GRANTS

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Open only to individuals (U.S. residents, 18 or older) who own and operate an independent (non- franchised) small business (9 or fewer employees) in the U.S. 

Deadline: February 19, 2025

In celebration of Black History Month, Citi Trends, Inc. is acknowledging Black entrepreneurs that are making history today with a for-profit/non-profit business that has a confirmed history of offering services and/or selling products (excluding any involved in the manufacturing, distribution or sale of food, beverages, supplements or the like). Citi Trends, Inc. shall provide selected Black entrepreneurs w/grants to help advance & further their businesses. 

Deadline: February 28, 2025, 10:59 pm

AARP Purpose Prize Award is a national award in the United States that celebrates people 50 & older who are using their life experience to make a difference. Through the Purpose Prize award, AARP celebrates the creativity, innovation, & inspiration that life experience brings. Up to 5 winners who have founded a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) non-profit organization will win $75,000 for their organization to honor the winner’s achievements. 

Deadline: February 28, 2025, at 4:00 pm

This funding opportunity provides sponsorship support for programming events, such as meetings, panels, forums, and conferences.” “Eligible organization types include: 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, and organizations that have a nonprofit fiscal sponsor.” Should be in the Chicago region. Deadline: February 28, 2025

Woods Fund Chicago funds over $4 million each year to grantee partners who organize their communities in the fight for racial and economic justice.” Nonprofits, 501(c)3, located in Chicago metropolitan area, your org should build power through community organizing and/or public policy advocacy and utilize a framework of racial equity and/or justice within organizing efforts. Deadline: March 3, 2025

Recognizing that access to art is crucial to the quality of our lives, ComEd has partnered with the League of Chicago Theatres to support cultural institutions in northern Illinois in their efforts to reach new and diverse audiences. The ComEd Powering the Arts program has been designed to assist local institutions in these efforts by providing funding for some expenses toward these goals. 

Deadline: March 28, 2025, at 5:00 pm

Charitable Trust is intended to help small non-profits with annual budgets of

$1 million or less and a full-time employee. Grant applicants located in an area where pervasive poverty, unemployment, and economic distress exist will be given special attention. The Spring 2024 Grant Cycle, running from January 1 – March 31, will award grants to non-profit charitable programs in two categories: Food and Housing. Open statewide:

Award Range: up to $20,000. Deadline: March 31, 2025

The DuPage County Board allocated $1,050,000 for "Round 2" of the Small Agency Grant Program. The Program will provide grants to small 501(c)(3) agencies located in DuPage County. Deadline: April 4, 2025

To businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI) or very small businesses (VSBs)1 to support small business capital improvement projects. This program will offer small business grants across the state to help eligible businesses achieve sustainable growth, improve efficiency, and create and retain jobs. Award Range: $10K--$245K. Deadline: April 7, 2025 at 5 pm.

Lake County Community Foundation, LCCF’s Small Business Growth Initiative (SBGI) grant program is looking for 19 small businesses in Waukegan and North Chicago who want to grow their business and will commit to a 4-month learning cohort. Deadline: April 11, 2025, at 11:59 pm

The Illinois Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program will empower and equip individuals and communities with the skills, resources, and confidence they need to use the internet to fully participate in Illinois’ modern society and economy.   

Award Range: $90,000 - $900,000 

Deadline: May 8, 2025, at 5:00 pm

Eligible applicants include any [Jo Daviess County]-based or to be based private sector small business retailer, manufacturer, service provider, wholesaler, those in the hospitality industry, along with farmers and food processors. Deadline: May 30, 2025   

 Each year, the Federal Government awards about 10% of all federal contract dollars, or roughly $50 billion in contracts, to Small Disadvantaged Businesses. 

This program provides managerial, technical, and contractual assistance to Small Disadvantaged Businesses to ready the firm and its owners for success in the private industry. Eligibility of the 8(a) program relies in part on criteria for Small Disadvantaged Businesses but has additional requirements related to the business itself.

