Years ago, we expanded our business, and began wood recycling. Friends mentioned that we may be illegible for Federal grant money, since wood recycling was a “green” type business. Thus, I began my research, to find Federal grant money, to subsidize the wood recycling part of our business.

I spent hours researching online. Many of the sites would offer Federal grant sources, for a fee. Granted (no pun intended ), these individuals had spent many hours compiling this information, but I knew, there had to be a Federal site that would offer available grant information, for free. And……….there is. (Keep in mind, with the Federal, State and city governments, this data is free public information…you just have to know where to look)

The name of the site is Grants.gov. Here’s a free link to it: Grants.gov

On the “Grants.gov” site, the information is ever changing. Sure, you can bookmark the site and check it often, but, by registering, you can get emails (on almost a daily basis), of all Federal grant opportunities. To register, you first need a DUNS number (from Dun and Bradstreet), and you must also be registered with the CCR (Central Contractor Registry). By clicking on the following link, you will be taken to: Grants.gov-Get Registered.

Once you are on this page, you can follow the links to Dun and Bradstreet, the CCR (Central Contractor Registry), and acquire information of how to gain access to email alerts. This process will take a little time to complete, but if you’re interested in finding potential Federal grant money for your business, your efforts could “pay off”.

When the emails listing the available grants begin arriving in your inbox, Grants.gov, provides a link to each grant opportunity.

If you find a grant that is suitable for your business, and are not comfortable with the application process, you might consider hiring a “grant writer” to complete the application.

After researching hundreds of Federal grant opportunities, what I observed was that most Federal grant money is only available to individual states and cities. There are grants available to individual businesses, however, you must meet the criteria. My research for Federal grant money, also lead me to a State program, that offered a tax incentive program for wood recycling businesses.

If you are anxious to see what grants are currently available, there is a link on the Grants.gov homepage on which you can click. This will take you to a list of the current grants. Keep in mind, grants are only available for a predetermined period of time. When applying for a Federal grant, time is of the essence.

Our wood recycling business “took off” pretty fast, so I gave up on my search for Federal grant money.

Even though we have since closed our wood recycling and composting operations, I continue to get updates from Grants.gov. One never knows when another opportunity will “knock”.

To read a tutorial on using a tub grinder for wood recycling, click here.