Where can I get a grant? Grants for NPOs from the state: instructions for use

What is a grant? This is a subsidy that is paid to organizations, enterprises or individuals. A sum intended for a specific purpose. But the goals can be different: conducting research, getting an education, or completing an internship.

Etymology

Before considering the meaning of the word "grant", it is worth understanding its origin. What language is this noun borrowed from? It's easy to guess that "grant" is a word of English origin. Translated into Russian it means “to favor”, “to give”.

A grant is an amount that is given free of charge. This concept has nothing to do with credit or loan. Grant issuing is the financing of projects that can further benefit society. Let's consider the features of receiving such a subsidy.

Who issues the grants?

What are they and who are they for? They are needed by young, ambitious and talented people. But who is ready to shell out a large sum for the implementation of a project without receiving any certain guarantees? Grants are usually issued by non-profit organizations.

Grant competitions

Let's give an example. A group of graduates from one of the best universities in the capital has been engaged in research activities for several years. One day, young researchers learn about a competition held by a certain organization (for example, the “Council of Young Scientists”). In order to become a participant, you need to meet a whole list of requirements. But the offer is quite tempting. After all, the winner will be able to receive a prize that is quite an impressive amount. And this will allow further research to continue, which for a true scientist is the meaning of life.

What are the criteria?

Requirements for participants may vary. The selection of applicants for research grants is usually carried out according to the following criteria:

• The head of the research team was under forty years old.
• All its participants are students, graduate students, doctoral students or employees of a particular university or research institute.
• The team members published a number of scientific articles.

A list of publications and monographs written by team members is submitted along with other documents. In addition to basic information about competition participants, sometimes it is necessary to provide information about the participation rate. The team leader is in charge of this. That is, he enters the following into a certain document: “Ivanov - 0.8, Petrov 0.15, Sidorov 0.25, etc.” There is also such a thing as an additional grant. This is a subsidy that the winner receives in a competition consisting of several stages.

During the first phase, a special commission selects several participants who have demonstrated the most pronounced growth trend. They receive grants, but the competition does not end there. In the second phase, the organizers hold a reporting conference, during which young managers talk about the work of their teams. The second prize goes to the person whose story is the most convincing.

What is a training grant and how to get one?

There are many talented young people among students and graduates of Russian universities. But not all of them are the children of successful businessmen. Money is evil, but without it, unfortunately, it is difficult to achieve anything in this life. However, curious, persistent and capable people should not despair. After all, everyone has a chance to receive a subsidy for education at a foreign university. An international grant is an opportunity not only to acquire a specialty at a prestigious educational institution, but also to significantly improve your knowledge of a foreign language. Such subsidies are issued by scientific foundations, universities, and public organizations.

The training grant can be either full or partial. In the first case, all expenses are covered, including travel, accommodation and food. But such grants are quite rare. A partial subsidy is much easier to obtain.

Who can receive a grant?

A program has been in place for many years, thanks to which capable students from Russia and other countries have the opportunity to study in the United States completely free of charge. Even a high school student can win such a grant. After winning the competition, he goes overseas, lives with an American family for several months and studies at one of the local schools. The US government bears all costs. This is a full grant. No English tutors can replace two to three months of stay in the USA or UK. Perhaps every schoolchild or student dreams of receiving such a subsidy. But winning such a competition is quite difficult.

Graduate students and young teachers of higher educational institutions have a greater chance of winning an international grant. As a rule, the competition is open to participants no older than 30 years of age.

International educational institutions offer various training courses in the fields of science, design, and art. To receive a grant, you must first choose the country in which you would like to continue your education. After that, make a list of universities offering similar programs.

For example, within the framework of the German DAAD program, a competition is held annually, the winners of which subsequently study at one of the universities in Germany. Specialties such as architecture, restoration and urban planning are widely popular. The duration of training is from ten months. The exchange service provides the winner with 750 euros monthly for travel expenses, language courses and health insurance.

