text: why do you have to pay to buy a grant book yet scholarship searches are free? whenever i've searched online for grants, i've always gotten a response saying that i have to buy a book full of grants, but i can search all day long for scholarships for free.  what's up with that? you don't have to pay to get information on available grants. in fact the information is free  you can go to the catalog of federal domestic assistance (cfda) http://www.cfda.gov and grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.  even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants -- all of them are mere rehash of what cfda has, albeit packaged differently.  note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from dot - grant#20.905 disadvantaged business enterprises short term lending program. individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.   grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 women's business ownership assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs   http://www.cfda.gov http://www.grants.gov http://gtionline.fdncenter.org http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol66/grants.htm http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html