Grants for Women

Women fall inside the aforementioned category of a minority, so when you speak of grants for women, that’s where you need to look. Women grants can take several forms and include anything from tax credits to outright help with the electric bill or groceries. Grants for women are awarded from family foundations, national foundations and the U.S. government. Women grants also account for the majority of awards given yearly to deserving and qualifying individuals. Corporate grants for women are widely available from companies and organizations that have a history of making grants available for women to use for education, career advancement and sometimes business expansion.

Federal Grants for Women

The federal government opens hundreds upon hundreds of opportunities annually in the form of federal grants for women. Recognizing the important roles in history played by women, the federal government makes many awards inside the arenas of international affairs, medical and technical research, academic and scholarly affairs and more. Federal grants for women are available at almost all research levels ranging from the medical arena to Homeland Security.

Because women have played an all but unrecognized role on the defense of our country, the federal government awards women grants from its various arms such as the Department of the Army, the Department of Homeland Security and more. Federal grants for women are also available in academic areas such as history, molecular research and finance. While many of these grants require an advanced degree to win, the U.S. government recognizes the important roles played throughout history by women in this country.

Grants for Women over 50

With age comes a lifetime of invaluable experience, and public and private foundations which support endeavors and achievements with grants for women over 50 is increasing yearly. Women over 50 are going back to school are being awarded educational grants to obtain four-year and advanced degrees to qualify for higher incomes and new job opportunities and compete in a global economy sometimes in fields formerly reserved for men. Educational grants for women over 50 are available from private and government sources for four-year degree and advanced degree studies. Many pay full tuition for a certain number of credit hours and some even provide what is known as a “living stipend” to help with the day to day expenses going back to school brings.

More women are delaying having children until later in life. Raising a family is hard at any age, but grants for women over 50 are helping supplement life expenses in the areas of affordable health insurance, child care and more. If you’re over age 50 and seek funding to help better your life in some way, chances are there is money in some form available to you if you take the time to look.

Women Government Grants

Women government grants are offered by the federal government in many areas and just a few include:

• Grants for women for college and higher education;
• Help with funding for a new or existing business;
• Financial assistance for low income households;
• Financial assistance for healthcare and housing;
• Emergency personal and family needs financial help.

While they don’t offer women government grants as such, the SBA affords many financial opportunities paid for in part by women government grants. Are you the CEO of a woman owned business? Do you have an existing enterprise which is seeking to expand? If so, check out the federal government Small Business Administration’s web site and look over all available opportunities paid for by women government grants.

Federal Grants for Women

Federal grants for women run the gamut of needs. While not all services afforded are direct grants for women, they are all financially supported by government grants for women. Career development assistance is available in everything from Contraception and Infertility Research Loan Repayment Program to employment and training assistance. Are you seeking financial adoption assistance? If so, the government provides financial help and services for children with special needs and their adoptive parents financed by federal grants for women.

The federal The Child Care and Development Fund lends a hand  in providing assistance to low-income families who need child care due to work, work-related training and those currently attending college. Whether you’re seeking help with paying an electric bill due to cold weather or need affordable health insurance for you and your children, federal grants for women fund a wide variety of federal resources which are easily accessible to you.

Direct Grants for Women

Are you a woman who just happens to hold graduate degree? If that’s the case then a plethora of direct grants for women opportunities just opened up for you. If you’re a woman scientist, then direct research grants from the National Institutes of Health might be right up your alley. Are you a woman who chose to become an engineer opposed to take a more traditional occupational route? If so, why not look over direct grants for women offered by the National Science Foundation. Many women have chosen the occupational path of Biology. If that’s the case, then check out the funding opportunities offered to women by federal Marine Mammal Commission.

Government grants for women are also offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, for women in the farm and agricultural industry sponsored by the U.S. department of Agriculture and others!

