Free Money From Taxes And Unclaimed Funds
Free government money doesnt always come in the form of need-based programs. Some are available to anyone, regardless of income.
Unclaimed money
While this isnt necessarily free money, it is money that is owed to you for some reason by some entity. This money can include uncashed paychecks, apartment or utility deposits, or safety deposit box contents.
Theres no one place to check for unclaimed money, and you might have it in multiple states so make sure youre researching all the states youve ever lived in. If your employer is headquartered in a different state from where you work, check that state as well.
The best places to start looking for your unclaimed funds are:
Old pension plans
In addition to unclaimed money or tax refunds, you might have money available to you in the form of old pension plans. If you or someone in your family worked for a company that provided a pension but hasnt collected those benefits, you might still be eligible for that money.
You can find out if theres money owed to you by visiting the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation and searching for your or your family members name.
Tax credits and deductions
An easy way to find free money is to adjust your tax withholding and deductions. If you havent done this recently, review the W-4 you submitted when you began your job. Figure out what you chose and then, using this list, make necessary and appropriate adjustments.
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Fedex Small Business Grant
FedEx hosts a small business grant contest to provide funding for ambitious entrepreneurs. The contest has tough competition, with nearly 18,000 applicants for the tenth annual grant in 2022.
- Award amount: $15,000$50,000
- How to apply: Visit the FedEx website for specific application details.
This grant is open to small business models with a story worth telling,” so if you plan to apply, pinpoint what makes your business unique.
Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance Grant
Certain small business owners applying for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan through the SBA are eligible for an emergency cash advance of up to $10,000. This advance can be forgiven by the SBA if you spend it on maintaining payroll, paid leave, increased costs, mortgage or lease payments, or other financial obligations.
Targeted EIDL funds are available to businesses in low-income communities that can demonstrate a more than 30% reduction of revenue during an eight-week period since March 2, 2020. Your business must have previously received an EIDL Advance for less than $10,000 to be eligible, or previously applied for an EIDL Advance but did not receive one due to a lack of program funding. The original EIDL Advance program, authorized as part of the CARES Act, is no longer active.
No action is required to qualify for a Targeted EIDL grant. The SBA will reach out to eligible businesses. If you receive an email about an SBA grant, make sure it arrives from an address ending in @sba.gov to avoid a potential business loan scam.
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What Are Small Business Grants
A small business grant is a predetermined sum of money that government agencies and/or private entities give to small businesses. It can loosely be called free money. Its important to note, however, that nothing in life is truly free. Small business grants are filled with caveats that specify how the money should be spent. Additionally, a lot of work goes into creating grant proposals and meeting the requirements for winning the grant.
Government Grants For Small Businesses
Government grants are a desirable source of funding for many small businesses. Well-known sources for government grants include agencies like Grants.gov, Challenge.gov, the U.S. Small Business Administration , and the U.S. Economic Development Administration , but small businesses should look to every tier of the government to find the best grant for their business.
If this is a funding option you are considering, check out these government grants for small businesses.
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Search And Apply For Government Grants
To search or apply for grants, use the free, official website, Grants.gov. Commercial sites may charge a fee for grant information or application forms. Grants.gov centralizes information from more than 1,000 government grant programs. Itâs designed to help states and organizations find and apply for grants.
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Get Free Money For Your Kids Using The Resp
When you open a Registered Education Savings Plan for your kids future education, the government matches 20% of your contributions up to $500 every year.
This grant money amounts to a free $7,200 that your child can put towards their tuition and college expenses later on.
U.S. citizens can use similar tax-advantaged 529 plans.
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State Small Business Grants
State Business Incentives Database
The State Business Incentives Database can be a useful database for business owners. It has a map feature that allows you to select your state and see the number of grants available, as well as information on tax credits and exemptions. It does, however, require a login that members of the Council for Community and Economic Research are granted. A basic membership, which includes access to the database, is $345.
U.S Economic Development Administration
Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the EDA can be a great resource for small businesses looking for state grants. The EDA works through regional collaboration to drive economic development across the country. It does so by offering grants and working directly with communities.