Where should you start? First of all, you need to write a competent, meaningful letter. You should not limit yourself to one educational institution. It is better to send letters to various universities. In your resume, list all your achievements and also talk about your plans for the future. The heads of such educational institutions annually have to choose from a variety of candidates only a few worthy ones (in their opinion). That is why the letter must be convincing and competent. Writing it is somewhat reminiscent of writing advertising text.

Competitions in Russia

Of course, it is not only in the West that there are organizations that provide subsidies for education or research. You can take part in a similar competition in Russia. Although winning them is no easier than winning international ones, because grants are given only to the most promising graduate or undergraduate students.

If your candidacy was rejected, do not despair. The reason for the failure lies, perhaps, in the limited number of grants. The winner is the one who has such qualities as perseverance and hard work. If your abilities and knowledge were ignored this year, then perhaps next year they will be of interest to the leadership of one of the prestigious foreign universities.

Instructions

First, find a fund in your region or city that supports small businesses. They provide grants for registering a business, obtaining the necessary licenses and certificates, renting premises, purchasing raw materials and starting production. As a rule, entrepreneurs engaged in financial activities, real estate transactions, rental of cars, equipment, production and sale of alcohol and tobacco, as well as gambling are not allowed to participate in such programs.

Next, draw up a detailed business plan for the development of your small business. Attach to it the documents required to participate in the competition. All submitted projects are subject to independent examination. The criteria by which they are evaluated are economic feasibility, scientific and technical novelty, and prospects for market sales of products.

To participate in the program, complete the training. Usually these are courses that are created by the foundation and take place in the form of seminars. A prerequisite for participation in such programs is the absence of debt to the budget of all levels, including tax obligations. The size of the grant may vary, as a rule, it does not exceed 300 thousand rubles and cannot be more than 70% of the amount required, according to the business plan, for business development.

Please note that the grand may not be issued in its entirety, but, that is, in parts. First, you will receive a certain amount for the first stage of your project. Only after a detailed report on its use can you count on the next tranche. And remember that most often money is allocated for the development of small businesses in agriculture, the service sector and the creation of consumer goods. The main thing is that you need to carefully study the potential sales market, and even better, a decent customer base has already been formed.

You can receive government support in the form of a subsidy for the development of small businesses in almost every region of the Russian Federation. The maximum amount of the allocated amount depends and the requirements for applicants depend on the specific subject of the Federation. Usually it is provided to enterprises and entrepreneurs whose state registration has passed no more than 1 or 2 years.

You will need

• - documents on state registration of an enterprise or individual entrepreneur;
• - confirmation of its compliance with the requirements for applicants for state support;
• - business plan.

Instructions

All conditions for the provision of state support must be found in your regional agency for business development. This information can be presented on its website or the website of the local (department) of economic development. The maximum subsidy amount in different regions ranges from 250 thousand to 400 thousand rubles.
Among the requirements for applicants there may be restrictions on the types of activities, the purposes for which the money will be spent (for example, for the purchase of fixed assets), whether the entrepreneur has previously been registered with the employment center, the completion of a course in the basics of entrepreneurship, the availability of own funds for financing, etc.

You should consult with them on writing a business plan (it will be the basis for deciding whether to allocate government support to you, and the main criterion for the intended use of the funds received by you).
If possible, purchase a manual on how to create this document. Show the draft version to the agency consultant and listen carefully to the comments. Finalize the business plan and show it to agency employees until it is finally approved by them.
Submit the completed package of documents to the agency or directly to the department or department of economic development, depending on the procedure adopted in your region.

The procedure for reviewing business plans also differs depending on the region. In some cases, it is enough to submit the document itself for analysis to the economic development department. In others, you will have to defend your project before the commission: give a presentation, demonstrate product samples if available, answer questions.

After a positive decision and receipt of money, do not forget that after a year you will have to account for every penny of the allocated funds. So you should not spend them on goals not specified in the business plan.

In recent years, the world economy has been very unstable. Under these conditions, it becomes very difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to survive in the market without support. It is even more difficult to start this business. But now everything has become easier, because the state is ready to help start-up entrepreneurs with subsidies. So how can you get a business development grant from the state and who can apply for it?

