The objective of federal grants is to strengthen the US and its workforce. The main aim is to develop the economy by building a strong economic infrastructure. Details are available in a single website, grants.gov, providing a one-stop shop for applying for grants. According to the website there are over 1,000 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies. These programs fall into 21 categories defined by the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Grants are awarded in categories such as Agriculture, Health, Arts, Housing, Business and Commerce, Humanities, Community Development, Information and Statistics, Consumer Protection, Law, Justice, and Legal Services, Disaster Prevention and Relief, Natural Resources, Education, Regional Development, Employment, Labor and Training, Science and Technology, Energy, Social Services and Income Security, Environmental Quality, Transportation and Food and Nutrition.

Government grants are the greatest form of financial assistance. They are awarded in the form of money to be used for a specific purpose. One attraction about the federal grants is that you need not pay them back, because it is basically a government assistance to get your education or improve your business.

It is not an easy task to get the federal grants. A tour to the grants.gov itself will tell you that it’s not an easy process. But it is easy to apply for the grant because it is done online. You will find the process less tedious once you understand the requirements and the mode of application.

The first step is to know about the grant that you wish to apply for. Check once more that you are fully eligible for the grant, and don’t forget to note the CDFA number or Funding Opportunity Number. This number helps you to return to the details of the grant quite easily, once you skip the page.

Next step is to download the application package and also the Pure Edge Viewer software that helps you to fill in the application.

All grant applications have to be registered with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) before applying through grants.gov. Now the CCR will designate an e-Business Point of Contact (EPOC), which has powers to nullify a grant application. The CCR also provides information that grants.gov uses to verify an applicant's identity.

Grants.gov also uses e-authentication to ensure the security of the information, which is done by the credential provider. You have to register with the credential provider for this purpose. You will be provided a user name and password once you register. With this you can log on to the site, submit the application and even track it.

Once you have submitted an application, you can check the status of your application. You can identify your application by the CFDA Number, Funding Opportunity Number, or Grants.gov Tracking Number.