Grants for Small businesses - Business and Commerce

The Town of Olathe has received a Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) grant from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), aimed at revitalizing its Main Street and supporting local retail businesses. This grant directly aligns with a mission to foster economic development and community prosperity in rural areas by providing financial assistance for critical business improvements. The program’s focus on storefront enhancements and accessibility modifications is designed to create a more vibrant and economically robust town center, ultimately benefiting the entire community. The target beneficiaries for this grant are businesses located in the 200 and 300 blocks of Olathe’s Main Street, as well as retail businesses along Highway 50 Business Loop. The primary impact goal is to stimulate local commerce, attract more customers, and enhance the overall aesthetic appeal and functionality of the town’s commercial core. By supporting these businesses, the grant intends to create a more attractive and accessible environment for residents and visitors alike, fostering sustained economic growth. The grant prioritizes a range of physical improvements, including awning repair or replacement, new or updated business signs, and comprehensive façade improvements such as storefront repairs, window replacement, and the rehabilitation of historic architectural features. Additionally, modifications to improve business accessibility are a key focus, ensuring that the revitalized spaces are inclusive for all patrons. The grant explicitly excludes roof and foundation work, directing funds toward highly visible and impactful street-level enhancements. Expected outcomes of the REDI grant include increased foot traffic and sales for participating businesses, a significant improvement in the visual appeal of Main Street and the Highway 50 Business Loop, and a strengthened local economy. Measurable results will likely involve tracking the number of businesses that undergo improvements, the types of improvements made, and potentially, local sales tax revenue increases or new business establishments in the targeted areas. The strategic priority is to leverage this funding to create a ripple effect, encouraging further private investment and community engagement in Olathe’s ongoing revitalization efforts.

The Women's Entrepreneur Grant Opportunity aims to support women-owned businesses in Fairfax City by providing consultation and capacity-building services to facilitate their growth, expansion, and development. Eligible businesses can receive services valued at up to $5,000, which cover areas such as marketing, operations, accounting, and finance. The grant funds will be awarded upfront, and recipients will be notified by September 20, 2024, with recognition at the Women’s Entrepreneur Empowerment Luncheon on September 25, 2024. To be eligible, businesses must be at least 51% owned and controlled by women, licensed within Fairfax City, and can be home-based or have one or more locations within the city. Start-ups and expanding businesses are also eligible, while non-profits are not. The application process involves verifying eligibility, completing and submitting the application form, identifying required services, obtaining quotes, and undergoing a review based on merit.

The Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) program, funded by the USDA, allocates approximately $2 million for infrastructure grants to Vermont businesses and organizations aiming to strengthen local and regional food systems. The grants support projects that improve the aggregation, distribution, manufacturing, processing, storing, transporting, and wholesaling of Vermont food products. This track encourages development of Vermont value-added products and promotes fair wages and job creation. A 50% match is required, which can be reduced to 25% for historically underserved farmers. Grants range from $100,000 to $500,000 and are available from fall 2024 through February 2027.

City of North Miami Beach Business Assistance Grant Program in Florida offers a one-time grant award of up to $5,000 to eligible for-profit business owners within the city. The funds are intended to cover specific expenses that help businesses stay operational and viable, particularly those that have suffered revenue loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-profit businesses are not eligible for this program.

This initiative provides financial support to small businesses and community organizations impacted by the January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County, focusing on recovery and resilience for underserved enterprises.

The Business Development Grant Program, offered by the Town of Perryville, Maryland, is designed to stimulate economic development within the town's corporate limits. Its primary objectives are to foster new job opportunities, reduce the number of vacant storefronts, encourage business diversification, attract additional private sector investment, and promote in-fill business development. This program aligns with a strategic goal of local government to create a vibrant and sustainable economic environment, though specific "foundation mission alignment" beyond this general goal is not explicitly stated as this is a municipal program rather than a private foundation. The target beneficiaries of this program are new and existing small businesses located within the Town of Perryville. The program aims to support these businesses by providing funds necessary for operational needs, thereby ensuring their financial viability and encouraging growth. The ultimate impact goals include strengthening the local economy, increasing employment, and enhancing the overall business landscape of Perryville. The emphasis on filling vacant storefronts and encouraging diversification suggests a focus on revitalizing commercial areas and expanding the range of goods and services available to residents and visitors. The program prioritizes a broad range of eligible uses for funds, including building improvements, the purchase of machinery, equipment, furniture, fixtures, inventory, property acquisition or leasing, and advertising campaigns. This comprehensive approach reflects a strategic priority to support various aspects of business development and expansion. The eligibility criteria further refine the program's focus, requiring applicants to be in good standing with the Town, Cecil County, and the State of Maryland, and to operate within specific zoning districts (Neighborhood Business, Town Center, Highway Commercial, Residential Marine, Commercial Maritime, and for existing businesses, Residential districts). This indicates a deliberate strategy to concentrate development in designated commercial and mixed-use areas. Expected outcomes and measurable results include an increase in new job creation, a reduction in the number of unoccupied commercial properties, a more diverse local business sector, and a rise in private sector investment. While specific metrics are not detailed in the provided information, the program's objectives inherently suggest these as key performance indicators. The "theory of change" underpinning this grant is that by providing financial assistance for operational needs and growth initiatives, the Town of Perryville can directly stimulate business activity, which in turn will lead to economic growth and community benefits. This proactive approach by the municipality serves as its strategic priority for economic development.

