HOME
- JOIN US!
- LOANS - GRANTS
- SITEMAP -
CONTACT
Business
Grants for Women - a Grant FAQ Section Page 3
Generously
provided for women
seeking business grants by Cheryl Antier
| Question:I have found
where to apply for a small business
grant,
but I don’t know how to write one. What do I need to put into a
grant
for women? |
 Answer:
A small business grant is actually a business plan. There is a
specific
formula for putting together a small business plan, but remember that
your
business plan needs to be specific to your business. Think of
your
business plan as a living, breathing roadmap that gets you from where
you
are now, to where you want to be. Although the format may change
a little bit based on the type of business, whether you are selling
products
or services, whether you’re going to be working from home or need a
retail
location, the framework is going to be the same.
Before you get
started, don’t
forget to check out the wonderful resources available on the Digital
Women
Website, with links to the Small Business
Administration (SBA) and more. The SBA even has several plans
that you can look at for inspiration. Basically, your business
plan
needs the following elements:
1.Cover Sheet
2.Statement of Purpose or
Concept
3.Table of Contents
I.The Business
A.Description of
business
B.Market Research
C.Competition
D.Operating Procedures
E.Personnel
F.Business Insurance
II.Financial Data
A.Loan Applications
B.Capital Equipment
and supply list
C.Balance Sheet
D.Breakeven Analysis
E.Pro-forma income
projections (profit and loss statements)
Three
year summary
Detail
by month, for the first year
Detail
by quarters, for the second and third year
Assumptions
upon which projections were based
F.Pro-forma cash
flow
III.Supporting Documents
A.Tax returns of
principals for last three years
B.Personal financial
statement (all banks have these forms)
C.In the case of
a franchised business, a copy of the franchise contract and all
supporting
documents provided by the franchiser
D.Copy of the proposed
lease or purchase agreement for building space
E.Copy of licenses
and all other legal documents
F.Copy of resumes
of all principals
G.Copies of letters
of intent from suppliers, etc.
Not ALL government grant programs are advertised.
That's why some
of the grant
packages and programs are very valuable. They have found those
resources
that you will have a hard time finding on your own. The grant packages
listed below have done all the work for you.
A few are:
Although billions
of dollars
are given away annually by Government Agencies and 30,000 +
grant-making
Foundations in the United States, Most Americans do not even know
these
Agencies and Foundations exist, or how to contact them!
Depending on your
business,
you may not need all of this information. For example, if you are
running
your business
from home, you won’t need
to have a lease agreement. If you have any questions, feel free
to
email me, and I’ll do my best to answer you individually, or I may
include
your question in one of the upcoming newsletters.
Question:
I know there
is a lot of information available from the government, but I don’t know
how to access it. Where do I start?
Answer:
You’re right,
there is a treasure trove of information available from our government
today, and thanks to the Internet, you can access most of it without
ever
leaving your home. You can find statistics, market and demographic
information, grant
money, training and business information and so much more! If
you’re going to go on a treasure hunt, I suggest you do the
following:
1.Get organized.
Create some folders on your hard drive, based on what you’re going to
be
looking for, so that you can download the information you find.
For
example, you could break your information into the type of government
agencies
(executive, legislative or judicial), by the type of information you’re
looking for (business, grants, education, home ownership), by
geographic
region (local, state, region, federal or international) or you can get
even more specific. Think about what you need, and create some
kind
of list or database if you need to, to help you stay focused.
2.Create similar folders
in your “My Favorites” folder, so that you don’t have to read
everything
all at once. Get the general information, save it, and you can go
back to the page at your convenience.
3. You may also need one
or more of the following (free) tools to download and view most
government
information:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/
(Adobe Reader)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=95E24C87-8732-48D5-8689-AB826E7B8FDF&displaylang=en
(Microsoft
Reader)
4.Now think about the type
of information you’re looking for. (I always try to imagine what
sources
of information I could find at my local public library, and then use
the
Web to find it, as much as possible.) For example: Catalogs, Research
Guides,
Databases, Reference Books or Materials, Specific Government
Information.
As an example, let’s play with “Catalogs” shall we? Here’s what
you
can find on the net, by typing in catalogs on Google. (By the way, I’ve
only listed a few of the resources you can find – I’ve only got so much
room for this column every month!)
http://www.libdex.com/
(This is an index of libraries)
http://catalog.loc.gov/
(The library of Congress online
Catalog)
http://locatorplus.gov/
(The National Library of Medicine)
http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html
(The Catalog of Federal
Domestic
Assistance – this is the one that lists available grants from the
Feds)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cgp/index.html
(Catalog of U.S.
Government
Publications)
Advertising
Rates |Digital-Women
Home - Business
Loans for Women - Women
Grants - Sitemap
- Join
- Terms - Privacy
Copyright © 1998-2009 Digital Women
® Rebecca Hubbard 817-914-4665 rebecca@digital-women.com
|
Business Loans for Women
Minority & Women Grants
|
