	Education
	Health
	Telecommunications
	Transportation
	Community Infrastructure
	Business Development
	Leadership Development

Site Map

Contact ARC

Web Policy

Business Development

Choose from three categories of funding:

Recent Funding Announcements
Ongoing Funding Sources
RLFs, Equity, and Microcredit

Recent Funding Announcements

Economic Development Grants Available from Peoples Bancorp Foundation
Peoples Bancorp, Inc., a diversified financial products and services company, has formed Peoples Bancorp Foundation, Inc., an independent nonprofit corporation, to make charitable distributions to organizations located in its service areas in Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. The foundation focuses its charitable giving in four major areas: Community Investment and Economic Development; Youth and Education; Human Services programs that improve the social needs of low- and moderate-income communities and individuals; and Arts and Culture.
Get more information about the Peoples Bancorp Foundation grants.
For questions, contact Kristi Close at 740.376.7128 or kclose@peoplesbancorp.com.

Deadlines: Grant requests should be received at the foundation office no later than February 10, May 10, August 10, and November 10.

Support for Community Computer and Technology Programs through PeopleSoft Community Relations Program
PeopleSoft's Community Relations Program targets community service projects that focus on technology. The program supports efforts that provide underserved populations with computer technology training and education; support creative and beneficial uses of the Internet in communities; use computer technology to improve the quality of life for underserved populations; educate the community about the benefits of technology; and promote mathematics and science education.
Get more information on the PeopleSoft Community Relations Program

Newly Created Southern Appalachian Venture Capital Fund Has $12.5 Million for Operational Assistance to New Companies
A $12.5 million Southern Appalachian Venture Capital Fund was announced October 9, 2003, by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, TVA Board Chairman Bill Baxter, and Appalachian Regional Commission federal co-chair Anne Pope.

The fund will provide operational assistance to actual or prospective portfolio companies, including marketing, accounting, legal, engineering and other technical assistance that aids small business development.

Tennessee, Kentucky and the Appalachian counties of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi are eligible to use this fund.

Investors and contributors to the fund include the ARC, TVA, the Small Business Administration, the F.B. Heron Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, BankOne Neighborhood Development Corporation, National City Bank of Lexington, Tennessee, the Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, and Concord EFS Inc.

For more information on this fund, contact—

Ray Daffner
Email: rdaffner@arc.gov
Phone: (202) 884-7777

Awards for Female Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
The Elizabeth Conwell Schlarb Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs is offering a $1,000 scholarship to women business owners nationwide who have been in business for at least three years and would like to take courses at a two or four year college. For information, contact Trudy Phillips at 205-250-6380 or by email at ecsfdn@aol.com.

Wachovia's Community Development Initiatives
The Wachovia Corporation has launched a national partnership with the FDIC to expand the reach of MoneyStart, a program that provides financial literacy education to adults. Wachovia expects to reach at least 5,000 individuals with this training in 2003. The Corporation has also received a New Markets Tax Credit from the U.S. Treasury, giving it $150 million of investment capital to use during the next five years. Wachovia will use the money to fund the building of for-sale affordable housing along with other projects that promote economic development. Please contact Alison Rice at alison.rice@wachovia.com for more information on these and other initiatives.

Ongoing Funding Sources

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund
CDFI promotes access to capital and local economic growth by directly investing in and supporting community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and expanding financial service organizations' lending, investment, and services in underserved markets. Since the fund's creation, it has made more than $534 million in awards to community development organizations and financial institutions.
Find a CDFI in your area.
Obtain CDFI certification for organizations in your community.

Economic Development Administration
EDA provides direct grants on a cost-share basis for projects that will create and retain private-sector jobs and leverage public and private investment in distressed areas. EDA provides community and regional economic development assistance for the following program activities:

Planning and technical assistance, to build local capacity for economic development programs and projects;
Public works and development facilities, to support industrial, commercial, and technology-based employment in eligible areas experiencing significant economic distress; and
Economic adjustment assistance, to address severe economic dislocations, natural disasters, or other special needs.

Intermediary Relending Program (IRP)
IRP finances business facilities and community development projects in rural areas through loans made by the Rural Business-Cooperative Service to intermediaries. Intermediaries re-lend funds to recipients for business facilities or community development. In addition, intermediaries establish revolving loan funds so that repaid loans can be used for additional loans. Intermediaries may be private non-profit corporations, public agencies, Indian groups, or cooperatives.
See if your community is eligible for an IRP loan.

