BEWARE: Scam National Grants Conference is Coming to Town October 31, 2006
Posted by SBDC in Small Business General.trackback
It has recently come to my attention that the National Grants group is coming back to Corpus Christi early November. I’ll have you know that I went undercover last year to check this “free conference” out. After sitting through 2 hours of hearing how others have successfully obtained government grants, the presenter informed us that their services are not free…they want attendees to pay $1000 for access to a book that has contact information for the “governmental grant agencies”. They also ask that you pay additional $$ to attend the second session of the conference. Read a related article from the Caller Times.
From the National Grants Conference Web site:
The United States has been providing self-help grant programs and low interest loans to its citizens since the days of Abraham Lincoln. The biggest obstacle is that so many of these government programs are simply very hard to find. There are over 1,400 Federal Funding Programs available today. NATIONAL GRANTS CONFERENCES TELLS YOU WHERE THE MONEY IS AND HOW TO GET IT.
Small business owners, there are no free government dollars available to help you start or grow your for-profit business. Always contact the local Better Business Bureau before you dish out any money to get free government grants.
Find free access to legitimate federal government grant opportunities here. Please notice that most (if not all) of these types of grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations.
To bad I hadn’t read this first. I went and what you say is true, I’ve sat at least 2 hurs a day just waiting to talk to someone and it has been a month and still I’am not any closer they just want more money. Sorry I’am broke now and still don’t have a home.
Thank
P.S I don’t suppose I’ll get my money back either
I attended a National Grants Conference where the speaker offended quite a few and angered even more by saying things like “The rich stay rich and the poor stay angry!” I can’t imagine why???? Any way, always remember, especially working class people who hate their jobs that pay virtually nothing, these people know you’re desperate to get out of it, and there are ways, but I don’t think National Grants is one. When it comes to govt. grants, most people will probably never get them. The government is only there when it’s time to take your taxes, they’re never there when you need help. Always remember that.
I went to one of those conference in New York City a few months ago,
They have a planned dialouge , the speaker sounded like a fervant preacher and never let a word in edge wise. It was almost religious in tone, he did not answer questions ,he only gave out smart quips to as answers.He used the name of God like it was church. Henever stopped talking .
we just got out of the conference. i could smel salesman before we got through the door. i kept thinking, this is going to cost hundreds. when i found out it was a thousand i almost fell off my chair. the guy was nothing but an actor. they even marketed the product so that the person in the family who wants to spend spend spend and lives on dreams gets totally angry with the saver in the family. you could tell the speaker even has told the same jokes over and over and over. what a scam. i felt like yelling at the people who jumped up to get in line to pay.
Thank You all for saving me much grief!
Do you still believe the U.S.A. is the greatest nation ever?
Help me reunite the citizens of the U.S.A. to make our nation a nation favored amongst the others of the world, again.
I will be posting a board on my forum regarding these evil scammers very soon.
Its your voice collectively, Its 100% absolutley free, and there is no scam.
http://www.officialusforum.com
I attended the NGC preliminary meeting in 11/2007. Thought it was good, had no money, so I set it aside. They said $1000 lifetime membership, and if you haven’t used it for a while, just pay $29.95 to reactive it. They said they had a team of grant writers, researchers, CPA’s and Attys. Just call telll them what kind project interest your working on and they will research the grant, send the grant proposal for you to fill in the blanks and send it back for their review, then they mail it in.
Well, I attened again April 2008(Sat)–paid $1000-had three days to cancel Though the training started in 7 days. First day of training–suddenly the $1000 was good for only 6mos-then will be automatically billed $29.95 per month to continue. Receipt signed says no CPAs, or attorneys on team.Also I would be writing my own proposal and reviewing it over the phone with them. Also Meeting the bankers and negociating funds.Before lunch-A Bonus was presented….ALL the software required to WRITE, Business plans,n proposals, etc to submit to banks for Business or Real Estate endeavors. The fee was $2000 for one and $2995 for the other. These softwares had formats for business plans, financial statements, proposals, 1003’s, etc. I bought a book of printed grants lists, etc for $1000–told us not to bring the books the next day, everything would be reviewed on this overhead and using the fabulous $ 6000 software. I asked for my money back–they took the books, and said to leave and call the 888 number on Monday. I hope I won’t have to fight about a penalty, which was not mentioned–when I asked Michelle, she said no penalty, she didn’t even take my name.I will write the State Attorney, FTC and BBB if there is a problem.
Also, most of the audience who paid the $1000 was over 60 yrs old. I commend them for continuing to be enthusiastic–I talked to a few, which had sub-primed loans-were in trouble like most of America now due to the Bushes’ new world order. The majority didn’t know how to use a computer, didn’t have a computer and probably counldn’t navigate the writing requirements.