text: is there a free search engine to gov. grants for an individual?   yes there is a free database on government grants - but government hardly give grants to individuals.   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   nonetheless, 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 a for-profit venture.  these government grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments.  for private grants, you may want to check the foundation center's foundation grants for individuals online. it's a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for "students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices." entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so i take it they also don't have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.