Possible grant?

[Autumn.]

Today a lady came to our front door- there's a runoff election for mayor today. I actually met the candidate she represents at the school- he was one of my intern clients.

So, we got to talking, and I mentioned that we are wanting to bring our business into this town (dh currently works in the next town over), and she mentioned grants. This has been brought up to me before- this area is trying hard to bring in new businesses.

She said that she'll mention to him our interest and our idea (to rent the place that is available right behind out house), and maybe he could help us get a grant. Wouldn't that be cool?

Has anyone here ever gotten/tried to get a grant for their business? Any tips/advice/info/stories to share?

 

[TonyWithLove]

I have had some experience with grants. I did grant writing for a non-profit for 10 years. It was a very reputable, national non-profit with a long history. As the years went on it became harder and harder to get grants - more competition, less trust as stories came out about other non-profits not being fiscally responsible with their money. I spent approximately 20-40 hours writing each grant and received about 1 of every 10 written. This was considered pretty good. It's not unusual to write twice as many to receive 1 grant.

Before non-profit I wrote and received a small business grant from the government. I spent more time filling out paperwork and reports talking about how I spent the money than I ever did using the money to grow my business. It was a nightmare of paperwork and red tape. I personally would never do it again. My Father is an entrepreneur and still receives government grants from time to time - but is fortunately large enough that he is able to hire someone who devotes half of their hours every week dealing with the paperwork.

If you choose to go this route, there are lots of positive things about it, but just be organized and know upfront how much time and energy has to be spent after you receive the grant. Every organization is different. Federal/government grants are the worst. Grants from private organizations vary considerably.

Best of luck!

 

[Grace B]

Thanks for the info, vVta. I spoke with the person in charge of such things in our city, and it turns out that all they'd be able to do would be to *maybe* help us with some of the buildout in the space we're looking to lease- specifically, adapting the bathrooms to ADA specs, *if* it were to be required. On further discussion/examination, what we would be doing would not require that to be done, so oh well. But at least we now know that the work we want done *won't* require such extras on top of it (per code), and so it'll be less than we'd originally feared it might.

And I have heard how horrible all that paperwork is from other sources, as well. Doesn't seem like such a great deal anyway now, LOL!