I need a grant for my business. What’s available?
Unfortunately, most government grants are for nonprofit organizations, not small businesses. Be very careful of advertisements promoting “free money for your business.” These ads are misleading and they suggest that if you pay a fee of a few hundred dollars, they’ll send you a list of grant sources. Frequently, these ads provide a list of microloan programs – which you must repay – or grants exclusively for nonprofit agencies.
This article by SCORE helps you determine if a government grant offer is a scam or legitimate.
The City of Chattanooga has a few grant programs designed to support small business. You can find more information here.
The federal government does offer a few very competitive grants to companies developing targeted technologies (often high technology). Two of these grants are SBIR and SBTT programs for Small Business Innovation and Small Business Technology Transfer.
The State of Tennessee has offered a matching program for federal the SBIR and SBTT programs through Launch Tennessee.