Federal Stimulus Money For Small Businesses Has Dried Up

It's officially official. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that two popular stimulus provisions that were a part of the Recovery Act for small businesses has run out of funding.

The federal provisions raised the maximum guarantee on SBA loans to 90% from 75%, and temporarily reduced or eliminated fees associated with the loans. The move, orchestrated by the Obama administration, was widely credited with getting millions of dollars into the hands of small-business owners.

But apparently, the program has run it's course.

Now, lending experts are anticipating a drastic decrease in SBA loan volume unless Congress moves quickly to allocate more funds to renew the stimulus provisions. The House recently voted to continue the measures until September 2011, but the legislation has not yet moved forward in the Senate.

Meanwhile, needy small business owners are in limbo and are being forced to find other funding options.

Why You Never Hear About Business Grants

Hundreds of millions of dollars in business grants are given away every single year. Despite this, hearing about an opportunity seems to be very rare. They do exist, but they are promoted very little. Why is this?

The reasons are obvious when you think about it. Business grants are free money. Imagine the overwhelming response that an organization or corporation would get if they publicly announced a business grant. They would be inundated with people from everywhere. Managing the inquiries and applications would be more of a task than managing the actual grants.

To avoid this, a grant opportunity is announced in small circles in order to attract a more targeted, more qualified audience. This way, the process can be ran in a swift orderly manner.

So what does this mean for you?

It means you need to stop waiting for business grant opportunities to appear in your lap. You need to be more aggressive in finding out about the opportunities, and staying in-the-know.

You should regularly attend your local chamber of commerce meetings, regularly check in with your local government offices (city, county, and state), and you should read national and local business publications.

You should also learn to network with people who work in business finance.

Seek and you will find.

Funding Help For New York City Small Businesses

New York City, if you didn't already know, has more small businesses than any other city in the United States. As small businesses continue to struggle, New York can be said to be the hardest hit. However, there is new funding assistance on the way, which could encourage the same to happen in other metropolitan and medium-sized cities.

Seedco Financial Services, Inc., a financial services organization that provides funding and resources to support economic and social development, has announced a five-year grant partnership with the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. They will provide $20 million in financing for underserved small businesses through Seedco Financial's newly established "NYC Small Business Support Initiative."

With the Goldman Sachs funding, Seedco Financial will expand the scale and reach of its small business lending platform for businesses that operate in underserved, low-to-moderate income communities of New York. This platform also helps minority- and women-owned business enterprises.

Seedco Financial will introduce a new product, "Business Expansion Loans," to provide critical funding for businesses with a three-year operating history, a minimum of $300,000 in annual revenues, at least five employees and an engaged management team.

This program will focus on providing capital and resources for small businesses to expand sales and operating capacity in growth sectors such as clean technology and weatherization.

For more information about the program, visit:
www.seedcofinancial.org

Fidelity Voice and Data Awards Technology Business Grants To Firms In Ohio

Fidelity Voice and Data is a 10-year old company that provides high quality business class voice and data services. Based in Cleveland Ohio, the company has recently announced that through a competition - it has selected two local technology companies to award business grants to.

The grant recipients were Social Advance LLC - a tech firm that helps online news publishers implement social media around their content; and Sideways LLC - a mobile software firm that develops applications for cell phones. Both Ohio-based firms will receive free data center colocation services for six months through Fidelity.

According to Fidelity's web site, "The colocation grant, specifically designed to support technology companies looking to expand their data capabilities, allows businesses to lower their operating capital and expenses by leveraging [their] world class enterprise data center management expertise."

This was the first year of their grant program, but another grant competition is scheduled to begin in early 2010. The deadline to apply for that is December 31, 2009.

For more details or to apply, visit:
www.fidelityvoice.com/grantapp.htm

British Airways Launches Business Opportunity Grants

To compliment their commitment to keep entrepreneurship alive and to help stimulate local business, British Airways has recently decided to award 30 small businesses with free travel for one year.

These Business Opportunity Grant recipients will get 10 round-trip business class tickets, 5 free British Airways Cargo freight shipments (up to 500 kilos), $1,000 toward accommodation at Courtyard by Marriott, 5 Regus Businessworld Gold Cards (providing access to business lounges worldwide), and a Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless Office All-In-One Printer.

A British Airways manager commented, "Bringing people together globally is one of our priority objectives, and we’ve long known that the key to building a successful long-term business partnership is through face-to-face meetings. We believe that [our grant program] will help these businesses increase their revenues, and help with their strategic growth plans."

For more details about the program, visit:
http://businessgrants.ba.com

Obama Says Yes To Broadband Grants

Not only did President Obama approve $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus grants, but he also recently agreed to speed the program up.