Small Business Development Centers
All of the research and work that go into applying for any business grant can be daunting, but the SBDC might be able to help. There are nearly 1,000 development centers across the country where business owners can seek free consulting. These consultants can help you find the right grants for your business.
How Do I Apply For A Government Business Grant
Each scheme is different, but check you meet the general terms and criteria before you get too far into the application process.
Most grants are very specialist, such as creating a specific type of business or building a business that will help regenerate a local community.
Here are our tips of successfully applying for a new business grant.
Talk to the grant body talk to the grant awards body to assess your chances of making a successful application.
Read the grant objectives take time to learn why this grant is being awarded and what it aims to achieve, such as hiring staff from a local community or developing environmentally friendly products. Write your application referring to the objectives as closely as possible to stand the best chance.
Have a great business plan as with other types of funding, the awards body for the grant will expect to see a professional business plan and, if youve started trading, examples of your business position and balance sheet.
Focus on the grant use grants are usually awarded for a specific project, such as buying IT equipment or funding broadband installation. Use the application to show how this will help grow your business and benefit others, rather than on the IT equipment itself.
Check your funding most grants will look to match the amount youre willing to invest, so if youre seeking a grant of £10,000 then make sure youve a matching amount available.
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Make Sure Your Business Aligns With The Organizations Mission
Organizations that provide small business grants do so in the hopes of achieving a specific goal they care deeply about. Ask yourself how your business model helps contribute to achieving this goal. If the answer is hard to parse, you might want to consider applying for grants with another organization.
Government Business Grants: Steps To Apply
Government Business Grants are like a genie for most of people. There are a lot of people talks about it but somehow we dont have enough information to believe that it is really real. Some people might even committing semi-fraud using the name of Government Business Grants. They require you to buy expensive program from them with the prize of Government Business Grants. In a few cases they might help you get the grants, but more often than not you will come home empty handed.
There is some information that you have to know before you decide to use those kinds of programs. First, the government does not likely to give many Government Business Grants for businesses of any size. Most of Government Business Grants are provided for business that is registered to a nonprofit organization. Some other Government Business Grants are provided for established businesses that serve the community, such as manufacturers and health care facilities.
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Small Business Grants: Where To Find Funds
A small business grant is funding offered by a federal, state or local government, or a private entity like a corporation or foundation. The best part? It doesnt need to be paid back the way a business loan would. While the business grants below usually wont cover every business expense, they can provide needed capital without putting your company in debt. But because its such a sweet deal, theres plenty of competition and some limits grants may only be open to certain types of businesses or available in specific regions. Learn here where you should look and how to apply for a small business grant.
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What Is A Grant In Business And Can My Company Get One
A grant is a sum of money given by the government or a public or private sector organisation either for a general purpose or something more specific .
To apply for a small business grant, normally you or your business must satisfy strict qualification criteria. Sometimes grants are only available to startups, in other cases more established firms can apply. You may have to operate in a certain sector or location. A grant might only be available to those who sell or want to sell overseas or to a business owner from a specific group, whether thats linked to gender, ethnicity, age or other criteria.
You do not have to pay back a grant, of course, but you are required to repay a loan. Sometimes relatively modest sums are available via grants, but others offer UK SMEs up to £100,000 or more in grant funding.
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Jack Daniels Pitch Distilled
Jack Daniels hosts an annual pitch competition with the goal of inspiring entrepreneurs to surface the next big idea. Small business startups can apply and if accepted, theyll pitch their ideas at the Pitch Distilled event to a group of business owners. The winner of this pitch contest will win a $5,000 prize, plus advice and guidance from the panel of judges to help make their idea a reality.
Write And Submit A Grant Proposal
Various government small business grants exist that provide funding for a wide range of problems. Some of these government small business grants are discussed later in this article. Each grant has specific requirements you should ensure that your business can meet these requirements before investing time and money into creating a grant proposal. It often works best to hire a grant proposal writer because writing a grant proposal is a time-consuming and detailed process.