This program provides financial support to Nebraska-based small businesses that have received federal funding for innovative research and development projects, helping them advance their technologies and products.

This program provides matching funds to small businesses in Decatur, Georgia, to improve their digital marketing efforts and enhance their online presence.

The City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office and Sustainability Commission are offering the Neighborhood Sustainability Grants (NSG) Program. This program aims to provide funding for innovative projects that improve community sustainability and promote healthy lifestyles through collaborative community partnerships. While specific foundation mission alignment, strategic priorities, or theory of change are not explicitly stated as coming from a "foundation," the program's goals directly align with the broader mission of urban sustainability and community well-being as typically pursued by municipal sustainability offices and commissions. The NSG Program targets a broad range of beneficiaries including individuals, groups of individuals, community groups, educational groups, nonprofit organizations, churches, and locally owned businesses. These applicants must be undertaking projects within the Flagstaff city limits. The impact goals are to enhance community sustainability, promote healthy lifestyles, meaningfully involve underserved communities, diverse groups, or vulnerable populations, build community partnerships, and facilitate volunteer engagement or management. The program prioritizes projects that align with at least one of its three core goals: involving underserved communities, building partnerships, or facilitating volunteer engagement. Additionally, projects must fall into one of the following categories: Building Energy, Climate Action, Food, Public Health, Resilience, Transportation, or Waste. These categories represent the key focuses for achieving Flagstaff's sustainability objectives. Expected outcomes include the successful implementation of creative community projects that address sustainability challenges. Measurable results would be evidenced by the number of projects funded, the reach of those projects within the community, the level of community engagement and partnerships fostered, and tangible improvements in the designated sustainability categories. The program anticipates awarding a total of $75,000 in 2024, with individual grants capped at $7,500, indicating a focus on supporting multiple, smaller-scale community-led initiatives rather than a few large projects.

The Community Climate Collaborative Energy Efficiency Grants program offers funding to small businesses for upgrades aimed at improving energy efficiency. This includes enhancements to appliances, lighting, and heating/cooling systems. The program's core objective is to facilitate emissions reductions and generate financial savings for businesses through strategic capital investments. While not explicitly stating the "foundation's strategic priorities and theory of change" in a separate section, the program's focus on emissions reduction directly aligns with a broader mission of combating climate change, which is implicitly the strategic priority of an organization named "Community Climate Collaborative." The target beneficiaries of this grant program are small businesses operating within the City of Charlottesville or Albemarle County, Virginia. Specifically, eligible businesses must hold a business license in one of these locations and qualify as a Microbusiness according to Virginia SBSD criteria, meaning they have 25 employees or fewer. The program also prioritizes Woman- or Minority-owned Businesses, as defined by Virginia SBSD criteria, and encourages SWaM certification or equivalent documentation. This focused approach aims to empower local, smaller enterprises in their transition to more sustainable operations. The program's priorities and focuses are squarely on tangible energy efficiency upgrades that yield demonstrable savings in energy usage and/or a reduction in emissions. This indicates a results-oriented approach where the proposed upgrades must show a clear environmental benefit and potentially economic advantage for the grantee. The maximum grant amount of $2,000 per project highlights an emphasis on supporting numerous smaller-scale, impactful interventions rather than fewer large-scale projects, making the grants accessible to a wider range of microbusinesses. The expected outcomes and measurable results of these grants include both environmental and economic benefits. On the environmental front, the primary outcome is the reduction of emissions, contributing to local climate goals. Economically, businesses are expected to achieve financial savings due to decreased energy consumption. The requirement for proposed upgrades to have "demonstrable savings of energy usage and/or reduction of emissions" signifies a commitment to measurable impact, ensuring that the allocated funds lead to verifiable improvements. The program's design implicitly supports a theory of change where targeted financial assistance for energy efficiency upgrades directly leads to reduced environmental impact and improved economic resilience for small businesses in the local community.

This grant provides $25,000 and mentorship to early-stage climate technology companies in Illinois, helping them develop innovative solutions that positively impact the environment.

This funding opportunity is designed for grassroots organizations and small businesses in Alachua County to implement programs that reduce gun violence by addressing related social issues and promoting positive community engagement.

