You can’t stop if you don’t find what you need in my books. As I mentioned earlier, space precludes us from listing the thousands more that are available and publishing deadlines prevent us from having the latest. So, here is where you can turn to continue your work in getting what you need:

Find More Federal Money Programs
Look at a book called the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. It contains all the federal government programs that give out money. This book is available at your local public library or the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov. You can also search the contents of this book, by key word or government department, for free on the web at www.cfda.gov.

Find More State Money Programs
Every state government has dozens of money programs that help people pay their expenses. The problem is that there is never one central place to look. You have to go agency by agency, or department by department and search for what is available. Some good departments to start with are health, agriculture, commerce, and social services. You can find them by dialing 411 and asking for your state capitol operator or by going to the web at www.govengine.com and clicking on your state.

Find More Local City and County Programs
Start looking at every local city and county government for programs that might help. If you don’t know where to go, you can call 411 and ask for the mayor’s office or the office of the county executive. Just tell them you are looking for programs that might provide financial assistance to residents. You can also go to www.govengine.com and under each state there will be a listing of all cities and counties. Click on those of interest and start searching for programs.

Find More Money From Non-Profit Organizations
There are two major sources for finding money from these groups:

• The Foundation Center of New York City maintains a database of all foundations that provide money to non-profit organizations or individuals. The information is available on the web at fdncenter.org or from their participating libraries by contacting 212-620-4230
  
• The Guidestar Company in Williamsburg, VA also maintains a database of foundations and they can be reached at 757-229-4631 or at www.guidestar.com. Much of their database is accessible for free on the web.

Find More Money From Local Non-Profit and Volunteer
Organizations
There are a number of national volunteer organizations around the country that offer grants and other free services to solve problems for people in their community. The Lions Club awarded over $340 million in grants since they started, and the Kiwanis Clubs gives out over $100 million every year.

Catholic Charities USA
1731 King St., #200
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-549-1390
www.catholiccharitiesinfo.org

Over 14,000 local organizations offer a variety of services for many different community problems including child care, elderly services, emergency financial services, rental assistance, and more. To find an office near you go to their main web site and see “Need Assistance? Find A Local Agency?” and put in your state.

Salvation Army National Headquarters
615 Slaters Lane
P.O. Box 269
Alexandria, VA 22313
703-684-5500
www.salvationarmyusa.org

Families in need can receive a wide range of services, including utility assistance, transitional housing emergency food, clothing, and more. For an office near you contact the headquarters above or www.redshield.org.

Find A Local Non-Profit With Money And Services
The United Way is a national organization that raises money for thousands of local non-profit organizations who offer money and services to people in their community. Your local United Way can identify non-profits in your area that may offer the resources or services you are looking for. Contact:

United Way of America
701 North Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA 2314
703-836-7112
www.unitedway.org

To find a local chapter go to the website and enter your zip code under “Find A Local United Way.”

Your elected representatives are in the business of seeing how they can help you locate money, services or anything else you need. They can also be handy if you have applied for government money and you can’t seem to get a specific government agency to respond to you. Most elected officials have people on their staff whose job it is to do just that for voters. This is why politicians are always getting re-elected. If they do a favor for you, you will vote for them forever, no matter what they do.

• You have 1 congressman and 2 senators at the federal level. You can contact all 3.
• You have more than one elected official in your state capital.
• You also have an elected representative at your city and county level.

Contact them all. They are all getting a government salary to help you and they all have access to different resources. The worst that can happen is that more than one person solves your problem. If you need help finding them go to www.congress.org or your local library.

I know that most people buying our books are looking for money and this is what they are mostly about. But our books also serve as an introduction to all the other programs, services and information that our government has to offer. Money may be important in life but it may be even more important to know about the latest cure to your disease or the latest law that will make your insurance company pay a claim, or the best business investment that can make your portfolio double in size in one year.

The government spends billions of dollars a year studying almost anything you can think of, and they have nothing to sell because they give it all away for free. Government experts are there waiting to give it out if you know where to go and what to ask. You can literarily get better information than you can get from your doctor, lawyer or investment advisor, and you can get it free.