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Crowdfunding For Small Businesses
Crowdfunding has become one of the most popular methods of raising money for startup businesses, largely due to online crowdfunding sites that make it accessible to nearly anyone.
Rather than seeking a large sum of money from an organization or angel investors, crowdfunding involves collecting small sums of money from ordinary people that believe in the potential of your own business.
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Grants Vs Loans: What’s The Difference For Entrepreneurs
A loan is funding you must pay back to the creditor who loaned you the money. In contrast, a grant is gifted” money you don’t need to pay back.
You will have to apply for both grants and loans, but a loan application considers your ability to repay the money while a grant application considers your merit as it applies to the rules of the grant.
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Protecting And Repairing Your Credit
The Federal Trade Commission website offers advice on how to protect yourself from scams and what to do next if you a victim of fraud or identity theft.
On the FTC website, you can also:
- File a consumer complaint
- Register for the Do Not Call List
- Receive scam alerts
In some cases, you can be reimbursed for being scammed by a business by registering your complaint with the FTC.
Free Money From The Government
The federal government does not offer grants or free money to individuals to start a business or cover personal expenses, contrary to what you might see online or in the media. Websites or other publications claiming to offer “free money from the government” are often scams. Report them to the Federal Trade Commission.
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Dont Forget To Form Your Business
Once youve decided on a new enterprise, the most important next step is to officially form your business. Most small businesses are set up as LLCs .
This keeps all of your assets separate from the company, limiting your personal liability while giving you the pass-through tax benefits of being a sole proprietor.
The process of forming your business can be really simple. Incfile can handle everything for you for $0 all you pay is any state fees. Do it now!.
What Is A Business Grant
A business grant is a form of funding that doesnt need to be repaid. In other words, grants are essentially free money for your business. Grants, as you can see from the above list, can come from various places, including the federal or state government, large corporations, smaller nonprofits, private individuals, and more.
However, as you likely also gathered from our list of small business grants, there are typically several criteria that must be met to be eligible for a specific business grant. Grants are also incredibly competitiveâafter all, who wouldnt want free money? The uses of a business grant will vary depending on the specific grant, but may include helping you grow your business, retain or create jobs, or develop a new product or idea.
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Alternatives To Small Business Grants
If you dont have the patience to apply for a small business grant and wait to see if youve been awarded it, look to other options to get the financing you need.
There are plenty of small business loans available, no matter what your credit profile. If your business is established and you have excellent credit, you might qualify for a bank or SBA loan with lower interest rates. If you want access to some cash now and more later, look for a line of credit.
If youre working to build your credit, you may be able to get a merchant cash advance or invoice financing. And if youre just looking for a way to purchase what your business needs, there are plenty of small business credit cards available to you.
This article was originally written on November 19, 2019 and updated on June 13, 2022.
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Small Business Technology Transfer Program
The STTR program is similar to the SBIR but the emphasis is more on establishing public and private sector partnerships in research and development. This government grant for small businesses creates opportunities for small businesses to collaborate on joint ventures with the nations leading nonprofit organizations. The products produced are commercialized and some, or all, of the profits given to the small business. Like the SBIR program, any small business that receives the grant must complete three phases to receive the full grant award.
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Other Types Of Assistance
Local assistance can also make a significant difference. The SBA resource finder is helpful for finding counseling and other mentorship services in your area. There are numerous experts in the world of grants and alternative funding who can improve your chances or give you better direction.
You can also explore the Small Business Administrations SBIR/STTR program, which provides funding and mentorship to stimulate technological innovation. A large number of federal agencies backs it, so theres a broad scope of opportunity. A portion of the funding is set aside as competitive opportunities for small businesses.
Tip: Small business loans are another option for those in need of financing. Check out which lenders we recommend as having the best small business loans. You can learn more about some specific options in our review of SBG Funding and our Truist review.
Government grant opportunities can provide for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations with a valuable source of funding. It could help you kick off assets or personnel that you need to get off the ground. The federal, state and local levels are all potential sources of funding to explore. Be prepared for a long journey, but the boost to your business could be well worth the effort.
Additional reporting by Derek Walter.
