UPDATE: Every Way to Get Small Business Grants! [Federal, State, Local, and Corporate Grants]

every way to get small business grants to fund your business hey my name is sherman the cpa and today i'm going to give you the absolute best information on how to find grants in other words free money from organizations to fund your business i'm going to give you every single resource available to get money right now my last grant video here help over 750 000 business owners find grant opportunities to fund their business and in this video i am going to give you the most updated information because a lot has changed so if you want to learn how to find out where all of the grants are watch this video until the very end [Music] all right so let's warm up here by breaking down the basics of business grants and then we will get to the good stuff all right so what is a grant a grant is simply free money or money granted to people or businesses who meet certain criteria grants are most commonly given by governments or other organizations like non-profits for example and a lot of people ask me well sherman what is the difference between a grant and a loan well it's very simple a grant does not have to be paid back and a loan typically does so when you are applying for grants make sure you pay close attention to if it is a loan that has to be repaid or a grant with no repayment and even if it is a grant without repayment be careful here because if you do not use a grant for its specified purpose you may be required to pay back the full grant amount and possibly suffer more consequences so only apply for grants that are specific to your business needs all right so now that that is out of the way let's talk about the most effective ways to get grants in today's environment let's start with talking about what has changed about finding grants and a whole lot has changed so when the 2020 pandemic broke out we saw the federal government get involved in business grants like never before there was the disaster relief fund the ppp loan which was basically a grant and other types of funding being provided to small business owners to help fund their business at that time if you owned a business you could go to your federal state or local government to find grants easily to fund your business now that has completely changed business grant opportunities are more targeted and specific than ever before the federal government does not even appear to directly provide grant opportunities to small business owners anymore for example the small business administration also known as the sva explicitly states on their website that they do not provide grants for starting and expanding a business so just think about that for a second here the sba the number one federal agency for small business owners does not provide grants to new or expanding businesses anymore they go on to say they only provide grants to non-profits resource partners and educational organizations that support entrepreneurship through counseling and training programs and i want you to keep that in mind as we go through this this is a major key although the sba does not provide funding directly to small businesses they indirectly provide funding through other organizations that they partner with so instead of going to the sba to find funding for your business you need to find organizations that they are partnering with and funding who may in turn provide grants for your own small business and look this is not just happening at the sba on a federal level i am even seeing this at a state local and even corporate grant level for example google launched a small business fund and here is a list of the recipients non-profits or financial institutions who support specific types of businesses for instance one of the grant recipients for this fund was the entrepreneur fund who helps fund small businesses in particular so in short here people who provide grants and loans to small businesses still have the same goal to provide funding to deserving businesses to continue to grow the economy but how you actually get these funds are a little different today business grants are more targeted today and especially federal grants now you can still find many targeted opportunities on a local and state government level but with some digging you can still uncover more opportunities and with the remaining time i have here i want to provide you with some steps to find grants at almost every level i am going to show you every way to find grants in your local city and county and then move up to the state level and finally we will talk about federal and corporate level grants so let's begin with your local city or county generally the most effective way to receive grant funding is to start where you are which is the city or county you are located in local government grants are generally less competitive and also more intentional about serving small businesses in their areas so let's start with the local government here first now there are three ways to find local grants number one go to your local small business development center number two find your local economic development authority or number three call your elected officials office directly to provide you with grant options so let's discuss all three of these starting with local small business development centers also known as sbdcs sbdcs are organizations that are funded directly by the government to support small businesses specifically to start just search for local sbdcs in your area and browse their website most will have financial programs and assistance right on their website for example i live in atlanta georgia and when i search for atlanta small business development center this is what shows up i can browse their website for more financial resources or call them directly and i strongly recommend calling these chapters directly as they may have access to grant programs that are designed specifically for your type of business now let's move on to the second tactic here which involves locating your local economic development authority most cities or counties have economic development centers in short these centers want to create better opportunities for the people in their communities and what do you think the best way is to create opportunities for people by creating jobs and they can't create jobs without businesses which is why this is a great place to find business grants for your business these centers spend an enormous amount of time and money finding ways to attract businesses to come into their communities they provide grants loans tax credits and so much more to support businesses they literally bend backwards to spur economic growth in their communities and this is practically why big corporations like amazon pays virtually no taxes because the government uses incentives to bring their corporate business and jobs into their community so to get started with this just search google for your city's economic authority for example when i search for atlanta's economic authority i find invest atlanta here i can view their business assistance programs and even schedule a call to learn more about their funding opportunities so find your economic development authority first view their programs and even call them to find grants specific for your business when i was performing this search i also saw that our local government's website also had grant opportunities available so don't hesitate to look at all grant opportunities provided directly from your city another great way to find grants in your local area is to look on a county level for example when i search for fulton county business grants i found specific county organizations that provide business grants and funding opportunities so look for grants on every level your city your county and even your community or neighborhood if you can the more targeted your search is the more likely you are going to be successful in finding business grants but sometimes finding targeted grants may still be difficult so let's move on to the third tactic here to help you with this the third tactic involves calling on your elected officials directly now we are going to get our hands dirty a little bit here but i promised you the best information on how to get business grants and no one else is teaching this stuff so let's go ahead and get you funded and discuss this so calling your elected officials office is a major hack that will help you find out which organizations are providing grants beyond a simple google search for small businesses there are so many organizations that are devoted to supporting you you just need to find out where they are so here's what you need to do to find out