Empire State Development (ESD)

Financial support to grow your business in New York State.

New York State supports and encourages business growth with a variety of funds, loans, grants and other financial incentives. Take a look at the assistance New York offers businesses — from innovative start-ups to manufacturers to companies looking to export.

https://esd.ny.gov/growth-support

Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund Program

NY Ventures, the state’s venture capital arm for innovative, expanding businesses, supports early-stage technology and start-up companies through the Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund Program (NYVPSSF). The Program offers early-stage businesses equity investments from $50,000 up to $250,000 with matching from the private sector (there must be at least $1 of qualified private sector investment for every $1 NY Ventures invests). In addition to financial support, Empire State Development offers the tools and key introductions needed to help companies reach the next level. This program is administered via a competitive application process and applicant selection takes into consideration multiple factors to assess a company's likelihood to become venture scalable in a manner that aligns with program priorities. NY Ventures invests in diverse teams that are using technology to solve important challenges in areas of strategic interest across the state. Through the Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund Program, we are focused on expanding access to venture capital across New York State, particularly for underserved geographies and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)

https://esd.ny.gov/pre-seed-and-seed-matching-fund-program

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF)

Accion Opportunity Fund is committed to advancing economic mobility for women and people of color who own small businesses and low-income communities through affordable financial services, knowledge resources, networks, and policy. We offer loans in a range of sizes¹ as well as educational resources, coaching, and support networks in English and Spanish. We also support ITIN-only borrowers.

Fast Break for Small Business

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) and LegalZoom have joined forces to provide entrepreneurs across the country with grants and LegalZoom services to support their small businesses.

HOW IT WORKS
LegalZoom, the NBA, WNBA, and NBA G League are committed to encouraging entrepreneurship by supporting and investing in Black small business owners. Tipping off at the start of Black History Month, the third of six grant cycles was open in this multi–year program. Here’s how it worked:

$10,000 grants and a free LegalZoom product of their choosing, valued at up to $500, to 50 small businesses
A free LegalZoom product of their choosing, valued at up to $500, to 1,950 additional small businesses

Applications usually are open from February 1 to Friday, February 17.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Eligible small businesses must:

Be based in the United States
Must be a Black–owned business
Have been in business for at least 6 months and currently in operation
Have one of the following if in business for between 6 and 12 months:
articles of incorporation for LLCs, S Corps, and C Corps
sole proprietorship formation
fictitious name statement or DBA
EIN registration
city, state, or federal license to do business
or relevant professional license
If the business is between 6 and 12 months old but does not have any of these documents, the business is not eligible for this opportunity
Have an annual revenue of less than $1 million
Have a business bank account
Not be in an industry that has been identified as a prohibited industry for this program

Accion Opportunity Fund (AOF) and LegalZoom

AOF: (844) 677-3863 LegalZoom: (888) 379-0854

https://aofund.org/program/fastbreak/

https://www.legalzoom.com/fastbreakforsmallbusiness?&utm_source=aof&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=Awareness-NBA_%7C_BIZ_%7C_AOF_%7C_Partner_%7C_PRTN

Technology Hardware and Equipment

Receive up to $275,000 in non-dilutive funding for research and development (R&D) to build your prototype or proof-of-concept over six to 12 months. During this period, your company will receive guidance from NSF program directors who are seasoned entrepreneurs and technologists. After you complete your Phase I award, you’re welcome to apply for Phase II, which can be up to $1,000,000 over the course of 24 months. During that second award, you can apply for supplements that may add up to more than $500,000.

Eligibility
Your company must be a small business (fewer than 500 employees) located in the United States.
At least 50% of your company’s equity must be owned by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. NSF does not fund companies that are majority-owned by multiple venture capital firms, private equity firms, or hedge funds, to participate in SBIR and STTR.
All funded work, including work done by consultants and contractors, needs to take place in the United States.
The project’s principal investigator (tech lead) must be legally employed at least 20 hours a week by the company seeking funding. The PI doesn’t need any advanced degrees.
The principal investigator needs to commit to at least one month (173 hours) of work on a funded project per six months of project duration.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

https://seedfund.nsf.gov/apply/get-started/

Technology Hardware and Equipment

Grants.gov Program Management Office (PMO)

The Grants.gov program management office was established, in 2002, as a part of the President's Management Agenda. Their mission is to provide a common website for federal agencies to post discretionary funding opportunities and for grantees to find and apply to them. Using the Grants.gov system makes it faster, easier and more cost effective for grant applicants to electronically interact with federal grant-making agencies. It also provides the following key benefits, among many others, to the grant community.

https://www.grants.gov/support/program-management-office

https://www.grants.gov/search-grants

U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)

