I get asked that question a lot.

I’m guessing you’ve probably read in the newspaper or heard on the news that some organization received a grant, and you’re wondering how they knew to apply for the grant? Where did they find it? How did they know they were even eligible?

One of the best websites I send people to is www.grants.gov All federal grants are posted on this website. (And if you apply for federal funding online you can do that on this website as well.) From this website you can search for grants by federal agency, and from an agriculture standpoint I would strongly suggest the US Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Department of Energy. These three agencies have programs that could directly relate to the ag community through bioenergy or conservation projects. You can also search for grants by key word like education, biomass, marketing, etc. Granted these searches may bring in a much broader selection of grants, it is still a function to consider using on the website.

Grant announcements are posted just about everyday of the year, so it’s a site worth bookmarking and coming back to check on often. Or, you could select to use their RSS feeder which is a function that allows you to have grants e-mailed to you directly based on the search criteria you select; either by federal agency or category (keyword).

Once you run a search the various grants will be listed by dates, names, and federal agency. You can click on the name of the grant and be taken to that grants synopsis page. This synopsis page is a quick informational reference on the grant. Telling you when it’s due, how much is available, who is eligible to apply and a brief description of what the grant funds are to be used for. From there, if you think it sounds like the grant would be a good fit, there will be a link on the bottom of the page that will take you to the full RFP (Request for Proposals). This document will contain all the nitty gritty details about the grant, and what all is required for the application. But, the synopsis page is a great place to start and will give you a good over view of the grant program.

I have posted some other helpful websites on this blog over in the left hand column but for right now go ahead and give www.grants.gov a try. Since the webpage ends in .gov you know it is a secure site and contains factual information. Let me know what you think. Was it easy? Do you have questions about the synopsis page and what all is listed there? I’d be happy to explain any of the terms, so feel free to post a comment.