Free Money
You may think it’s impossible to get free money. Should we really be able to get something for nothing? No! Then again, we can get money that doesn’t need to be paid back. And, that means it’s pretty much free. However, free money should be followed by value added. For example, a Pell grant for school comes with an obligation to attend school and to study.
Grants
The government is so large there isn’t one single person who can even name all the things the government does. Each department is unique with its own personalities and flavors. Grant money is not given out with large advertising budgets. You don’t see billboards asking people to apply for free government money. Since these programs aren’t advertised, you have to do a lot of research on your own. Then, you may or may not have to write up how the grant will help you and how that will benefit society. The money isn’t truly free. Truly free money would be money you can do anything you want with and apply no effort whatsoever with it.
There are lots of government grants. Have you hear of pork barrels? These are expensive items that senators tack on to good bills. Since people believe in the bill, as a whole, the pork barrel is approved and some government organization gets a bunch of money. Many of these pork barrels are for good causes. And, many give out money to people that will help further the cause. The only problem is that most of the time, the government officials give it to their family or friends. If, however, you are resourceful and apply you can often get these grants because they need to at least give some of the money out legitimately.
Some of the most popular grants are Pell Grants and Down Payment grants. If you are low in income, the government may pay your tuition for college with a Pell Grant. In addition, with low income, a lot of people can get down payment money for a house. The government releases a sizable chunk of money each year for these grants.
Where To Get Grant Information
Most of the state web sites have links to get a state grant. The main thing is to think of what you want to do; not where is the money. For example, if you wanted to go to college you would go to the college and ask financial aid people about programs available to help you. They would know about student grants and loans. They wouldn’t know about business grants, although. You need to check with the departments of government that are regulating what your desire.
Some good federal grant websites are www.grants.gov or www.cfda.gov You can readily see that there are a lot of grants available. The only problem is that you won’t qualify for most of them. Most grants are awarded to companies or non profit organizations because the government has more faith that the money will be used for good. Imagine if you had a million dollars to give out. Would you give it to yourself to do something you have no experience in? Just like a job, grant givers are looking for qualified people.
Keeping Ears To The Ground Pays Off
Follow politics. You can find out about new grant programs by knowing what legislators are doing. A few years back the government was trying to get more charter schools going. There was a grant available for a short time period that would pay you a nice salary and pay your first year lease on a school building. The only people that knew about it were those that followed politics and those that were in education.
Another person, I know, got their house for a dollar. The government was trying to revitalize a certain neighborhood. They decided to give away some of the homes. With purchasing the home, came the obligation to fix it up and live in it. This person put 20k into fixing the home and still lives there. She found out about the program by a small newspaper ad.
Social Insurance Programs
A lot of people fraudulently get on social security. They fake that they can’t work. In rare cases, it is actually true. You can also get free money from welfare; as well. In each community, there are government programs that help with the payment of rents. You can contact the department of Hud to find out about the local rental assistance in your community. These programs are all for low income people.
Corporate Welfare
Start a huge company and make a lot of bad decisions. When you are ready to go under, ask the government to help. They may give you billions of dollars. The government has helped some huge companies with enormous amounts of money. For starters, how about the savings and loan crisis. In the 80s and 90s, the government gave out approximately $124.6 billion dollars to help the savings and loan companies. The only downside is that you have to go ask congress to help you.
Don’t Take Free Money
If you get a grant, give it your all to make it worth the investment. If at all possible, don’t take free money. You don’t want to be part of the governments huge spending problem. Free money can send you on a downward life spiral that you may never recover from. What seems easy is never worth it. Many people that turn to free money for survival are soon less able to survive. Happiness doesn’t come from doing nothing. It comes from accomplishing and contributing. The grant should help you to become a better person by accomplishing something important for yourself or society.
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