first find out what district you are in you can do this by using a website like openstates.org next pop in your zip code to find elected officials that specifically serve your zip code lastly click the official's name and call their office directly a representative from their office will normally answer and when they pick up just say hey i'm a small business owner in this district and i'm seeking some assistance with obtaining grants and was hoping to gain some information about what is available in this specific area and don't be shy about doing this these people are in office to serve you your tax dollars literally are being used to fund these programs so as a citizen of your district you have every right to inquire they will either help you or point you in the right direction you may also ask them for information about non-profit organizations that are also offering grants for small businesses in your local area oftentimes there are many more options available than just the sbdc or sba for example east cooper community outreach is a community-based nonprofit organization in south carolina that specializes in helping low-income people in their community to obtain financial aid these are the types of organizations that your local congressman's office may be able to help you find you can even ask them for a letter of recommendation to help you in the process of getting specific grants just like a job application a letter of recommendation does not guarantee you would get funded but it sure does help now let's go ahead and move on to state grants now state grants are generally more competitive than local grants but what do you have to lose at the end of the day this is free money available to people and as long as you fit the criteria there is no reason why you should not apply now here is how you can get started with this first find your state's department of economic development this follows the exact same process as the local examples we just covered for example when i search for georgia economic development small business grants on google it takes me to the exact page where i can view all of the loans and grants available for my business do the same thing in your state and see what you can find and once you find your state's economic authority don't hesitate to call them to get the exact information you need i cannot emphasize that enough pick up the phone and call these people remember they are in office to serve you another thing you can do is search for your state's department of community affairs website to find grant opportunities my state has several grant programs for specific income levels neighborhoods and other criteria to provide grants and funding opportunities and if you really want to get funded make sure you look through all of the state government options to find funding opportunities specific for your business now let's talk about federal grants federal grants are even more competitive due to the amount of businesses applying for them but like i mentioned earlier federal government agencies are partnering with non-profits and other organizations to provide targeted support for business owners but don't let that discourage you the federal government is still sending billions of dollars to these organizations to support small businesses in 2021 alone the federal government awarded a record-breaking 145 billion dollars in government contracts to small businesses and in 2022 the federal government announced that they will be hosting online webinars to educate entrepreneurs on grants and other opportunities so this tells me that the federal government still wants to invest in small businesses and help them find funding you just need to find out the organizations they are partnering with to accomplish this so let's talk about where you can find these organizations so earlier i told you that the sba provide grants to nonprofits resource partners and other educational organizations that support entrepreneurship so what we want to do here is find out who the sba is actually partnering with unfortunately the sba has an entire webpage that lists out exactly who they partner with which include sbdcs which we already talked about a little bit here veteran business centers women business centers and more and those are just some of their resource partners you can also find community organizations that they are partnering with as well so basically find out who the sba is providing these grants to and see if those specific organizations have grant opportunities that you can use for your business so basically the key to finding business grants is not just going to the government's website and clicking apply we know the government spends money to support small businesses so we just need to find out who they are giving their money to and explore their grant opportunities now you can find a lot of grant opportunities here but don't let this stop you from doing the hard work of finding specific targeted opportunities for your business by following some of the steps that we've already covered so far with that said let's go ahead and talk about corporate grants a little bit here so in addition to the government and non-profits a lot of corporations actually provide grants to small businesses as well for example amazon has the black business accelerator grant mastercard has the small business grant fund and like i mentioned earlier google has a small business grant fund where they provide funding opportunities to non-profits and financial institutions who support small businesses and with that you have to trace who they are granting money to and see what opportunities present themselves at those institutions so to find corporate grants you typically have to do manual searches around for them i have not found a single website that lists all of the corporate grants available so look at some of the most successful companies and see how they are supporting their communities to start here anyway as you can see there is no one way to find business grants but the easiest way to find them is to number one find out who has the grant money number two find out what organizations they are giving the grant money to and then number three go to those organizations and find out if you are eligible for the grants they have available in my opinion the harder the grant is to find the more likely you are to be accepted targeted grant opportunities are less competitive and less known which only improves your chances of getting funded with that said let me give you some tips to improve your chances of getting funded when you start applying so before you start applying for small business grants you should have done these things first number one make sure your business is incorporated into an entity your business should have a unique employer federal identification number and this basically just shows that you own a real business secondly your business and personal taxes should be completed grant providers will want to know the current standing of your business including your business income so make sure your tax returns are up to date for the most recent tax period and thirdly your business books should also be up to date in most cases you will have to provide financial records for your business in order to obtain grants a lot of these organizations will want to be sure that you have an actual need for the money you are requesting and fourth of all you should be operating in a separate business bank account remember grants are only free if you use the money appropriately doing this will only make it easier to do your business books and sometimes they will even audit your business records to see how you are using the money so make it easier on yourself by doing your business books and conducting your business transactions from a separate business bank account then finally you should have a plan for the grant funds if you are awarded grant money what are you going to do with it you should know this before you apply for business grants they will want to know your plan for the money and you can even take this a step further by forecasting your finances based on receiving the grant money show them what you will be able to accomplish through the use of those grant funds for yourself and for your customers by tackling these items in advance you will have a better chance of obtaining grant funds quickly hope you enjoyed this video let me know what you think in the comments below and thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: LYFE Accounting

Views: 55,737

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Id: wNXn_psCzy0

Length: 18min 32sec (1112 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 19 2022