How long does it take to get a government grant?

Or any other kind of grant?  Of course the answer will depend on the grant program itself.  I managed to get a $100 grant towards the payment of a client's heating bill.  It took a couple of phone calls and faxing a copy of the bill to the organization.  They approved the grant within 2 days and the payment was sent to the utility company in time to show on the next bill - so it took about 1 week for the utility company to get the payment from the time I first contacted the organization.

With more complicated grant programs, on the average, it may take up to 6 months to a year to receive your grant award.  You have to realize that most grant programs have a deadline date and the choosing of whom the grant award goes to could take another few months as well. 

There are some grant programs that take even less time than mentioned above but it will depend on the individual grant program(s) themselves.

In other words on the average it could take anywhere from 6 months to a year to receive a grant award - and mind you I say AVERAGE!  Sometimes you can received the grant funding sooner and sometimes it may take longer (there are even some grant programs whose award is so substantial that it is paid over a period of time).  It all depends on the specifics of the grant program itself.