As the only federal government agency focused exclusively on economic development, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) plays a critical role in facilitating regional economic development efforts in communities across the nation. Guided by the basic principle that sustainable economic development should be locally-driven, EDA works directly with communities and regions to help them build the capacity for economic development based on local business conditions and needs. EDA’s grant investments in planning, technical assistance, and infrastructure construction are designed to leverage existing regional assets to support the implementation of economic development strategies that make it easier for businesses to start and grow. EDA’s flexible programs and structure enable nimble operations and allow for innovation and responsiveness to changing economic needs and conditions faced by its local and state government partners. Grants made under these programs are designed to leverage existing regional assets to support the implementation of economic development strategies that advance new ideas and creative approaches to advance economic prosperity in distressed communities. EDA provides economic development financial assistance to communities so they can encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in a way that works best for them. Through its network of regionally-based staff and portfolio of flexible grant tools, EDA helps communities experiencing economic distress, take control of their future and position themselves for economic prosperity and resiliency. In addition, EDA leads the integration of economic development resources from all sources, including federal, state, local and philanthropic, to achieve better outcomes for communities across America.

https://www.eda.gov/about/contact?q=/contact&state_name=New%20York#contact-info

https://www.eda.gov/funding/funding-opportunities/all-opportunities?f%5B0%5D=funding_status%3A6565

FedEx Small Business Grant Contest

The nationwide competition awards grants annually to small business owners and entrepreneurs, including prizes like FedEx credits. They encourage applications from minority business owners.

Grant Size: The amount awarded varies from year to year. Typically, the top three businesses receive a $50,000 grant and $4,000 in FedEx print and business services.
Grant Type: Corporate – FedEx
Qualification: US-based for-profit small businesses operating for at least six months with 50 or fewer employees. Less than $5 million in annual sales revenue. Be for-profit, have a valid FedEx business shipping account number, currently ship with FedEx, and have fewer than 99 employees. Additional eligibility requirements may exist and will be posted on the site once details are finalized.

How to Apply: Submission period opens in February. The sign up for FedEx emails to receive updates. Nonprofits, resellers, franchises, and independent consultants cannot apply.
Competition: Extremely high

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/customer-support.html

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/small-business/grants.html

Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Grants

The MBDA has a network of business centers devoted to promoting minority-owned small businesses and helping them access capital (like grants and loans) and compete in emerging markets. Any local MBDA center can assist startups when applying for federal, state, and local business grants.

https://www.mbda.gov/grants

Commercial and Professional Services

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) Grants

SBDC Programs deliver professional, high quality, individualized business advising and technical assistance to existing small businesses and pre-venture entrepreneurs. SBDCs provide problem-solving assistance to help small businesses access capital, develop and exchange new technologies, and improve business planning, strategy, operations, financial management, personnel administration, marketing, export assistance, sales and other areas required for small business growth and expansion, management improvement, increased productivity and innovation. Small business grant programs:

Research and development: If your small business is engaged in scientific research and development, you may qualify for federal grants under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. These programs encourage small firms to undertake scientific research that helps meet federal research and development objectives and have high potential for commercialization if successful.

Management and technical assistance: SBA's 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance Program is for capable small businesses in Regions I - X interested in providing management and technical assistance and guidance to eligible small businesses.

What you need to know about small business grants:
- SBA does not provide grants for starting and expanding a business.
- SBA provides grants to nonprofit, Resource Partners, and educational organizations that support entrepreneurship through counseling and training programs.
- SBA only communicates from email addresses ending in @sba.gov. If you are being contacted by someone claiming to be from SBA who is not using an official SBA email address, you should suspect fraud and report it.

https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/organization/contact-sba

https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/grants

Commercial and Professional Services

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Commercial and Professional Services

Convert PDFs documents to images

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https://pdftoimage.com/#google_vignette

Food, Beverage, and Tobacco

First hand experience and market research

General Conversion Estimate Formula:
This formula is a general estimate for vendors/businesses to gauge how many customers they will sell to/engage with based on a few factors. Although ut can be applied across industries, this is generally geared towards CPG products with a focus on food and beverage.
Estimated Attendees Count: This is harder for a first time market, but if it has been held before, organizers should have a general number of guests who attend.
Market length: Pretty self explanatory-longer markets, longer time for customers to meet you, BUT this is generally tricky for perishable goods, best to ensure food safety first!
Hands on Staff/Guest Turnaround time: There are only 60 minutes in an hour. How many people you can serve directly correlates to how much you will make. If making food fresh, keep in mind cooking time for example.

Attendee count x .10: Amount of people who will most likely pass your booth.

(Attendee count x .10) x .5= General amount of people you will sell to

For example: 5,000 estimated attendees with packaged goods and 2 staff (owner and helper)

5,000 x .10= 500 people at minimum will pass booth
500 x .5=250 people if you are fast and efficient you will sell to

Now of course this will also depend on other factories like weather, strength of marketing of organizers, etc. 250 people at $10/average transaction is $2,500 for an estimated 6 hour market which is a conservative estimate.

Tiera Aighewi-Owner of Black by Demand Specialty Coffee and Catering LLC/Tiana’s Table