Types of Illinois Small Business Grants
If you are struggling to get your business settled in Illinois, then this article would help you with financing opportunities and free grants for your business.
Illinois Small Business Grants listed below are for small enterprises that can get direct financial aid from the government.
Besides free grants, we have also listed down some other financing opportunities which small enterprises can get from different resources. Businesses can even get low-interest loans to support their businesses.
Many NGOs and private organizations that offer interest-free or low-interest loans to small businesses collapsed due to Coronavirus Pandemic.
We all know about the economic impact of the ongoing pandemic. Small businesses are worst affected due to this and to re-develop this industry, many resources are available with financial support.
6 Types of Illinois Small Business Grants
As noted above, there are numerous resources available for small enterprises to support their business financially.
Starting from free grants to interest-free or low-interest loans, businesses can go for the suitable option to rebuild their business.
Types of Illinois Small Business Grants
1. Illinois Back to Business Grants
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) recently announced a $24 million grant program to recover their economy.
This grant program is designed for small enterprises of Illinois named as Back to Business i.e. B2B grant.
This grant program is designed for businesses affected due to the covid-19 pandemic. This program includes over 521 grants totaling $24 million.
There are over 146 cities includes across the state who will receive these grants. The B2B program will provide financial help starting from $5000 to $150,000.
2. Neighborhood Opportunity Fund
Small projects and large projects can receive funds through the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, which is a program designed to support small enterprises.
The fund must be utilized for the construction or the rehabilitation of new businesses.
Neighborhood Opportunity Fund
The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund program provides two types of funding opportunities, for small projects and large projects. Depending upon your requirements, you can apply for the grant.
Small projects can receive funds through this program of up to $250,000. However, the enterprise must be located within the eligible area.
Large businesses can receive financial aid above $250,000. For large businesses, there is no binding of the area, they can be located anywhere.
3. City of Urbana Business Grants
The City of Urbana Business Grants is for small enterprises of Urbana, Illinois. This grant offers direct help to eligible enterprises.
It awards $1,000 to $2,000 for new business opening or existing business redevelopment.
The business redevelopment grant needs additional documents. You must be present with the documents of an ongoing business with all the legal requirements to receive the grant money through this grant.
City of Urbana Business Grants
Besides this, businesses need to participate in the regular meetups of business counseling. The business counseling meetings are held to generate new business opportunities to strengthen the economy of the state.
4. Business Startup Grants
Business Startup grants are exclusively available for startups and creative minds. People with innovative business ideas can apply for the Feed the Seed Business Startup Grants.
The organization welcomes business minds that own creative ideas for startups.
To know more about the application process, its eligibility, etc., head over to their official website now! All about the available funding opportunities are listed there for startups in Illinois.
5. Illinois Grant Watch
Instead of searching for new funding opportunities for your enterprises, you should focus on a single portal called Illinois Grant Watch.
This portal helps you find out different resources that are available for your businesses.
You can avail of low-interest or interest-free loans as per your criteria and needs from the available resources. A proper application process needs to be followed by every applicant.
The web portal lists down all the government agencies and non-profit organizations as well as private entities.
All types of agencies that provide financial support to businesses are listed down here. The best thing about this portal is it updates regularly. You will get the information about the latest financial resources from here.
6. Illinois Small Business Grants
The official portal lists down all the opportunities that are available for small enterprises. The Illinois Small Business Grants help small businesses and startups, that got hit by the pandemic, can receive financial aid.
The official portal lists down all the government-backed agencies, grants offered by non-profit organizations, and all the private entities that are actively doing their job to support small businesses in Illinois.
The application process along with the available resources can be checked on their website’s link given above.
Things to Know Before You Apply
Since the Internet is growing, there are many scammers around. Business owners who lost everything can easily be trapped into the cages set up by such scammers.
Make sure to check the background of the organization or the credibility before you share your personal information.
If the organization is asking for your bank’s personal information, make sure to spend some time to know more about the organization and how do they work! It can save you from the dangers of scammers.
It’s easy to identify such scammers. First, check out their application procedure and basic requirements.
If the application procedure is easy and if your application got approved faster, it means the organization is nothing but a scammer who is there to scam you.
Once your application gets approved, he would ask you to share your banking and other sensitive information.
Make sure you do a little homework before you share sensitive information with anyone on the web.
There are many resources available for small businesses in Illinois, explore the above-given options and find out the suitable one!
See Also
Small Business Grants in Florida
Small Business Grants in Alabama
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