Instructions

An aspiring entrepreneur today receives a subsidy of 58,800 rubles to start a business. To do this, you need to register with the employment service at your place of residence and receive a document confirming your unemployed status. According to the law, this status is assigned to a person who has registered with the employment service and has not received a single job offer within ten days. After this, the unemployed person can receive benefits, but there is also the opportunity to receive an offer to open their own business and receive a grant.

After you have been assigned the status of unemployed, you will need to pass a psychological test for aptitude for. This is a very important stage, and as a result, very often a decision is made to reject the unemployed person’s request for a subsidy, so answer the questions as honestly and thoughtfully as possible. The employment service will also test your knowledge in the field of doing business, and if your knowledge is sufficient, you can proceed to writing a business plan. If knowledge is not enough, then you will be offered training at one of the educational institutions in the specialty "". This training will take from two weeks to a month.

After completing the training, you will need to move on to direct work on the business plan of your future company. The Employment Service will provide you with a business plan and tell you about the main details of its preparation. After this, you will need to defend it before a commission consisting of representatives of the mayor’s office and the employment service. If you adequately defend your business plan and can prove its viability and social significance, then, undoubtedly, you will be able to receive a subsidy for business development.

After receiving approval from the commission, you will proceed directly to the preparation of the necessary documents. The employment service will help you collect all the documents, help you complete them, and be sure to tell you about further actions. You will need to register as an individual entrepreneur, or open a legal entity, make seals and stamps. The state assumes the obligation to pay the state fee for opening a legal entity, but only through the method of compensation. That is, this money will be returned to you immediately after submitting invoices and receipts for payment of state duties and invoices for the production of stamps.

note

Within three months it will be necessary to report on the money spent to the commission. Keep all documents confirming that actual costs correspond to planned costs.

Helpful advice

You can double the grant size if you hire a person who also has unemployed status. A hired employee is entitled to a lump sum payment of 58,800.

Sources:

• what documents are needed for the scholarship?

Not many people know that in Russian legislation there is a decree according to which an unemployed person can receive an amount equal to the annual amount of the maximum unemployment benefit to start his own business. It is about 60 thousand rubles.

You will need

• -passport,
• -education document,
• - certificate of assignment of TIN,
• - pension insurance certificate,
• - business plan of the project

Instructions

To receive the required benefits, you must first register with the employment center as an unemployed person. Each district and city has its own territorial department of this institution. At the same time, full-time students cannot be classified as unemployed. But correspondence students can register with confidence.

Then you should consider whether you can handle it. Perhaps other options for government assistance, such as advanced training or professional retraining, are more suitable for some. Or, together with the employment service, you can try to find a job in another region. This way you will receive compensation for travel and rent for the first 3 months of work.

If you decide that your own business is what you need, feel free to write an application for financial assistance. But at the same time, you need to draw up a business plan. You shouldn't be afraid. This is not a multi-volume document at all, but just a form that takes up several printed sheets.

The next stage is the defense of the compiled business plan. This procedure is similar to an exam. Before him, the future entrepreneur is sent to him so that he can characterize his personality and evaluate his ability to run his own business. Then the business plan is defended, which is attended by representatives of the employment center, city hall, and local entrepreneurs. They are the adequacy and realism of the project.

Once the project is approved, all that remains is to register your business. In this case, you will have to shell out your own money for registration. This is about 2 thousand rubles if you plan to become an individual entrepreneur, and about 10 thousand if you want to open a limited liability company. A subsidy from the state can be spent on purchasing raw materials, tools, supplies, equipment, as well as renting premises, but for no more than 3 months.

Now you can get to work. It should be remembered that reporting to the tax office in the first year will need to be submitted to the employment center. During this period, you are not required to make a profit, the main thing is to show that you are working. If your activity lasts less than a year, the subsidy will have to be returned. By the way, you need to report for budget money within 2 months from the date of receipt.

Video on the topic

Many people who want to open their own business cannot do so due to lack of funds. In this case, you can take advantage of the help of the state, which since 2009 has been actively supporting the development of small businesses. Obtaining a subsidy from the state is quite simple, you just need to know what is required.

