. Trusts which have been established in these United States, or even, outside the United States, exist which can disperse funds in grant blocks, as tax write offs to the organization. So your question now becomes..."hey, wait a minute...your the first person I've heard talk about this...say more..." Oh I will to be sure...only...you'll have to drop me a person line at my blog to go there...and you can bet on this...it'll be worth your while, so would you like that address? Sure who wouldn't, after all we all like the bucks...let's go with this http://programit.blogspot.com

STEP 2: What do I do? Realize that you are going to have to type up a statement as to your intent, it should include where you start at, what the middle will look like, and how it will end, or look like in three to five years. Grant money isn't like investor bucks, so the emphasis isn't on return, but function. Now here is the shocker - if you are a start up business, you are in for a real thrill ride - here's why: Funds tend to want to help single women, ethnically diverse groups, and the younger and better educated. I know it makes you feel like you've been slighted, here you are, well educated, middle aged, male, and - you can't get them to get up off the grant money- here's a shocker - you might need to think about becoming the idea person, the person who drives the enterprise from behind the scenes, get over yourself, and learn to make friends with some folks who can get grant money. Speak to them in terms that make sense, such as: "Sheila you are a smart and compassionate person, so you konw I am not lying to you, single women have better than 60% or higher odds on making granting agencies to give them the funds" Let your friend know it's not a joke, you will do the writing, you will do the work, they will be the head of the organization. If they are as reasonable as every single one I have worked with in the past, they will go along with you, with some contractual understandings, which is what any reasonable person would want. Bear in mind, it's a grant folks, it doesn't usually require payback. Suppose the granting agency is a minority oriented effort? It's been my good fortune to have so many good, good friends who grew up Mexican, Chicano (a term you almost don't hear anymore?), or black, they are, like the rest of us, folks. That's all, 'cause here is the ultimate shocker - under all the nonsense, we are all the same, we all feel the same, and most of us are smart enough, eventually, to realize that fear drives us into situations it shouldn't be allowed to. Question- what if you wanted to be able to apply for relief from disasters, but you had been told that you were in the wrong income and ethnic grouping, should you let such destroy your chance to obtain funding in a more creative way? Am I advocating lying- not at all, I'm advocating intelligent networking of the people all around you who will be happy to help you - provided you can make a sensible deal out of it. Shoud we let the Donald Trumps fo the world define deal making(?), or, should we, perhaps, make a few deals of our own? Check out some late breaking deal making news at http://asimplegame.blogspot.com

STEP 3: Do the quick and easy internet based research on what agencies and trusts, such as those listed here at a gathering site which lists such opportunities http://www.cdpublications.com/filelibrary/index.php?ID=2 and there are oodles and oodles of them on the internet. Find out what they fund, find out when, WHEN is very important, if you know WHEN, you know what you can get going to get the money by a certain date. Find out what you need to send, do the proper documentation, bear in mind, thousands of folks are going to submit the same thing, so, every single error will become enormously more problematic for you, this is one set of documents which need perfection. Real fun is coming, if they list a phone number, and it's toll free, call them, if it's not toll free - get SKYPE- http://www.skype.org , and make the call for free; but call them, and listen and take notes, folks- you'll be amazed at the fact that they want to give the money away - and that they will tell you how to get it.

There you go - three steps - they work - how does he know - I've worked and achieved them - grants can be done, from private as well as goverment agencies, follow these three steps, and as you have your successes, would you be kind enough to write and let me know? I'd really love to hear of your victories, testimonials are the proof, finally, of whether you are right or not, and I know how hard it was for me to put these steps into practice, but now I know for certain...they work! drichard1@hotmail.com