Market Development Cooperator Program
MDCP is a competitive matching grants program that builds public-private partnerships by providing federal assistance to non-profit export multipliers such as states, trade associations, chambers of commerce, world trade centers, and other non-profit industry groups that are particularly effective in reaching small- and medium-size enterprises. MDCP awards help to underwrite the start-up costs of new export marketing ventures.

SBA Certified Development Company (504) Loan Program
This program is a long-term financing tool for economic development within a community. The 504 Program provides financing to non-profit Certified Development Companies (CDCs) who assist growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings. The maximum SBA financing is $1.3 million for meeting one of several job creation criteria, community development goals, or public policy goals. There are about 270 SBA-Certified CDCs nationwide that each cover a specific geographic area.
Find a SBA-Certified CDC in your area.
Obtain certification from the SBA for CDCs in your community.

SBA Micro-Loan Program
This program provides very small loans to start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns. SBA makes funds available to non-profit community based lenders (intermediaries), which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts up to $35,000. The average loan size is about $10,500. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made on the local level.
Find a local SBA intermediary near your community.
Establish a local SBA intermediary in your community.

RLFs, Equity, and Microcredit

Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs)

A revolving loan fund is a pool of money that is initially capitalized by a grant or similar source. Proceeds from loan repayments are recycled to make additional loans. Publicly financed revolving loan funds have demonstrated their value to both the public and private sectors as tools of business and economic development.

Properly managed RLF programs bring a number of advantages to the communities they serve.

They can make capital available to small businesses and entrepreneurs that may not qualify for or be able to afford as much conventional lending as they need. Because they are typically controlled locally, they put lending decisions and the attraction of capital in the hands of organizations that know most about specific local economic development priorities.

They encourage bank lending to area businesses because they share the lending risk with the banks in the area.

Finally, successful RLF programs can grow over time even if other business development funds dry up.

Federal and state grant programs for setting up revolving loan funds typically have unique restrictions and guidelines. It is important for program planners to make sure that these special requirements match the needs of the community. For example, some agencies make only loans or cooperative agreements, not grants, for starting an RLF. Definitions of small business or other essential concepts may differ. The intermediary has less flexibility to set local lending policies under some programs.

Some training resources for designing and running a revolving loan program:

The Economic Development Finance Service, a membership organization affiliated with the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), offers general background information and an annual training institute for fund managers and staff.

The National Development Council, with offers a wide range of certificate and professional training programs for community development professionals, has some specific course offerings on designing and managing a revolving loan fund.

The International Economic Development Council offers a professional development training series for community economic development leaders and professionals. Course offerings on economic development finance are a useful adjunct to the more specialized RLF training provided elsewhere.

Equity Financing

Equity financing provides capital for longer developmental needs of businesses, and helps businesses balance growth with a range of cash flow needs.

Support for equity financing focuses on two strategies: angel capital and development venture capital (DVC). Angel capital is capital invested by individuals who are looking for a higher return than they would receive from more traditional investments. Angel capital is usually a bridge between self-funding and venture capital. Development venture capital looks for a strong return on investments but also seeks to provide social benefits to the communities in which investments are made.

Other resources for investigating venture capital opportunities include:

Community Development Venture Capital Alliance promotes use of the tools of venture capital to create jobs, entrepreneurial capacity, and wealth to advance the livelihoods of low-income people and the economies of distressed communities;

National Association of Small Business Investment Companies

National Association of Seed and Venture Funds is an organization of public agencies, private investors, and public/private partnerships concerned with leveraging an abundance of risk capital resources to fully serve the needs of deserving entrepreneurs in the member states.

For more information on development venture capital funds see Capitalizing on Rural Communities (PDF version).

Microcredit

Some entrepreneurs have neither the business assets nor the personal assets to secure a conventional bank loan. Business development agencies can establish microcredit funds at a relatively modest cost to address the needs of these entrepreneurs.

Microcredit resources include:

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity—a leading industry association of microenterprise providers with over 400 members. AEO provides its members with a forum, information, and a voice to promote enterprise opportunity for people and communities with limited access to economic resources.

The Virginia Microenterprise Network. The VMN is a statewide membership organization comprised of microenterprise practitioners, banking partners, community and economic development professionals, state agency representatives, and others with an interest in fostering economic independence through microbusiness development.

The Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions. The Coalition is a key access point and primary source of information and knowledge about and for the CDFI field for the general public, the media, public officials, and private sector leaders.