Alert: Paying to Access Government Funding Programs

Should you be paying somebody to get access to government funding programs for your small business?

This questions seems to be a pretty big one that small business owners in Canada seem to have when it comes to searching, applying and getting funded through programs offered by the Canadian government.

There are many organizations out there who have taken the needs of small business owners which is the need for funding, and have put together something that the Canadian government seems to not be doing propely. This “thing” they are not doing propely is the ability to list all available funding programs online.

Why is the government hiding this information?

The truth is, the Canadian government is not hiding anything from you, and most of these organizations that are selling “access” to these programs are not scams and in-fact are providing small business owners a service which is very useful. The reason why the Canadian government doesn’t have a listing of all funding program available is because the programs do not all come from the same place. In fact there are hundreds of different funding agencies (which are like companies within companies) that provide funding for multiple purposes. In simpler terms, unless somebody else does the research and puts all of the programs together, there is no reason why the government should.

And this is how those organizations which provide access to funding programs are born.

Should you be careful who you get “funding program access from”?

Absolutely.

There are many organizations that see the opportunity to take advantage of inexperienced business owners and sell them on the idea of being able to obtain thousands of dollars for a small fee with guarantees of funding – which is likely never going to happen. But the entrepreneur is left out of his initial investment to get access. That is a scam.

Then you have the organizations which list every program available from all levels of government and provide the details to each funding programs due to their own research and effort. These type of organizations typically ask for a initial fee to get access and wish you all the best.

So is it a scam?

Not at all. However at the same time, as a small business owner or entrepreneur be sure to look out for warning signs.

Warning signs:

• We are the government
• We are the ones providing the funding
• Pay us now and keep paying until you get funded
• You are guaranteed funding
• You have to pay a percentage of funding to organization
• You have to give a percentage of your business to organization

These are just a few things to look out for.

If you are looking for a list of available funding programs offered by the government of Canada, and potentially a listing of available private investors who are looking to fund small businesses in Canada, you can always consider becoming a member of CanadaStartups.org and getting access to the Funding Database as well as the Business Plan Builder Tool, the Investor PitchDeck and thousands of small business documents and templates – all for a low one time membership fee.