Women Education Grants

No matter the field of interest, affordable secondary education permits women to earn more over a life time, achieve self actualization and provide a better life for their families. For many seeking college grants for women, the federally subsidized Pell Grant is a first alternative. To qualify for the Pell Grant award, those seeking education grants for women must meet the basic requirements:

• Women must be a U.S. citizen, or eligible non-citizen;
• Must be able to have a social security number that is valid;
• Must be able to show that you will be able to benefit from your postsecondary education. A high school diploma, General Education Developmental certificate or other form of credential will satisfy this requirement;
• Must be enrolled at one of the 5,400 participating postsecondary institutions from across the nation in a degree-oriented program;
• May not be eligible for federal student aid if convicted of selling illegal drugs while currently receiving federal aid.

Education Grants for Women

Many women find they are not eligible for the federal Pell grant award. What then? Don’t fret because there are many alternatives available in education grants for women entering specialty occupations, especially inside the medical arena. Just some of the programs available for women seeking education grants are:

• Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students

This federally funded program is available to financially disadvantaged nursing students as well as other students enrolled full-time in a health sciences program and is an excellent fit for those seeking education grants for women. Eligible programs cover a wide range of specialties, including veterinary school, dental hygiene programs, social work majors and occupational therapy.

• Nursing Scholarship Program

This program annually awards over 200 scholarships and women education grants to qualifying nurses. Award recipients must agree to work for a minimum two years post graduation at a high need health care institution such as a public acute care facility. Scholarships cover tuition and associated expenses plus offer a monthly stipend of about $1,000.

Foundation College Grants for Women

Is the medical arena not your cup of tea? There are even more alternatives in college grants for women! Many private and corporate foundations offer college grants for women. There are scholarships for moms, living assistance for those who need it and college grants for women opportunities from foundations such as Foundation IX! Whether you live in California or Idaho, where you can check out the Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation’s Pooled Grant Program – there are several opportunities for you to succeed using women education grants.

Government Business Grants for Women

I hear one question over and over, and many people want to know if there really are government grants for women in business. In short, the answer is yes, absolutely – but not in the form you might expect. The federal government does not award small business grants for women as a specific award. Government grants for women in business come in the form of occupational-specific awards which cover extended research ventures, technology design and in agriculture. Many of these government grants for women entrepreneurs and business owners are available to further scientific and technical causes and endeavors.

A prime example of this is the Women’s Business Center Renewal Grant offered by the federal government which affords women small business grants. An SBA women’s business center is a program or project funded, in part, by a small business grant for women from the SBA to provide technical assistance, such as training and counseling to women entrepreneurs seeking business grants, available to  both nascent and owners of existing businesses.

Private Small Business Grants for Women

Or the savvy and open minded woman seeking small business grants, family foundation, national foundation and corporate foundational entities exist which afford the real opportunity for women in business to earn funding. While nobody is going to simply just hand you a chunk of change and let you spend it willy-nilly, viable options do exist for women in search of small business grants.

Coveted opportunities exist for dynamic women who are serious about their professional goals by partnering with local and regional not for profit organizations which award hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to foster the skills and success of women business owners seeking grants. By partnering with a not for profit entity, grants for women in business can be shared between the business and the not for profit entity.

Women Small Business Grants

Many community leadership awards exist at the private foundation level designed to help women in business who demonstrate leadership and exceptional accomplishments in their areas of interest or work, inspiring and encouraging others while defining and pursuing their own goals. Most of these women offered small business grants are geared to achieving self-actualization and in finding a personal niche inside the community. The Ann Bancroft Foundation is a prime example of this type of award in support of grants for women in business.

Remember, for the savvy and open minded woman seeking small business grants, many options exist at the family foundation, national foundation and corporate foundational levels. If you’re a woman with a professional degree, government grants for women in business are always an option.

