How to Avoid Government Grant Scams
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Many people are looking to get grants from the government, but they are often falling for government grant scams. These people are generally ones that are especially looking for money to help finance their businesses. There are government grants that are sponsored by the government, but there are some groups that pose as governmental groups that are only looking to grab the financial and personal information of people and use it to their advantage.
However, there are ways of how you can avoid government grant scams. These scams are generally targeted to people who have businesses and are also looking for money, but in many cases these people didn’t even ask for any assistance. Here’s some things to watch for to tell if you are facing any government grant scams.
The first of the signs of government grant scams is that the group contacts you. Generally for a grant you will have to contact the government for help directly. Congressional laws state that you have to contact the government for help. If a group contacts you for help then you are facing one of the government grants scams that are especially rampant.
If a person contacts you claiming to be a governmental represented then you are being contacted by one of the government grant scams. This person that claims to be a representative when talking to you will probably be asking deep questions about your personal life, including your Social Security Number in most cases. Also, they tend to try and dance around tough questions.
Government grant scams are also ones that claim that you can get the money that you need for free. While the government does give money through grants it will have some requirements, including progress reports and other conditions. Government grant scams usually do not have any of this information.
Also, groups that ask for credit card information are likely to be running government grant scams. This could put you at risk of identity theft if you go about working with this.
A government grant will have some especially strict guidelines and tough competition. If you are applying for a grant that will be supposedly given to you immediately without any competition then you are applying for another of the government grant scams. Qualifications for grants are especially tough, and government grant scams don’t have these qualifications, so if you find something that sounds real easy to do odds are very good it’s a scam.
One of the best things to do for avoiding government grant scams is to contact your local government for help. You can find information on legitimate grant agencies that can help you with getting the money you need for your group or business. These are all legal and will be tough to get in many cases, but this is important in that you will be able to avoid all of the government grant scams that you could easily fall for.
Arek Zbikowski
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-to-avoid-government-grant-scams-686579.html
5 Comments
March 4th, 2010 at 8:07 am
What is the best/easiest way to apply for a government grant? I'm trying to avoid those online scams.?
I can’t tell these scam websites that are just trying to sell you some useless/outdated book or DVD from the legitimate sources of applications for grants. Has anyone ever gotten one? Do you know the best place(s) to go to apply? Thanks in advance.
It would mainly be to pay off grad school student loan debt. I would like to get a grant to start a small business but I think I need to get rid of the debt first.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
It depends on what your grant is for. Some more information might be helpful. If you want to give me an address, i can send you a disk that may have some helpful information on it. Obviously I’m not going to charge you because we have a relationship with a disk creating company where we only pay like .75 cents per disk. Let me know if you are interested. I have not personally gone through it. I could try to upload it onto the computer, and then email it to you that way as well.
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owner of http://www.brienprivatefinance.com
March 4th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
you can get tips about goverment here
http://www.ebookslife.com/grant/index.htm
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March 4th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
The government is NOT in the business of giving away free money for the sake of giving away money. Grants are not given to pay off student loans. There are no grants for paying bills, no grants for paying off credit cards, no grants for getting out of debt and no grants for simply fattening your wallet.
Grants are free, but it means OBLIGATION. You will be obligated to do as the grant sets out to do. Grants have objectives, and your purpose must fit the objective of the grant.
For one, you have to write the grant application and the grant application is not a simple document – you have to explain how your purpose for applying for the grant fits well with the objectives set out by the grant.
There is a stringent review process through a committee. You will compete with other applicants for the grant money, and this grant review committee will evaluate the merits of each proposal. Only those that they feel exemplifies the objective of the grant will be approved.
You can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.
Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.
Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT – Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.
Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs
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March 4th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
You should start with the website for the areas of the government that could help you. You should also contact your career center for recommendations on jobs that offer loan forgiveness.
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