Finding grants without paying anyone

How can I find grants for free?

Most federal funding is free to search at Grants.gov, and federal contracts at SAM.gov. Foundation tax returns are public and searchable, so you can research private funders at no cost. Many public libraries provide free access to subscription funding databases, which is the most under-used resource in this field. Your state will have its own grant portal, and your community foundation almost certainly publishes local opportunities. None of this costs anything. What it costs is time, and that is the honest trade.

Last reviewed 7 August 2026.

Read this knowing who wrote it

We sell a paid tool that does some of this. So there is an obvious reason for us to be vague here, and we are going to be specific instead.

The reasoning is straightforward: someone who works out the free route and comes back anyway has chosen us knowing what the alternative was, and that is a better customer than one who never knew there was one. If the free route serves you, use it. It genuinely will for some organizations.

The free sources, and what each is actually good for

Grants.gov, for federal grants: The official listing for federal funding, free, searchable, and the primary source. Best for: knowing what exists. Worst at: telling you whether you are eligible, which means reading announcements in full. Set up saved searches and let the email alerts do the watching.
SAM.gov, for federal contracts: The official listing for federal procurement, and where you register to receive federal money at all. Free. If you are a business, this is the one people most often do not know about.
Your state's own portal: Every state publishes its grants somewhere, and state money is markedly less contested than federal. Search for your state's name with "grant portal" and start there. Coverage of these in commercial tools varies, ours included.
Your public library: The most under-used resource in this field. Many libraries hold subscriptions to funding databases that cost thousands a year and let anyone with a card use them, sometimes remotely. Ask a reference librarian; this is precisely their job and they are good at it.
Foundation tax returns: Every private foundation files a public return listing every grant it made, the amounts, its trustees, and whether it accepts unsolicited applications. Free to read. Tedious at scale, which is the entire commercial argument for tools like ours.
Your community foundation: Geographically focused, generally the most accessible funding a small organization can get, and they publish their cycles. Nearly every region in the country has one.

What free actually costs

Time, and specifically the kind of time that comes out of evenings.

The work that does not disappear: reading announcements in full to find the eligibility clause, checking whether a foundation takes unsolicited applications before writing to it, tracking deadlines across six systems that do not talk to each other, and repeating all of it every month because listings change.

For an organization pursuing three or four opportunities a year, that is entirely manageable and you should not pay anyone. For one trying to build a pipeline, it becomes somebody's second job, and at that point the question is not free versus paid but whose hours and what they are worth.

Two things to avoid while you are looking

Anyone charging to register you on SAM.gov. It is free and you do it yourself. Paid registration services are a persistent problem in this space and they offer nothing you cannot do in an afternoon.

"Free government money" for individuals. Federal grants are overwhelmingly for organizations, and personal grants exist mostly as fellowships and prizes. Anything promising personal grant money for a fee is not a funding source.

Who asks this most

The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.

Start from the funder, not the opportunityHow do I find funders who would actually fund my organization?
Most foundations will never read your proposalDo foundations accept unsolicited grant proposals?
What a grant writer costs, and when to hire one anywayHow much does it cost to hire a grant writer?

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