Tuition School Grants

Whether you seek to earn a trade-specific technical school education or major in Biology at a top university, tuition school grants should always be on the table as an alternative to help you achieve your goals. If you’re getting ready to attend college, or have already started and need to declare a major, you’re probably wondering about tuition school grants to get a good-paying job after you graduate. Just a few of the hottest college majors financed by tuition grants are:

• Engineering

When it comes to the highest-paying jobs, it should be no surprise that highly technical fields make up the majority at the top of the heap. At the very top of the list is Petroleum Engineering, yielding a base salary of nearly $100,000 for recent graduates. Engineering jobs financed by tuition aid grants in a variety of industries pave the way for new and better products and processes in almost every area – just stop and think of the things you use every day like your cell phone, refrigerator or car and how technology advances each year to make them better and more efficient.

• Math, Finance and Economics

If you hoped you’d never use what you’d learned in your high school math classes financed by tuition funding for school again, you’ll be sorely disappointed to learn that advanced mathematical concepts actually have several applications in the real-world and can help you earn a very good amount of money after graduation. At the top of the earnings list when it comes to tuition school grants funded math-related fields is Applied Mathematics. Graduates earning over $50,000 when starting out and pulling in close to $100,000 at mid-career in this field are the norm.

Tuition Aid Grants

Tuition aid grants come in many forms for secondary and graduate education – and the newest trend is helping those who already work for a living. Employer tuition aide grant assistance is now offered in a variety of employer sponsored programs and is geared to help current employees and their dependents pay for the college they need to advance in their career. In many cases the funds received from these employers sponsored programs are excluded from income and are thus tax-free. Employer tuition funding for school reimbursement programs are especially popular with students pursuing an MBA and other Masters level degrees.

If you’re getting ready to attend college, or have already started and need to declare a major, you’re probably wondering about tuition school grants to get a good-paying job after you graduate. Whether you seek to earn a trade-specific technical school education or major in Biology at a top university, tuition school grants should always be on the table as an alternative to help you achieve your goals.

Training Grants

In the coming decades, occupations requiring at least an Associate’s degree are projected to grow twice as fast as those requiring no college experience. To fill this anticipated void, America needs workers with the education and skills to succeed in growing, high wage occupations and community colleges serve as significant and rapidly growing contributors to the nation’s higher education system. This is where training grants come into play. Community colleges work hand in hand with businesses, labor organizations and the government in their communities to create tailored education and training programs to meet employers needs while providing new students the valuable skills required to get and keep good jobs, earn family-sustaining wages, and advance along a career pathway.

Government Training Grants

Government training grants are available to almost anyone in just about every occupational field, and the “green” industry is no exception. Many times when the U.S. Government institutes new federal mandates on an industry, it will offer government training grants to help employers come into federal compliance and meet or exceed those mandates. These fields are adding new tasks or specialty areas because of the demand for green goods and services.  Some examples include:

• Construction Managers, who may      need to learn more about green construction and retrofitting. Green      construction is being fueled by new government initiates and an importance      has been placed on energy savings and down-sizing.
• Public Relations Specialists, who      may need to develop expertise in marketing green products or services.      These professionals need to earn a good understanding of why these new      mandates are important to help their clientele succeed.
• Farmers and Ranchers, who may      need to expand sustainable farming practices and comply with new biofuel      subsidy mandates. Government training grants are available to this subset      of the American population to reinforce skills required to meet conditions      set forth by the federal government.
• Energy      Auditors, who conduct audits to determine energy efficiency ratings of new      homes and facilities. This new breed of professionals will play a key part      in the certification process.
• Chief      Sustainability Officers, who oversee green activities at the      organizational level. These Administrators must have a hard working knowledge      of grants for training.
• Wind      Energy Engineers, who design and develop wind farm systems. This field is      now taught in many community colleges around the nation and financed      through training grants.

Grants for Training

Whether you seek to enroll is a technical college, a trade school or pursue a graduate degree in the university system, grants for training abound and are available for those who qualify. Whether you want to specialize in green technology, energy audits or public relations, grants for training are available from many sources.

Technology Grants

Technology is defined as the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society and the environment.  Drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science and pure science. Grants for technology are awarded to budding youngsters in public schools to foster growing imaginations – who says the mind of a six year old can’t change the world! Technology grants are awarded for NASA explorations, new quantum computer experiments where the computer works at the speed of light, and above all grants for technology help us brew that absolutely perfect cup of fresh coffee in the morning!

