isa,
Depends one which level are you applying for the grant. It's called Lobbying. If I'm correct (and I'm not an expert on this subject), it is perfectly legal to do but it is heavily regulated. There are lots of rules concerning how you give money, gifts or "benefits".

If you are applying for a local grant, hit up the local city councellors. Hang out at town-hall meetings. Talk to them about your grant and why it is important to you and the community. If you are applying for a state grant, hit up the govenor or a state representitive or someone else at the state level. If you are going for a federal grant, talk to your Senetor and Representive. Getting time in their office maybe tough, but call their office. It can't hurt.

Like I said, I'm not an expert in the area but there is nothing wrong with selling your idea to the government. It is very simular to getting a private investor. Good information, good presentation... Get your need heard.

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Best of Luck,
OhioDave

Grants are almost impossible to get for any business. There are also ZERO grants available for for-profit businesses.

I agree with the comments on looking for private investors, here is a list of angel groups

Private investor groups

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So why do you say that and if thats so then why is it so much money just sitting if they not gonna let anyone use it??? also do republicans or democrats better for giving out grants????? the reason i want to know is republicans not gonna be in office much longer so i need to hurry up depending on the answer :-))

There are tons of grants avaiable for for-profit business. However they are tech related. See the SBIR or STTR sites for details. http://www.sba.gov/sbir/ And if you jump through the hoops, the success rates are pretty high. If you are sloppy, or don't follow the instructions the success rate is zero......

Here is a link to something I wrote on techtv's board a while back listing a number of grant web sites.
http://cgi.techtv.com/messageboards?...age_id=3105383

The key is don't pay good money for publically available information, and use your library.....

Ron

just to let people know who is stll following this thread i picked up some info from that lesko guy and i will let you know if its worth anything.....

Make sure you read the grant application - each one is different. The best thing to do is to complete the full application on their site if possible - so you don't miss anything.

Here are some notes on grant proposals:

http://www.hjventures.com/grants/gov...-proposal.html

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news here but stores don not fit the criteria of investors at all. You need to talk to the 3Fs (Family, Friends, & Fools) for this one. One of them might give you money simply because they like you.

As for grants for small business, they can only be found in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

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