You will need

• -passport;
• -employment history;
• - insurance certificate of pension insurance;
• -education document;
• -certificate 2-NDFL from the last place of work;
• -a bank account opened in your name.

Instructions

Register with Population Services. The state can only provide subsidies to officially citizens. To do this, you must reach the age of eighteen and have a work book with a record and seal about it, and the reason for dismissal and the time that has passed since its moment are absolutely not important. The latter will only affect the amount of the monthly benefit that you will receive after registering with the employment center (CNC). If you have not worked anywhere before and do not have a work record, then you also have the right to participate in the state program to receive a subsidy for starting a business.
To register, you will need to provide a package of documents to the Central Scientific Research Center.

Notify the employment service that you want to take part in the state program to receive a subsidy. No one has the right to refuse you, except if you have already received financial support from the state to open your business.

Decide on the type of activity you want to do. Please note that each region has its own restrictions and the government does not fund all activities. It is especially easy to get money for a business related to livestock farming, poultry farming, crop farming and the provision of various household services.

Make a business plan. It consists of 6 sections:

• information data;


• essence of the project;


• production and sales plan;


• justification of the project cost;


• calculation of the cost of products/services, sales prices;


• justification of the viability of the project.

Business plan forms will be given to you at the Central Scientific Research Center.

Submit your business plan to the employment service, having first made a copy of it. This is necessary so that you can refresh your memory before defending the project after its approval. Project approval time is up to 2 weeks.

Moving to the countryside confronted our family with a fact: there is no work in the village. This means you need to create your own workplace and generate income yourself. The choice of direction of activity was also obvious - agriculture in the Novgorod region needs to be improved.

 

Nine of my mistakes on the way to a grant

There were no special savings left - everything was spent on moving, and starting such a seasonal business from scratch is difficult. You will want to eat tomorrow, but the income from livestock or crop production will not be received soon. The same fact predetermined the refusal to apply for a loan - the bank would have to pay regularly, and it was impossible to grow agricultural products taking into account the loan repayment schedule.

Entrepreneur Petr Tatarintsev received a grant for starting a business of 150,000 rubles and shares his experience with visitors to the Moneymaker Factory.

The all-knowing Internet comes to the rescue, where you need to look not for how to earn 100,000 rubles in two days with minimal investment, but for very specific information about financial support for aspiring entrepreneurs. It turned out that in every region of the country there are at least two different programs to support newly minted businessmen:

1. Subsidy under the self-employment program, provided based on the results of an interview and defense of your business plan at the Employment Center - 58.8 thousand rubles for every unemployed person who will be employed in a newly created enterprise;
2. Grant for aspiring entrepreneurs from the Ministry of Economic Development with the direct participation of regions organizing competitive selection and evaluation of applications - 300 thousand rubles for the implementation of the project.

I failed with the first option - back in March, 5 people had already applied for the only subsidy allocated to our district under a quota. Having decided that I could not withstand such fierce competition, and the amount was not so attractive to fight for, I went to the administration for information to find out the conditions for receiving a grant under the second option.

In the department of economics and agriculture I was welcomed with open arms. Our area is not particularly prosperous and business is tight here, so they are ready to support every new business “from start to finish.” It was thanks to this that I eventually went through all the steps of the procedure for obtaining a grant - in any local authority they were willing to meet me and help me correct my mistakes. Otherwise I won’t see this money.

Error 1. Information about the program: a territorial reference is needed

I naively thought that the information I received on the Internet about government subsidies was quite sufficient. It turned out that the federal program operates throughout the country, but its main conditions are left to the regional authorities. Current information can only be obtained from the regulations of the relevant region.

The peculiarity of this procedure for preparing and approving specific criteria and program activities is that first the region must approve its version of the program, and on its basis a comprehensive document will be developed directly in the region. As a result, the main parameters and conditions for issuing grants to start-up entrepreneurs in our locality were adjusted only by June.

Mistake 2. Registration: no need to rush

I studied the final version of the competition regulations after the registration of the individual entrepreneur. If I had not listened to the tax inspector and chosen other OKVED codes, I would not have been able to take part in the competitive selection, because only businesses in the following areas can count on state support:

• agriculture (OKVED 01.1 - 01.4);
• construction (OKVED 45.2 - 45.4);
• manufacturing (OKVED 15, 17-22 and 24 - 37);
• social, communal and personal services (OKVED 74.7, 74.84, 93);
• craft activities.