Grants for Technology

Grants for technology in applied medical sciences helped build and test the first mechanical heart. Thanks to grants for technology, former Vice President Dick Chaney no longer has a heartbeat – or a pulse. Chaney depends on an artificial heart to keep him alive. Cheney’s device, which is almost like a partial artificial heart, is battery-powered and was conceived thanks to grants for technology. Implanted in his chest, the device is connected to a cable that comes out of the body and connects to a mini computer that plugs into a battery pack. Could this be the inspiration of that six year old budding scientist? From the minds of children come great things!

Government Technology Grants

One thing you’ll notice when you walk into federal government offices in the morning is the smell of fresh coffee. I know if I were a scientist that would be a very important use for government technology grants awards – brewing the absolutely perfect cup of fresh coffee! Usually, the technologists and scientists of government agencies have more important use for that government technology grants money! The Department of Homeland Security is testing out a turnstile which can measure emotion and even sniff out explosives. The National Institutes of Health awards government technology grants to medical schools, scientists and researchers to cure disease. The National Science Foundation awards millions of dollars every single year in new projects which aid in our understanding of reality and the makeup of the world in which we live. Government technology grants also help assure the safety of all Americans thanks to the Department of Defense.

From the minds of six year olds come inspirations for new ideas that keep us alive longer, send robots to Mars and help us build computers that work at the speed of light. “Beam me up, Scotty” may have the stuff of TV science fiction back in the day, but now at least we can have a good cup of coffee beforehand, thanks to grants for technology!

Financial Aid Grants

While college can indeed be the place of surreal experience, it’s also a very serious place of learning.  It’s an inconvenient truth that many of us who are just plain old hard working folks trying to get by in life find they cannot afford the secondary education it takes to succeed in this highly competitive economic world. There are some hedges that will help you get that college education, and the most important hedge is financial aid grants.

School Grants

Everyone knows about Pell Grants. Pell grants not only help fund a higher secondary education, but also help out with room and board and ancillary expenses. What if you don’t qualify for the help of a Pell Grant? If that’s the case it’s time to restructure your financial game plan to include school grants!

• Consult the powers that be and ask. Check with your school administrative guidance counselor for a private listing of scholarships and grants offered by your school. They can clue you in on unannounced and little publicized school grants for which you may be an excellent fit.

• Consider changing your major. That’s right, there’s mucho student financial grants aid money available right now for professions such as nursing, medical technology and teaching. While the college coursework is indeed intense for these occupations, the rewards are great – including job stability.

• Consider reimbursement financial aid grants. Restructuring your financial game plan to include paying for college for nursing school may be as easy as attending a short six week class to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, and then going to work for a long term care facility in that role and reaping the rewards of the company paying for your education. Yes, you have to initially pay for classes upfront out of your own pocket, but if you maintain a standard GPA, many employers will gladly reimburse you if you sign a contract to work for them after graduation!

Private Scholarships and Grants

Are you considered a minority? A minority is simply an underserved segment of the American population, and if you can fall into that category there are tons (and tons) of private and family foundations that offer private scholarships and grants. These financial awards and financial aid grants are usually paid directly to the college or university with the remaining amount dispersed to help with living expenses. A prime example of this is ExxonMobil.  ExxonMobil offers private scholarships and grants and supports programs that encourage students to take an active interest in careers in the math and science fields. They support professional development of highly qualified teachers and promote involvement of women and minorities in these subjects. In 2010 alone, ExxonMobil directed nearly $110 million to education worldwide, of which more than $42 million was dedicated to math and science education in the United States.

It’s time now to make your own college experience a reality. Use your head and look around, because there are creative ways of financing that college education with student financial grants.

State Government Grants

Pass-through government grants are awarded to individual states through the many arms of the federal government. In return, the state administration uses the money to run its government and fund local municipalities. It’s a beneficial cause and effect chain that benefits everyone involved because the awarded federal money goes into the pockets of local businesses for services and products the state government has to have to do business.

