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Facts You Should Know About Grants.gov

Submitted on 29 March 2012
Grants.gov is a free online source to FIND and APPLY for federal grants. Grants.gov does NOT provide personal financial assistance. Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs and provides access to approximately $500 billion in annual awards.

Purpose: Grants Opportunities

Who should register in GRANTS.gov?
- Organization: An individual responsible for submitting a grant on behalf a company, state, local, or tribal government, academia or research institution, not-for-profit or any other institution
- Individual: A individual can register to apply for “individual eligible” grants
What is required to register?
- Complete a standard business profile that include, DUNS, CAGE, and MPIN numbers
- Submit an Authorized Organization Representative (AORs) application
- Have an E-Business point of contact (POC)
- Detailed application can be found on grants.gov
Who can access Grants.gov?
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BusinessUSA: The One-Stop Shop for Government Information and Data

Submitted on 27 March 2012

Obama administration launches online platform in response to requests from businesses for easy access to assistance at every stage of development

BusinessUSA is more than a web site; it’s a gateway for small businesses and exporters of all sizes to find information about available federal programs without having to waste time and resources navigating the federal bureaucracy.

BusinessUSA combines information and services from 10 different government agencies, including MBDA, through one consolidated website and coordinate telephone support through a single 1-800 number.

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SBA Hosts 14-City Matchmaker Conferences to Connect Small Businesses with...

Submitted on 20 March 2012

The U.S. Small Business Administration will host the fourth of its free Mentor-Protégé Matchmaking Conference series in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 21. The program gives small disadvantaged businesses access to guidance on federal contracting, face-to-face meetings and opportunities to team with larger businesses and graduates of the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development program.

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$10,000 App Challenge to Better Connect Businesses with Government

Submitted on 22 February 2012

Today, in conjunction with the newly-launched BusinessUSA initiative, the Department of Commerce announced the launch of their business app challenge. The $10,000 contest challenges app developers to find innovative ways to utilize Commerce and other publicly available data and information to support American businesses. The business app challenge calls on developers to utilize at least one Department of Commerce data set in creating an application that assists businesses and/or improves the service delivery of Business.USA.gov to the business community. Developers may choose the platform that best suits them. Applicants may design for the web, personal computer, mobile handheld device, or any platform broadly accessible to the open Internet. A list of developer-friendly data sets can be found on the Business Data and Tools page of Data.gov.

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Getting Money to Small Businesses Faster

Submitted on 15 September 2011

President Obama announced a new policy that will accelerate payments to small business contractors so they can reinvest that money in the economy and drive job growth.

Small businesses are the primary engine of job creation and job growth across the country. However, in today’s economic climate many face tight budgets and limited resources. With these challenges in mind, last week in his address to Congress the President emphasized the need to take common sense steps to give small businesses the flexibility they need to invest and hire. And that is what we are doing today.

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IRS Urges Taxpayers to Avoid Becoming Victims of Tax Scams

Submitted on 21 July 2011

The Internal Revenue Service encouraged taxpayers to guard against being misled by unscrupulous individuals trying to persuade them to file false claims for tax credits or rebates.

The IRS has noted an increase in tax-return-related scams, frequently involving unsuspecting taxpayers who normally do not have a filing requirement in the first place. These taxpayers are led to believe they should file a return with the IRS for tax credits, refunds or rebates for which they are not really entitled. Many of these recent scams have been targeted in the South and Midwest.

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New Online Free Trade Agreement Tariff Tool Will Help Small Businesses Take...

Submitted on 15 July 2011

More than a quarter million American small businesses export from across all fifty states. They sell U.S. products and services around the world - thereby increasing their revenues, broadening and diversifying their customer base, and supporting good jobs in their communities. A particular priority of President Obama's National Export Initiative (NEI) is to expand exports by small businesses. This will contribute to his goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014 in order to support two million additional jobs for American workers. We invite more small and medium-sized businesses to join us in this national effort to grow our economy through exports. To help do that, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration have unveiled a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Tariff Tool. This is a free online tool available to businesses and the public for the first time.

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Online Tool Offers Help With Export Business Plans

Submitted on 09 June 2011

Small businesses interested in starting or expanding sales of their goods and services overseas have access to a new, free online tool that will gauge their readiness to export and help them develop an export business plan.

The Export Business Planner, developed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, offers a ready-made, customizable and easily accessible document that can be updated and referenced continuously as the business grows.

The Planner, located at www.sba.gov/exportbusinessplanner, allows users to:

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Diving into e-commerce for the first time

Submitted on 21 July 2010

Happily, e-commerce is not the highly-specialized, expensive beast it was ten years ago. With the ubiquity of online shopping these days, just about anyone can easily set up an online storefront and begin selling almost immediately. Online shopping has become a multi-hundred-billion-dollar industry and, with that comes innovation and offerings that provide smaller businesses access to it.

Should I build my own online storefront or use a service?
That depends on a number of things like customer perception, overall cost, ease of use, scalability (will it still be suitable if your business grows) and if there are any limitations to doing one or the other specific to your business.

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