There are over 5,000 grants available for small business from the EU, central and local government and a wide range of organisations and trusts.

All grants have different criteria and different conditions, some will take the form of interest free loans others will be free grants of cash or they could be grants in the form of advice or business support.

Whether or not you qualify will often depend on where you are based, what business sector you operate in and what you want the money for.

What are Grants for?

This varies according to the type of grant it is. In some areas you can get assisted grants for marketing and export while selective regional assistance gives grants of up to 15% of the start up costs of a project.

The DTI’s Smart Grants, meanwhile, are aimed at helping companies in the technical sector conduct development of feasibility costs. And young entrepreneurs may be able to get loans from either The Princes Trust or Shell LiveWire

The Pro’s

Grants can provide valuable support for start ups and companies wanting to develop particular projects. They often come as a package with additional business advice and support which can prove as important as the cash.

Your local Business Link should be able to point you in the direction of relevant grant schemes and many business support organisations subscribe to a grants database. Alternatively there are companies that specialise in finding and winning you a grant on a no win/no fee basis.

The con’s

With so many grants on offer finding the one that’s right for you can be time-consuming – and then you have to wade through lengthy and complex application forms with no guarantee that your request will be successful. So you should carefully check the terms and conditions of a grant scheme before you even start applying.

There are companies that can help with this as they specialise in finding and winning you a grant on a no win/no fee basis that can make the process easier – but obviously you will sacrifice a percentage of the award if you do it this way.

Most grants will only give you partial funding for a venture or project so you may still have to find a proportion of your funding elsewhere.

Brainybusiness.com provides business and personal development resources to help small and growing businesses start, manage and expand their business. The site contains books, articles, free ebooks and resources. Visit: http://www.brainybusiness.com

You get what you pay for, so it only stands to reason that a proper education comes with a big price tag. Everyone deserves to have a good education, so the government has stepped in to assist students in need. With a variety of student aids, from employment opportunities to scholarships to college grant money, government programs are giving students the opportunities to get the education they need. Do you know what a college grant is, and how it differs from a student loan or scholarship?

College grants are student financial aid programs that award tuition money to deserving individuals. Grants are available from the federal government, non-profit civic groups and private institutions to fund education based on a student’s economic need.

Contrary to what many people believe, a college grant is not the same as a student loan. The most significant difference is that a qualified individual is not required to repay the grant money. In contrast, a student loan applicant must meet his or her obligation to repay the money within a certain specified period. The terms of the loan will depend on the agreement between you and the lender. This significant difference is why students and parents alike favor college grant money to student loans.

In an effort to determine the amount of college grant money you may receive, most colleges and grant programs will factor in your parents’ income as well as the average cost of college. The result is a basic estimate of how much money you may be eligible to receive from your grant.

With most college grant programs, there is a fixed amount that is sent to the college or university that will be attended. The student receiving the grant may either receive the money by check through the mail, or the college or university will automatically credit the amount to the student’s account.

If you want to be considered for federal financial assistance and receive college grant money, you must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the FAFSA. The easiest way to do this is online at the FAFSA.ed.gov website. The FAFSA can only be filed no sooner than January 1st of the year you will be attending.

The deadlines announced by the federal student aid programs and your college of choice may vary, so be cautious of the dates on which you will be filing for college grant money. File your application well before any of the dates, just to be safe.

There may be other forms that you’ll need to submit in addition to the FAFSA. If you are an incoming freshman, you may also need to complete a CSS Profile Application, as required by many private colleges. The CSS profile will give administrators a broader set of data from which to derive your eligibility for need-based institutional assistance. The profile application is usually available in the middle of October. Registration and application may be done online at CollegeBoard.org.

With the use of the processed information from either the FAFSA or the CSS Profile, colleges determine your eligibility for college grant money by using your household, demographic, and financial data as the basis.

Writer Ramona Mackgil contributes to a variety of web magazines, on family kid and family parenting subjects.

Telling you how to develop a complete business plan is just not the same as showing you exactly what needs to be included in one. Below is exactly what you need to include in your business plan so that you have a decent place to start. Here is a quick nine-step guide to what you will need in your company’s business plan:

1. The executive summary: The executive summary is what introduces your business strategy to the reader and probably is the most important section for lending institutions. If you can’t convince a grant agency in the first two or three pages that you’ve got a good business proposal for them to listen to and that you’re not going to leave without some funding to help you get started. This summary is also important as a communication tool for employees as well as any potential customers who need to understand your goals and ideas.

2. A small section on company startup: This section of your business plan is where you have to clearly explain the thought behind the company’s creation and how you or your business associate came up with the idea to start your business.

3. Your company goal: You will have to use this section to explain in as few paragraphs as possible what your short and long-term goals for the company are. How fast do you think it will grow? Who will be your primary customers?

4. Biographies of management: This section will be used define your management team and what their purposes are. This section should include information such as the names and backgrounds of lead members of the management team and their responsibilities.

5. The product/service you will offer: This is where it is a must that you include a key piece of information that needs to be included in this section; which will be a discussion of how your pharmacy actually differs from every other business on the market.

6. The market potential: This is the section where you will really want to remember that you’ve got to convince everyone that you’re after is relatively large and growing. You’ll need to do some research for this section.

If you’re planning to open a locally based business, you need to check out the demand for your offering within a certain radius that is based on what you determine is a reasonable distance from your business. If you are planning to open a Web-based business or one that relies on both the Internet and local traffic for revenues, you’ll need to evaluate demand on a local and/or a national basis. You can also seek to get this type of information online as many different sites will perform this analysis for you.

7. The marketing strategy: This is the section where you will have to ask yourself how you plan to tell the world you’re open for business. For example, questions like; Will you advertise in print, television or on the Web or all of these? Will you use online marketing tools like search optimization, to get your company listed on search engines and advertised on other Web sites? You’ll also need to include how much you plan to spend on marketing.

8. A 3-5 year financial projection: This section should have a summary of your expected financial forecasts, including spreadsheets showing the method that you used to reach these projections. You’ll want to use your balance sheets, income statements and cash-flow projections for the entire period that year. The summary in this section is also where you would tell grant agencies how much money you’d like to get in order to cover your startup costs. The assumptions that you make in this section will make or break your company’s success. If you’re unsure about using this kind of financial modeling, find a professional.

9. An exit strategy. All good business plans include a section that lays out the benchmarks you’ll use in deciding to call it quits. The strategy could be based on a specific figure, revenue growth, the market’s reception to your idea, or a consensus among top officers.

Dwayne Garrett is the author of several eBooks and popular software applications, he also offers an affordable Government Resource that will help you to make sense of getting free grant money. Visit:

http://www.GrantMoneySecretsRevealed.com