There are many good examples of this state funding awards cause and effect relationship, but the one example everybody can relate to is state highway and Interstate highway roadway expansion. The state uses pass-through government grants funding to hire workers, buy asphalt and roadway supplies and equipment from local businesses. This provides money for those businesses to pay their employees and in turn, benefits other local businesses as those employees buy groceries and clothing and household necessities.

State Government Grants for Businesses

State government grants for businesses really come in the form of product and service supply and demand contracts. The Office of Justice Programs offers federal financial assistance to scholars, practitioners, experts and state and local governments and agencies. Many of these awards are mathematically calculated formula grants to state agencies – which then sub-grant those funds to individual units of state and local government which are then offered to local businesses to fulfill the supply and demand chain.

The Community Oriented Policing Services Office offers state government grants to help law enforcement agencies to hire more community policing officers, to acquire new technologies and equipment, to hire civilians for administrative tasks and to promote innovative approaches to solving crime while benefiting the community as a whole.

These and many more state funding business awards can be easily located with a couple of phone calls to your local state business office.

State Funding Awards

State funding awards come in the form of everything from contracts which benefit employees, businesses and individuals. In what’s known as “cold weather states”, there are state funding awards to individuals to help with their electricity and heating bills. Moreover, in those states there is state funding awards available to qualified individuals and families to help weatherize and reinforce homes.

State funding awards can allow a needy and deserving individual to attend college or trade school and earn an otherwise unavailable education.   Pass-through government grants can be used to provide assistance for food, child care and daycare expenses. There are sixty-one career development opportunities alone, many sponsored by individual state government grants.

Remember, it’s a beneficial cause and effect chain which profits everyone involved because the awarded federal money goes into the pockets of local businesses for services and products the state government has to have to do business. It’s worth your time and effort to take a look at available state government grants.

SBA Grants to Start a Small Business

With very few exceptions, all federal agencies which award grants, many state and local governments as well as private foundations use the size standards established by the Small Business Administration to define a small business. Those standards include:

• 500 or less employees for most manufacturing and mining industries ;
• 100 employees or less for all wholesale trade industries;
• $6 million max profit for most retail and service industries;
• $28.5 million profit cap for most general & heavy construction industries;
• $12 million profit cap for all special trade contractors;
• $0.75 million profit cap for most agricultural industries.

While the SBA does not make direct loans or grants to start small businesses, the SBA does indeed set the guidelines for loans which are then made by its partners, or lenders, community development organizations and micro-lending institutions. The SBA in turn guarantees that these instruments will be repaid, which eliminates much of the risk to the lending partners. When a small business applies for an SBA loan, it is actually applying for a commercial loan which is structured according to SBA requirements with an SBA guaranty. SBA-guaranteed loans may not be made to a small business if the borrower has access to other financing on reasonable terms.

Grants to Expand Small Business

There are many private funding options when seeking grants to expand small business. One such grant is the peaChick Grant. The peaChic Grant is exactly that: a grant to expand small business offered to women-owned and focused businesses which never require repayment.  The purpose of the peaChic Grant is to provide a funding source to women wanting to launch or expand their respective businesses.  The peaChic Grants are typically small, usually ranging from $500 to $1,000, and are intended for expenses which might include establishing an Internet website presence. This can also include procuring supplies and necessary equipment with which to conduct business; marketing expenses and other areas of business where lack of funding could result in inability to launch effectively.

Grants for Small Business

You’re asking yourself, are there really grants for small business? The answer is a very simple yes, there are. Most grants for small business are geared to help identified minorities and are designed to help close the gap between the way things really are in this world, and how things really should be. If you open your mind and look hard, you may very well you qualify for one or more available grants for small business.

Small business is the backbone of the American economy and if you’re thinking about starting or expanding a small business, you might want to really look into small business grants.

