More people than you would think actually qualify for a government grant based on minority status.

There are the obvious racial lines between black and white, so African-American people certainly qualify for minority grants. However, they aren’t the only ones. If you are Native American, Latino, or part of another group that is not typically classified as ‘Caucasian,’ you might also qualify.

In addition, there are some grants for women that are considered minority grants, although women are not generally thought of as official minorities any longer.

Despite the fact that there are so many grants available for minorities, you have to know which ones to try for and whether they are worth checking into. Some grants are so specific that they will not be helpful to you, or they don’t really offer enough money for a person to solve any of their problems.

Avoid these and go for only the grants that you will qualify for and that will be worth applying for. That way you won’t waste your time on grants that won’t help you.

While all grant funders focus on certain topic areas, covering a wide variety of areas such as education or medical research, homelessness or alternative energy, funders may also choose to limit their grant funding to a certain category of recipients in order to give those recipients the opportunity to be successful in the funders’ areas of interest. Minority applicants are one of the primary recipient categories.

This doesn’t mean that any member of a certain minority, including African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, people with disabilities, and so forth, is guaranteed to receive a grant. After all, the expectation of the funder is that the grant recipient successfully uses the money they’re given. But it does mean that people looking for a grant shouldn’t just limit themselves to grants that fund their particular project, but also for grants that might apply to them as people.

There have long been educational grants and scholarships available to a wide variety of minority and other underrepresented groups. Unlike more general educational grants which are often based on financial need, many minority grants don’t just consider financial need but also the goals of the student in order to level the playing field.

However, educational grants are not the only opportunities available to minorities. In particular, minorities looking to start or grow a business also may face obstacles, and government funders also recognize these difficulties.

Micro-loans are available for both new and existing nonprofits helping people n disadvantaged communities. Community foundations and private corporations are helping these nonprofits provide the resources that allow minority entrepreneurs to become successful, thereby creating jobs in their community and adding to the tax base.

Plus, in addition to providing grants and loans to enable a minority business to get started, there are government contract set-asides designed specifically to give minority-owned businesses a hand in getting up-to-speed when competing with established companies. These set-asides allow new minority businesses to be competitive in today’s business world, allowing them the opportunity to sell goods and services to some of the biggest companies in the United States as well as to the US government itself. Without these set-asides, many minority companies would find it hard, if not impossible, to get their foot in the door.

Keep in mind that, just because you are a member of a recognized minority, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get scholarships, loans, grant funding or set-aside contracts. This still depends not just on your ability to find the opportunities but to take full advantage of them. So make sure you are on top of what you need to do…then do it!