The United States Department of States Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) announces a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Caribbean United for Women's Economic Empowerment (CUWEE) project. This initiative aligns with the broader mission of advancing gender equity and equality, specifically in the Caribbean economy, utilizing FY 2023 Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Economic Support Funds (ESF). The project is expected to be executed as a cooperative agreement, with one award issued not to exceed $1,973,359, for a project period of up to three years, administered by WHA's Office of Policy Planning and Coordination (PPC). The primary impact goal of the CUWEE project is to address systemic barriers and socio-cultural attitudes that challenge gender equity and equality in the Caribbean economy. Target beneficiaries include women and adolescent girls aged 16 and older, with the aim of building their economic resilience and skills capacity to enable them to enter the labor force and obtain economic security. The strategic focus is on strengthening local civil society support actors engaged in advancing women's economic security across the region, thereby contributing to overall economic gender equity and equality in the Caribbean. The program priorities and focus areas involve a two-pronged approach. First, the potential grantee must include plans to identify problematic country-specific and/or regional systemic barriers and socio-cultural attitudes. Second, they must outline how they will work with local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to effectively address these identified barriers. A key component is supporting a competition designed to promote local CSOs in developing and implementing pioneering solutions to overcome the local systemic barriers to economic security for women in their country or region. The expected outcomes include strengthening the regional Caribbean network of local CSOs engaged in women’s economic security. This is to be achieved through providing a training curriculum that builds the capacity of these CSOs. The measurable results will be demonstrated by the success of proposals that show how the grantee will strengthen these local civil society support actors to help provide economic gender equity and equality, ultimately enabling women and adolescent girls aged 16 and older to obtain economic security.

The Energy Assistance Program (EAP) application for program year 2023-2024 will open on October 02, 2023 at 8am EST. Indiana residents can apply for utility bill assistance through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federally-funded program through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The application period closes on May 20, 2024 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Applicants can apply online via the online portal, by mail, in-person, or by calling 2-1-1. To apply in-person or request a paper application form, applicants must contact their Local Service Provider. The EAP provides a one-time benefit to assist with the high cost of electricity and heating for homes. However, it is important to note that this benefit is not intended to cover all heating and electricity costs, so applicants should continue to pay their bills regularly. Eligibility and benefits are determined by Local Service Providers based on income qualifications. It may take up to 55 days for eligibility determination and an additional 30 days for the utility company to process the benefit. For more information on eligibility and to find contact information for the Local Service Provider that serves your area, visit http://eap.ihcda.in.gov. If you have any questions or need to follow up on an application, please be sure you contact your Local Service Provider directly rather than contacting IHCDA. For general inquiries about the Energy Assistance Program, please contact the Community Programs team at eap@ihcda.in.gov.

The Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program and the Low-Density Population Pilot Program, established by the Minnesota legislature in 2014 and continued in 2023, are aimed at promoting broadband infrastructure expansion in Minnesota's unserved or underserved areas. Managed by the State of Minnesota, Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), these programs provide grants to assist broadband providers with the costs of infrastructure installation. The 2024 grant application cycle, announced by DEED, will open on March 12, 2024, with an application deadline of May 10, 2024. Applicants must register and submit applications via DEED’s Grants Management System, following the detailed instructions on DEED's website. The announcement of awards is anticipated in Summer 2024, with project completion required by December 31, 2026. DEED also hosts an information webinar to guide applicants through the application process.

The Gener8tor has introduced the gBETA Oklahoma City Accelerator, a free seven-week program for early-stage companies based in Oklahoma City, offering coaching, mentorship, investor pitches, and over $1M in deals and perks to help local businesses grow and become investor-ready.

The BARN grant program aims to preserve Kansas barns, reviving underutilized, vacant, or dilapidated structures while fostering new economic activity through agritourism ventures. These building grants are specifically designed to rescue barns from likely demolition or collapse and rehabilitate them into spaces conducive for new or expanding agritourism businesses. The types of projects we are looking for with the BARN grant are those that will encourage people, particularly from out of state, to visit agritourism locations in Kansas. All projects should have an accountable tie to the tourism industry. The future uses of the barn, transformed through the BARN program, are not solely about preserving historical structures. Rather, they are about repurposing these spaces into vibrant hubs for agritourism activities, thereby injecting new life and economic opportunities into communities. Agritourism ventures capitalize on the appeal of agricultural experiences, offering visitors opportunities to engage with farming, local food production, and rural culture in immersive and educational ways.

The Recovery Friendly Workplace Pilot Program, launched by the Maryland Department of Labor, aims to create a supportive environment for employees recovering from substance use disorders. The program encourages employers to adopt workplace policies that assist in employee recovery, provides stigma-reducing education, and facilitates research on recovery-friendly practices. It seeks to promote workplace well-being and recovery for employees and their families while fostering community awareness.

This grant provides funding to small businesses and startups that have previously received NSF Phase I awards, helping them advance their innovative research into market-ready products and services.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to individuals, organizations, and businesses looking to improve the community of Rancho Cordova through various projects and programs.