I feel like I’ve found the “missing link”… an actual government grant for a business.
I know that selling information on government grants is big business, but I’ve never actually seen one that a small business might be able to get.
But perhaps I have found one.
In a fax from our local Chamber of Commerce, our United States Department of Agriculture office announced “Rural Development Grants and Loans for Small Business for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Projects”.
These are for small businesses and farms. As I recall, their definition of small business and mine is very different… for the government, usually anything under 500 employees used to be considered “small”.
Nor is there any indication in this announcement how big a “farm” has to be… (a single goat to mow your lawn?)
“Renewable energy projects can include systems derived from biomass, biogas, geothermal, hydrogen, wind, and solar.”
While “Grants” sound like free money, they can have so many stipulations that reporting on the use of the funds requires another grant to hire an accountant.
Nevertheless, here is one of those elusive “Grants” for a business.
Since it’s tax filing day, consider this your tax dollar at work.
In my experience, the government’s policy is that people receiving tax dollars in these grants are so burdened with onerous reporting that it’s impossible to really make any money in the end unless the project is economically viable on the back end once the government monitors don’t have to hassle you any more.
But if it were so viable in the first place… why need a grant?
william jones on March 22nd, 2007 at 7:16 am
The government’s rural development program is to attract business to go into the rural areas of the U.S. This is not for a farmer this grant and loan program is for small businesses that are technology rich and cash poor. Professors and scientists are the people they are trying to get.