Granting Your Wishes Award money can help finance your start-up, but be careful in taking its availability for granted.
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Q: Where can I find reliable grant sources for starting my own homebased IT consulting business, and what are my chances of receiving funding from them?
Name withheld
A: Grants for starting a business are few and far between. A search through The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (www.cfda.gov) will lead you to two types of grants: one for rural businesses and one for minority business enterprises. However, even for these, there are qualifiers.
Eligible applicants for the rural money are public entities and nonprofit corporations that may in turn award money to the residents they serve. They have a strong emphasis on helping existing businesses grow. Similarly, the grants for minority enterprises are awarded only to established businesses and community organizations.
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