A specific area sets its own priorities, so in our case these types of activities included livestock farming, and in the neighboring area, all other things being equal, a grant was allocated to manufacturing enterprises. Although, even if the type of activity I had chosen had not been classified as a priority, there was still enough time to make changes and add the necessary OKVED.

Mistake 3. Collecting documents: pay attention to their expiration date

After quickly registering with the tax office and registering as an employer in extra-budgetary funds, according to the requirements of the program, it was still necessary to acquire a bank account. At the Sberbank branch, an account was opened for me in a few days; all I had to do was fill out a signature card and write a corresponding application with a request to open a current account for an individual entrepreneur. The received bank account agreement had to supplement the following package of documents for submitting an application for participation in the grant competition:

• Certificate of registration of individual entrepreneur;
• Passport and TIN certificate;
• Extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs;
• Information letter with statistics codes;
• Certificate from the tax office confirming the absence of debt;
• Certificate from the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund, Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund confirming the absence of debt to them;
• A personally written certificate of the amount of revenue for previous reporting periods (why is it needed if I have just registered as an entrepreneur?);
• Certificate of the average number of employees for the past year (of course, all zeros).

Addition: Leave an application to open a current account with Sberbank.

It was necessary to take into account two factors - the speed of issuing all these documents and their validity period. An extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs loses its relevance in 30 days, a certificate from the tax office in 10 days, and it is better to take confirmation of the absence of obligations to extra-budgetary funds on the same day when you plan to submit the application.

I had to order certificates several times that had lost their “freshness,” but it’s good that they were free. In addition, at the last moment I was saved by the opportunity to order an urgent extract from the Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs, which takes 1-2 days to prepare, rather than 5 working days.

Mistake 4. Business plan: following a specific format

To participate in the program to support beginning entrepreneurs, you need not only to present registration documents, but also to describe in detail your upcoming activities. For this purpose, not just any business plan downloaded from the Internet is suitable, but a comprehensive document drawn up based on the results of training in courses on business fundamentals.

In Veliky Novgorod, on the basis of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund, training was organized for everyone who wanted to receive government support in the form of a free subsidy.

As someone who has a higher education in economics, I did not need to take these short-term courses; I only needed to use the proposed scheme to draw up a business plan when submitting an application. The rest underwent training and attached a certificate of completion of these courses to their application for participation in the Entrepreneurship Support Program.

The business plan needed:

• indicate the features of production;
• describe the products manufactured;
• characterize the organizational processes at the enterprise, taking into account the calendar plan;
• calculate the required amount of investment;
• forecast financial flows;
• list possible risks and ways to minimize them.

In the additional application form attached to this document, it was necessary to calculate the budgetary efficiency of the project - the volume of tax deductions, and also indicate the number of jobs created. It was necessary to calculate other project indicators using the given formulas.

Mistake 5. Expense items: you can’t spend on everything

Funds received from the budget can be spent exclusively on those purposes that are specified as clearly and transparently as possible in the business plan and application. No deviation is provided. An additional limitation is the fact that only fixed assets that are directly involved in the business and generate income can be purchased with the grant funds. You cannot pay off debts to creditors or pay salaries to employees or make other current expenses using the grant.

For this reason, when filling out the application, I had to immediately think through the process of acquiring assets, taking into account the fact that I would have to confirm the intended use of funds - with payment documents. Difficulties arose - it was difficult for me to confirm the fact of the purchase and sale transaction of farm animals in private household plots.

It was necessary to draw up an agreement between an individual and an individual entrepreneur, which took into account all the main parameters of this transaction. Subsequently, this agreement became part of the report on the expenditure of budget funds and they did not immediately agree to accept it.

