State Government Grants

• The state of Texas awards numerous grants each year. Most of these grants benefit foundations or groups, though some award funding to individuals. The Texas Commission on the Arts, for instance, awards annual grants to individual artists, from established professionals with years of experience to aspiring youngsters in middle school and high school. Texas also awards grant funding as part of the national American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. ARRA Homelessness Prevention Facilities grants, for instance, help homeless individuals find stable living situations and repair bad credit. Texas maintains a website allowing individuals to search all available grant opportunities. Grant availability changes regularly based on budget considerations.
  
  

Large Foundations

• Several large grantmaking foundations exist in Texas. These foundations include the likes of the Houston Endowment, The Moody Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, The Brown Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, Exxon Mobil Community and Development and the Communities Foundation of Texas. These foundations award hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
  
  Generally, large foundation grants only provide funding to organizations such as schools, nonprofits and hospitals for education, medical research, arts and community development projects. Individuals who run such organizations can apply on behalf of organizations. Individuals such as research scientists can also apply through organizations such as medical facilities for project funding. Some of these foundations, such as Communities Foundation for Texas and Houston Endowment, award annual scholarships for individual education.
  
  

Small Foundations

• A number of small foundations located throughout Texas provide annual funding for organizations and individuals. Usually confined to a single location, these organizations include the likes of The Dallas Foundation, Coastal Bend Community Foundation, Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley, the Waco Foundation and the San Antonio Area Foundation. Like large foundations, these organizations generally only provide grants to organizations. Individuals running projects under the aegis of a non-profit organization can apply for grants through the organization. Small foundations provide funding to individuals through annual scholarship opportunities, which fund the education of college and university students from the state of Texas.
  
  

Additional Information

• Some grant resources in Texas provide funding opportunities in addition to grant and scholarship awards. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, for instance, provides funding for individual loans. Loan programs exist through ARRA for individual business owners. Mircoloans fund small business expenses of $24,000 or less, while Farm Operating Loans lend up to $300,000 to an established farm or ranch.
  
  As a general rule, grants exist to fund projects while scholarships provide money directly to individuals. Other than funding for the arts, which provides assistance to individual artists, grants typically support the efforts of established non-profit organizations. For this reason, few grant opportunities exist for individuals. However, individuals undertaking projects with the support of an organization commonly receive grant funding.