Both the Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture are working to consolidate the first two rounds of the grant process into just one round. The first round is scheduled to start and finish this coming December.

Officials in Obama's administration spent this past summer outlining the rules and guidelines for the grant program. They also held hands-on workshops across the country for applicants who had questions.

Reportedly, more than 2,000 grant applications were submitted - but only a handful will actually be accepted.

Fortunately for smaller companies, big corporations like Verizon and AT&T have opted against applying for the broadband stimulus funds for various different reasons.

For more details about this program, visit:
www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants

Staples Foundation Awards $300,000 in Grants To Support Education and Business

Staples Foundation (funded by Staples Stores) has recently awarded nearly $300,000 to non-profit organizations who are involved with local and national business and education initiatives.

Although the grants were not disbursed to businesses directly, entrepreneurs and business owners can still benefit.

For instance, Common Wealth Development in Madison, Wisconsin was given $5,000 towards their Youth-Business Mentoring program. Young disadvantaged entrepreneurs in the area can participate to learn about and gain resources for employment through internship experience, job training, placement and mentoring.

In addition, InnerCity Entrepreneurs in Boston, Massachusetts was given $25,000 towards their StreetWise MBA program, which provides inner-city business owners with training, tools and support to develop and grow their businesses.

Finally, Marketplace for Kids, Inc. in Bismarck, North Dakota was given $10,000 towards their Educating Emerging Entrepreneurs program, where young students create a business and learn about entrepreneurship and leadership.

All the other organizations received grant money for their education initiatives, but this too can benefit business owners. Valuable skills that can be acquired through those programs include: financial literacy, social skills, an understanding of economic issues, and more.

For more details about the Staples Foundation, visit:
www.staplesfoundation.org

"Grant Writing For Dummies" By Beverly Browning

Many people hire special firms to help them obtain business grants, but in actuality - you can do it yourself. Author and grant specialist Beverly A. Browning proves this in her 3rd edition of Grant Writing For Dummies.

This up-to-date publication is a masterpiece, and Browning does an excellent job of explaining the process in a way that anyone can understand. It's a one-stop reference, and 25% of the content has been revised to cover the latest changes to the grant writing process.

In the book, readers will find:

* a listing of web sites and state agencies that publish grant funding opportunity announcements;

* the latest language, terms, and phrases to use on the job or in proposals;

* creative ways to recycle a rejected proposal;

* helpful tips on project staffing, resources, equity, and budgets;

* ways to find the latest application forms and writing guidelines;

* An example of a well-researched, well-written grant proposal;

and much more!

Our organization highly recommends that you buy and read this book. It'll be a wonderful addition to your library, and you will learn everything you need to know about getting grants.

Local Program Issues Grants For New Media Ventures In Chicago

Several non-profit and for-profit news organizations in Chicago were recently awarded over $500,000 in business grants to pursue new media ventures. The funding all came from the Community News Matters program - a project supported by several foundations that encourage the coverage of insightful local news.

86 proposals were submitted for funding. From that, just 12 recipients were selected. 5 were for-profit companies, and the other 7 were non-profit associations or universities.

Here's how the funds were allocated to the for-profit companies:

$35,000 went to Gapers Block Media LLC to boost neighborhood news coverage at GapersBlock.com.

$30,000 went to South Suburban Publishing LLC to train citizen journalists in Markham to cover news for SouthsNews.com.

$50,000 went to Chicago News Cooperative to provide enterprise coverage of the city of Chicago.

$35,000 went to Beachwood Media Co. to enhance technology and content to create a sustainable business model.

$35,000 went to Brad Flora to upgrade software used by WindyCitizen.com.


If you run a news organization in the Chicago area, you missed out - but stay tuned because there will likely be more grants coming next year. Visit www.cct.org/page10004548.cfm for more details.

If you are not in Chicago, check with your city and state to see if there are similar opportunities available in your area.

What You Should Know About The Small Business Financing Investment Act

The Small Business Financing Investment Act is a legislation that was recently passed by the House of Representatives to expand sources of capital that are available to small businesses.

This new bill is said to be an overhaul of the SBA's current lending programs because it will increase the maximum loan sizes, and will streamline the loan application process. Supposedly, it will create an estimated $44 billion annually in affordable lending and investment for small firms.

While the program will not offer business grants, it will offer low-interest loans and lines of credit - something that millions of small businesses could use in a down economy.

Because of it's potential impact and it's ability to contribute greatly to the economy's recovery, the Small Business Financing and Investment Act has been and continues to be the product of a series of government and corporate hearings.

Although, the bill has already passed the House on a strong bipartisan vote of 389 to 32 - It still needs to be approved by the Senate. So while it does sounds like a "dream come true" for most entrepreneurs, it's still a work in progress.

Stay tuned for more details.