Mistake 6. Competition: important selection criteria

The commission takes into account only a few of the most important criteria to evaluate applicants, assigning points to each indicator:

• Job creation - from 1 to 5 points when employing 1 to 10 workers or more;
• Applicant's age under 30 years - 1 point, over - 0 points;
• Own investments from 0 to 100% of the project cost - from 1 to 5 points;
• Priority activities - 1 point, any other permitted activity - 0 points.

A prerequisite is that the entrepreneur must register for no longer than one year, as well as carry out activities in the territory of the region where he was registered. There are other indicators that the commission evaluates; they are spelled out in the regulations of the competition and, as it turns out, differ significantly in different regions of the country.

Mistake 7. Regional characteristics of the grant program

I was very mistaken that I had comprehensive information about the program, having studied the experience of several regions. It turned out that in the Novgorod region a grant can be received in the amount of 70% of the cost of the entire project, and also based on the fact of expenses.

That is, in order for me to receive 300 thousand from the budget, I would first need to make documented expenses for a similar amount and plan to shell out at least another 130 thousand rubles from my own pocket for business development.

In 2013, in other regions, for example, in the Sverdlovsk region, to participate in the program it is enough to undergo training, write a business proposal and pay 15% of the costs of launching a newly registered company, the rest will be paid for through a grant from the budget. In St. Petersburg, the ratio of own and requested funds from the budget should be 30 and 70%, respectively. Well, I had to curb my appetites and be content with the amount of 150 thousand rubles, because I had already invested approximately that much in my farming and could confirm these expenses with receipts.

Error 8. Deadlines for receiving funds: delay in payments from the budget

But I was unable to meet the expected expenses at my own expense in order to compensate them with funds from the budget - I decided to wait for the grant to be paid and then buy all the necessary equipment and young animals. This was another mistake of mine. During my first visits to the administration, when I was still conducting reconnaissance, I congratulated the employees on March 8, and when I came for the money, I congratulated them on the New Year.

Despite the fact that the money arrived in my account on December 20, I had to report on the expenses made on the 25th so that the administration would have time to accept the report before the end of the year. It was this feature of budget subsidies that cost me many lost months and nerves. The procedure for submitting grant reports turned out to be the simplest - I brought sales receipts for the purchase of equipment and an agreement for the purchase of farm animals, in the amount corresponding to the application with a business plan.

Mistake 9. Reporting: late implementation of the project

Since I did not receive the money in June, as expected, my entire project execution schedule shifted somewhat. In the spring of next year, I should have already received a solid income and given work to 3 residents of the area. However, this was only done with a delay of six months.

To report at the end of the first quarter, I must provide the administration with a certificate of the average number of personnel and a certificate of tax deductions and the absence of debt before payments to the budget and extra-budgetary funds. As a result, they only asked me for an explanation about the reason for such a delay in the development of my farm and did not demand a return of the funds received, although under the terms of the agreement they could well have been forced to return this money. By the end of this year, I reached the planned sales volumes and capacity of my enterprise.

Now that I have experience interacting with local administration and knowledge of the nuances of receiving and using budget funds, I understand that free cheese is not only in a mousetrap.

What types of grants are there and how to get them?

What is a grant?

Grant- this is a type of subsidy that is provided by a legal entity or individual to another legal entity or individual (usually on a competitive basis) for the implementation of specific projects or education. The grant is allocated in the form of a certain amount of money.

Grants are given not only for scientific purposes, for the implementation of projects, etc., but also for use in the social sphere (assistance to public organizations, improving people's living conditions, health improvement).

Who gives grants?

The main sources of funding are government organizations and private foundations, whose main activity is investing money in the development of certain areas of social activity.

Government funds and programs - these are organizations that use state budget funds to provide grants.

Private foundations use funds obtained from interest on the turnover of capital left by individual wealthy individuals or families.

Corporate funds - as a rule, they are organized by firms to stimulate initiatives that meet the requirements and direction of the company. Often such funds exist due to constant deductions from the profits of the “parent” corporation, which makes them absolutely dependent on the latter. A distinctive feature of such funds is the provision of grants using the products of the company itself (for example, Apple does this by providing computers to schools).

What types of grants are there?

First of all, you need to decide what you want to receive a grant for. Grants may be awarded individually(one person) or organization(s).

