Welcome to the wiki pages for grant information!
Grants are funds dispersed by one party (Grant Makers), often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often (but not always) a non profit entity, educational institution or business. Such application processes, generally require some form of Grant Writing often referred to as either proposals or submissions. For more information regarding successful grant submissions see Grant Writing.
Many Grant Makers require Grant Seekers to have some form of tax-exempt status, be a registered nonprofit organization or a local government. Most grants are made to fund a specific project and require some level of reporting. The Grant Writing process involves an applicant submitting a proposal (or submission) to a potential funder, either on the applicant's own initiative or in response to a Request for Proposal from the funder. Other grants can be given to individuals, such as victims of natural disasters or individuals such as people who seek to open a small business.
Federal Grants most often come from a wide range of Government departments or an even wider range of public and private trusts and foundations. According to the Foundation Center these trusts and foundations number in excess of 88 000 and disperse in excess of $40 billion every year. Government grants can be searched on http://www.grants.gov. Trusts and Foundations are a little more complex to research and can be found through subscription based directories, such as the Foundation Center Directory Online subscription fees vary - the most basic Foundation Center Directory will cost you c $240 for one year, however the search capabilities of this entry level subscription are somewhat limited. More functional versions begin at $480 for one year.
Due to the complex and evermore competitive nature of grant seeking, many grant seekers engage the services of professional grant research and Grant Writing services.
Most often, grants are issued by the government to students through attending post-secondary education institutions. In certain cases, a part of a government loan is issued as a grant, particularly pertaining to promising students seeking financial support for continuing their educations.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grant (money)".