Rural Business Enterprise Grants
The federal government awards few grants to business, but in some cases, funding assistance programs give money to government agencies and other community groups to conduct projects that help businesses. One such case is with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Enterprise Grants. The federal agency, through the Office of Rural Development, provides money to communities to conduct an array of projects that help small and emerging businesses grow.
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Applicant Criteria
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Rather than awarding grants directly to businesses, the USDA provides funding to government agencies and nonprofits to create programs that help businesses. Eligible governments include town, city, county, state and tribal offices. Applicants must be in areas of 50,000 residents or fewer. Eligible use of the funding covers an array of project types as long as they intend to help businesses grow. The grants can pay for buying land, renovating buildings, pollution control or technical assistance, among dozens of other possible uses.
Benefiting Business Criteria
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Along with being in areas the USDA defines as "rural," projects need to help businesses meeting certain other credentials to be eligible for Rural Business Enterprise Grants. The USDA requires that at least 51 percent of the outstanding interest in a project include U.S. citizens or foreign residents of the U.S. The program also intends to help small and new businesses, the USDA says. So those benefiting from the grants need to have 50 or fewer employees and projected gross revenues of less than $1 million.
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Funding
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Congress appropriates funding for Rural Business Enterprise Grants every year. Awards are typically between $10,000 and $500,000. An estimated 200 recipients received an average award of $100,000 during fiscal year 2010. The government budgeted about $54.6 million for the program in 2008, but Congress has since scaled back its appropriation. However, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act added to Congressional allotments, and the grants had budgets of about $38.2 million in 2009 and 2010.
Applications and Reviews
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Groups interested in applying for Rural Business Enterprise Grants can do so through their local Rural Development offices (see Resources). Local offices then forward applications to state Rural Development offices. Once state offices approve applications, they will forward USDA funds back through local offices to the recipients. The USDA looks to award projects that address certain focus areas, which include helping low-income populations, are in high-unemployment areas and retain or create jobs. The application and review process usually takes 30 to 90 days.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit rural image by celeste clochard from Fotolia.com