Since we are more interested in individual grants, we will dwell on them in more detail.

1) Academic programs - designed for long-term (1-3 years) or short-term (several weeks - months) training both in the country of residence and abroad. The allocated funding may reimburse expenses for accommodation, travel, food, travel, or you may have to pay some of these expenses yourself.

One of the subtypes of this type of grant is the allocation of funds for participation in various conferences, student congresses, and summer schools. As a rule, in such cases, both participation in the conference and meals with accommodation are paid. If a participant can prove that they are unable to pay for travel, or if they are a citizen of a particular group of poor countries, their travel to the conference site may be paid. Usually all conditions and possibilities are indicated in advance.

In turn, academic grants can be divided into programs that are designed for studying at a foreign university, and short-term programs and conferences.

2) Grants issued for research There are also short-term and long-term.

Short-term ones, as a rule, are allocated to graduate students and doctoral students who are working on a specific research and can demonstrate the need for scientific work abroad, in other areas of their country. In addition, such grants require payment for access to the resources of other universities.

3) Grants issued for travel - issued if there is an invitation to a conference, seminar, internship abroad and if it is impossible to pay travel expenses on your own.

4) Grants allocated for the development of a small project, or small grants - are provided in order to ensure the possibility of paying salaries to employees participating in the study, purchasing or renting equipment, materials, etc. In rare cases, funds are also allocated for participation in conferences.

How is a grant compiled?

The most important point for receiving a grant is the correct drafting applications to receive it. Of course, you can resort to the services of a grant writer, or you can do it yourself.

It's easier than it seems at first glance. In most cases, you just need to answer a lot of questions that are proposed by the organization that allocates these same grants.

In most cases, the application includes the following items:

Introduction;

Justification of the need to receive a grant,

Description of the project,

Detailed description of the budget,

Conclusion.

There are guidelines for writing these types of documents that are distributed by grant support organizations. The most important thing when drawing up an application is to show all the benefits and necessity of financing your project.

In the West, most scientific research is financed through grants. In the near future, such a system will be introduced in the Republic of Belarus, so the sooner you learn how to write grants, the faster your work will advance!

Today, people are increasingly thinking about starting their own business: it is interesting, profitable, and convenient. But often, even if you have an idea and even a business plan, there is no source of funding. It is in such cases that you can try to get a grant to make your dream come true.

The word “grant” usually brings to mind excellent students or young scientists traveling to conferences. What is a grant really?

A grant is financial or in-kind assistance that is aimed at starting or expanding a business or scientific research. The main distinguishing feature of such financing is its gratuitous basis - the funds do not need to be repaid.

Grants can be allocated from different sources of funding: government funds or private organizations (both domestic and foreign). When developing an idea, it is advisable to choose one organization and follow its rules; applying for several grants at once is inappropriate.

Who can get it?

Theoretically, any organization/researcher/entrepreneur can receive a grant if its project (research) is worthy of attention and corresponds to the activities of the foundation to which the author of the project applies for help.

Foreign organizations prefer to invest money in those proposals that have already received grants at home. State funds assist the category of citizens who need support at the start. The priority is:

• Students who have graduated from a university;
• Persons who have lost their jobs;
• Employees who were laid off;
• Mothers who raise children alone;
• People with disabilities;
• Retired military personnel.

What projects receive grants most often?

A promising direction is the development of projects aimed at creating new technologies and products - financing innovation is a priority in all areas of activity. Both the state and private organizations willingly support projects in socially significant areas. However, there are funds that hold competitions to receive funds in all areas of activity.

What initiatives are most often carried out through grants?

• Internship or training. Improving the quality of knowledge can take place both in the home country and abroad. Training can be short-term or long-term – up to three years. In this case, funding will be partial. Depending on the training and its cost, expenses may be covered in full or in part. Receiving grants for training is often intended for students.
• Research activities. Conducting research requires additional sources of funding: money is needed to purchase equipment, scientific expeditions, and access to paid resources. Most often, funding for scientific projects is designed for a short amount of time - up to several months. If the activity is innovative, then the chance of receiving research assistance increases.
• Trips. The assistance provided may cover all travel costs if the project author is invited to a conference, symposium or seminar outside his region or country.
• Low-budget short-term socially significant projects. The money allocated by the fund can be spent on equipment, premises, inviting specialists, and informing about the project. You can get help for the implementation of one event - a conference, seminar, etc.