This program helps small businesses in urban and rural communities gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. These preferences go to small businesses that obtain HUBZone certification in part by employing staff who live in a HUBZone. The company must also maintain a "principal office" in one of these specially designated areas.

This program authorizes contracting officers to set aside certain federal contracts for eligible women-owned small businesses.

This program provides procuring agencies with the authority to set acquisitions aside for exclusive competition among service-disabled veteran-owned small business concerns. 

This program lets you apply to get training in areas of buisness like executive training, marketing, strategic & operations, financial analysis, business development, contract management, compliance and business software.

The SBA works with federal agencies to field a small portion of contracts selling natural resources is going to small businesses.

This program let you apply to get a mentor to learn from experienced government contractors

This program allows businesses to come together to compete for government contracts that have been set aside for small businesses.

BACP Entrepreneur Certificate Program is a free and optional program available to attendees of the free BACP business education webinar series. Designed with entrepreneurs in mind, the program offers participants the essential information they need to start and grow a business in Chicago. The program’s curriculum covers essentials in business planning, financing, marketing, legal topics, technology, and more.

Upon successful completion of the program, participants are eligible to apply for an entrepreneurial loan with BACP's partner bank, CIBC. The CIBC Entrepreneur Loan Program was created to support small businesses with important working capital. This low-interest, no-fee loan can range from $1,000 to a maximum of $10,000 for new businesses and $25,000 for businesses with one year of filed tax returns. All financing decisions are bank's decision.

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bacp/supp_info/bacpentrepreneurcertificateprogram0.html

The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) and Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) were selected to provide support to small business owners interested in contracting with the City of Chicago and assist subcontractors desiring to become prime contractors. The 2023 cohort participants were selected via an application process and began their programming with IHCC and WBDC in mid-October. Visit Chicago.gov/EDGE for more info.

Through the provision of technical assistance and capacity building services, the Nonprofit Capacity Building Program is able to support nonprofits disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nonprofit Capacity Building Program includes four types of programs: Readiness Summits, Monthly Webinars, Weekly Small-Group Workshops, and One-on-One Application Assistance.  

Upcoming Events: 

Individualized 1:1 application assistance, weekly group workshops, and monthly webinars presented by Greater Auburn Gresham Development Center (GAGDC) and Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC). Eligible organizations must complete an application and interview, which includes additional cohort details. To apply, navigate to the BACP Nonprofit Capacity Building Program ws. 

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Contractor Foreman is a construction management software offering features like project management with Gantt scheduling and daily logs, financial tools including job costing and estimates, personnel management with GPS timecards and safety meetings, document management with RFIs and submittals, all while allowing for integrations with other systems and providing a client portal for communication; key features include unlimited projects, a dashboard, and robust reporting capabilities. 

Connecteam is a workforce management platform primarily designed for deskless employees, offering key features like shift scheduling, time tracking with GPS location stamping and geofencing, streamlined communication channels including chat and company updates, a centralized knowledge base for training materials, custom forms and checklists to manage daily operations, and employee directory for easy access to contact information - all within a single mobile app, allowing for efficient management

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Contractor Foreman is a construction management software offering features like project management with Gantt scheduling and daily logs, financial tools including job costing and estimates, personnel management with GPS timecards and safety meetings, document management with RFIs and submittals, all while allowing for integrations with other systems and providing a client portal for communication; key features include unlimited projects, a dashboard, and robust reporting capabilities. 

Contractor Foreman is a construction management software offering features like project management with Gantt scheduling and daily logs, financial tools including job costing and estimates, personnel management with GPS timecards and safety meetings, document management with RFIs and submittals, all while allowing for integrations with other systems and providing a client portal for communication; key features include unlimited projects, a dashboard, and robust reporting capabilities. 

Constant Contact's key features include a user-friendly drag-and-drop email editor, robust contact management with segmentation capabilities, automation tools for email sequences, detailed reporting and analytics, a range of pre-designed email templates, mobile responsive design, social media integration, and the ability to create landing pages, making it suitable for small businesses to manage email marketing campaigns with ease.