Foundation Research Grants

One of the most prolific providers of foundation research grants is the Henry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. Areas of interest to the foundation concern violence and aggression in relation to social change, intergroup conflict, war, terrorism, crime, and family relationships, among other subjects. The foundation awards research grants to individuals for specific individual projects. Most awards from this foundation fall within the range of $15,000 to $40,000 per year for periods of up to two years.

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation Individual Grants Program was founded on the understanding that effective treatments for acute and chronic spinal cord injury will involve carefully orchestrated multi-disciplinary interventions. At its December 15, 2010 application awards cycle, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation received 132 research proposals requesting over $18 million in research funds.

Corporate Research Grants

In May 2010, the Mary Kay Foundation awarded $1.3 million in foundation research grants to select doctors and medical scientists focusing on curing cancers that affect women. Since the year 1996, the Mary Kay Foundation has given more than $14 million total to support this defined effort.

The Intel Research Council, funds IT awards via corporate research grants worldwide university research projects designed to advance key focus sponsored research areas. Today, more than two hundred and fifty Intel sponsored research engagements are underway at universities throughout the world.

Government Research Grants

Exceeding all awarded foundation and corporate sponsored research grants combined are government research grants. The three major research granting arms of the U.S. Government are the NIH, the NSF and the DOD.

The National Institutes of Health offers millions upon millions of dollars annually to universities, medical clinics, physicians and scientists in hopes of combating and curing illness and disease. Finding cures for cancer and advances in combat related treatments and modalities are the most funded programs from the NIH. The National Science Foundation funds federal research grants in support of quantum computing, algorithmic IT concepts which benefit populations and the military and of course, space programs. The NSF also funds related scientific and technical projects.

The DOD offers government research grants in support of Homeland Security, the U.S. Military and awards billions of dollars annually to businesses, institutions and scientists. The Department of Defense is always looking out for new and innovative projects to support.

Research grants play an important part in the cure of disease, in support of quantum computing and keeping the citizens of America safe. Most research grants funds originate from three major sources: Foundation research grants, corporate research grants and government research grants.

Farmland Real Estate Grants

While not considered a true real estate grant, federally funded low interest loans for farms and farmland are funded by government real estate grants. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency offers exceptionally low interest loans to farmers to buy land, build homes and establish profitable farms. For those who love the rural life, this alternative to grants for real estate fit the needs of many.  These loans are often awarded to new and un-established farmers who cannot qualify for conventional loans because they have insufficient financial resources. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency also helps established farmers who have suffered financial setbacks from natural disasters, or whose resources are too limited to maintain profitable farming operations.

Commercial Real Estate Grants

Commercial real estate grants awards are on the rise as the economy slowly kicks back in. Do you have a new music store – or any business for that matter, but you have no true real estate to operate from? The U.S. government has a fix for that! If you’re willing to open a new shop of almost any kind inside a historic downtown redevelopment and revitalization area, there may just be a real estate grant to help you do that! In rural and inner-city America alike, years ago many businesses moved to malls on the outskirts of town. When the businesses moved, the patronage they brought to the area moved too. Now as bait to get the long abandoned downtown buildings occupied again and money brought back into historic downtown areas, many cities and counties offer commercial real estate grants awards to business owners. Most realtors are really very willing to work with occupiers of those buildings. There are qualifications and some restrictions that must be met, but it’s a viable alternative to financing new commercial construction.

Grants for Real Estate

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development offers low interest loans, grants for real estate, a listing of affordable homes for sale and more! At the HUD government website portal, you can speak with a counselor about applying for grants for real estate, buying a home, find affordable rental assistance or even apply for a job with HUD! Currently, millions of dollars are up for grabs by qualified prospective home and real estate owners through the HUD Housing Counseling Program.  Have a question about buying a home, rental assistance or foreclosure but English is not your first language? HUD now speaks 175 languages, so no matter where you’re from it’s easy to communicate!

Remember, grants for real estate and commercial real estate grants allow qualified and deserving individuals and business-persons to not only accumulate self-financial worth, but many times leave a legacy for family members to inherit and enjoy long after we’re gone. Start creating your legacy today and look into all forms of grants for real estate.