How to get a?

All current information about competitions for grants can be found on the websites of organizations, business incubators and Ministries of Economic Development of the country's regions.

Typically, to receive a grant you need to follow the following algorithm:

1. Choose a fund that specializes in the field.
2. Read in detail the information about to whom, in what amounts and for what activities the organization has already approved grants.
3. Find out the conditions under which financial support is available. Study the list of required documents and carefully fill out the application.
4. Collect the required documents.
5. Draw up and submit a business plan for consideration by the commission. The plan must be realistic, clearly describe goals, possible problem situations and ways out of them. The financial side of the project must be clearly stated.
6. Competently make a presentation of the project in order to maximize the interest of representatives of the fund and increase your chances of receiving financial assistance.

Then all that remains is to wait for the organization’s decision. Typically, the review of applications takes about three months, after which the decision is communicated to the competitors.

Grant procedure

To receive a grant, it is necessary to describe the project in such a way that members of the expert commission are interested in its implementation. An additional incentive for making a positive decision will be how much money the author himself is willing to invest in the project.

The money can be transferred one-time if the project is short-term, or divided into parts. You cannot spend the assistance received at your own discretion: you need to account for it with checks and documents on the results obtained (for example, publications of articles if we are talking about scientific research).

Legislative regulation of grants and resolution of emerging disputes lies in the legal field of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Taxation of grants in Russia assumes a preferential nature. Financial assistance is not tax deductible.

In order for funds issued by a foreign organization not to be taxed, the resource must be included in the List of international and foreign organizations whose grants are not taken into account for tax purposes in the income of Russian organizations that receive grants.

What documents are needed to receive a grant?

Most often the list includes the following papers:

• A correctly completed application or participant questionnaire;
• Copies of documents proving the identity of the author of the project;
• Copies of documents that confirm that the author’s company or organization is in the register of the Tax Service or copies of documents confirming that additional jobs have been created (these papers may be required when receiving a grant for business expansion);
• Detailed business plan;
• Copies of the organization's constituent documents.

Financing decision

The author of the project prepared the required papers and submitted his application for participation in the competition. The first stage of the expert commission’s work is reviewing the submitted documents (including checking the correct preparation of the application). Then the experts carefully study the business plans of the competitors and check the accuracy of the presented calculations.

If the fund is state-owned, then priority is given to applications from those authors who already have initial capital and can invest their funds in the presented project. Organizations that have already received grants from the foundation and have applied again have a high chance of receiving a positive conclusion.
Those projects that are fully funded by a grant have the least chance. Experts also take into account the dynamics of development of an existing business.

Not all submitted applications are selected: refusal may be due to problems in documentation or the insolvency of the project, or to the lack of vacancies for a grant.

Typical reasons for refusal of financial support

Most often, a grant is denied for the following reasons:

• Lack of experience in the field represented by the project;
• Negative experience in using previously issued funds or banking products;
• Unreliability of the presented calculations;
• Absence of one or more documents from the list.

Examples of grant-providing organizations can be found online. The most popular in Russia are the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Russian Science Foundation, the Skolkovo Foundation, as well as private charitable foundations of philanthropists. One popular fund that supports international relations is the Global Fund for Women.

Among the grant givers in the CIS, the main one is the Eurasia Foundation. In Europe, such organizations as the Foundation of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences and the German Academic Exchange Service are widely known. In the USA, grants can be issued by the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, Ford Foundation, ESA, etc.

Private foundations: features

Private and foreign funds have special requirements for the finance they receive. For private organizations, the targeted use of funds is extremely important, so they require detailed reports on what the funds were spent on. The advantage of this type of fund is that they are more willing to finance projects whose funds are used to pay salaries to specialists. The economy and business are financed by Russian private foundations, but projects developing the environment, art, culture, and society are more often supported by foreign foundations.