When you’re looking for financial assistance, government grants and loans may be able to help.

There are differences between grants and loans. You are required to pay back a loan, often with interest. You are not required to pay back a grant, but there are very few grants available to individuals. Most grants are awarded to universities, researchers, cities, states, counties, and non-profit organizations.

Benefits.gov can help you identify grants or loans you may be eligible for and tell you how and where to apply.

Learn more about financial assistance options.

To learn about other free resources to help you no matter what your financial situation, sign up for our e-mail list or visit our page.

It’s late at night, the TV’s on and you see a commercial. It tells you that if you just buy this wonderful book, you’ll learn the secrets to get free money from the government to pay your credit card bills, renovate your home, and start a business!

It sounds so wonderful, but is it too good to be true? Yes, it’s too good to be true.

Before you shell out some of your hard earned money to learn how to get a government grant, learn the facts. The government does give away a lot of money every year in the form of grants, but most government grants go to state and local governments or nonprofit organizations that in turn use the money to administer community programs. The federal government rarely awards grants to individuals directly.

If you or someone you know is in need, the government has many assistance programs that might help - they’re just not called “grants.” There are programs to help with heating bills, or starting a business, or health insurance for children, and much more. If you’re an organization seeking a grant you should check out grants.gov, the official source to find and apply for a grant from the federal government.