Small Business Resiliency TA Grants | Mass Growth Capital Corp.

Program Overview

MGCC is seeking proposals from SBTA FY2021 applicants. The Small Business Resiliency Technical Assistance Grant Program will support programming designed to help small businesses already operating to recover and thrive post COVID-19. Click here to view and download full RFP.

Considerations will be given to:

Organizations that submitted an individual or collaborative proposal for the SBTA FY21 Grant
Organizations that directly supported small businesses efforts to secure PPP loans, MGCC Relief Grants, Shuttered Venue Operators Grants, other relief grants
Organizations assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs impacted by COVID-19
Organizations providing multilingual services and resources.
Organizations providing direct services to small business from following target populations: Women-Owned Enterprises, Minority-Owned Enterprises, LGBTQ+-Owned Enterprises, Veteran-Owned Enterprises, Disabled Individual-Owned Enterprises, Immigrant or Non-Native English-speaking Populations, Low-to-Moderate Income Entrepreneurs, Businesses located in economically disadvantaged urban or rural communities, Businesses located in Gateway Cities.
Organizations providing technical assistance to other non-profit cultural institutions such as art studios and community theaters

These grants are intended to be supplemental to the organization’s current and anticipated funding and not to be the primary funding support.

Grant proposals shall identify specific counseling and training programs that assist these small businesses in the following:

Achieve stability
Create and retain jobs
Secure new grants and supporting resources for stability and growth
Secure new financing for stability and growth

Timeline

Applications will be accepted beginning March 22, 2021 at 12pm EST.
Applications must be submitted via Submittable by April 5, 2021 by 11:59pm EST.

Purpose of Grant

The purpose of this grant program is to ensure that start-ups and existing businesses continue their path towards recovery in order to ensure future economic and entrepreneurial opportunity throughout the Commonwealth post COVID-19.

The program is designed to complement and enhance traditional public and private small business assistance networks by providing technical assistance or training programs for under-resourced and disadvantaged businesses with 20 or fewer employees. The program seeks to facilitate economic stability and viability for small businesses by helping to improve their ability to navigate business operations in post COVID-19, including their ability to secure private and public financing, business grants, and micro-loans.

Grant funds are not intended to provide services geared toward prospective ventures. Therefore, 100% of the clients served by the grantee organization with these funds shall be for clients who are operating, start-ups (business operating/generating revenue) and established businesses. Counseling and training programs should be designed to aid small business owners in stabilizing and growing their businesses in measurable ways through intensive individual counseling/coaching, selective group training, loan packaging, and direct lending or loan guarantees. Proposals offering multilingual programming and targeting immigrant-owned businesses are highly desirable.

Grant Amounts and Distribution

MGCC will endeavor to assure broad geographic diversity among grantees but will not limit the number of grants awarded per region.

Organization proposals will not exceed $85,000.
Collaborative joint proposals will not exceed $175,000.
A collaborative is defined as two or more eligible non-profit organizations sharing costs and providing complementary services in coordination with each other.
Collaborative joint proposals must demonstrate that the organizations propose a cohesive work plan and will work together to implement and achieve their proposed objectives.
Collaborative joint proposals must have one lead organization and one person responsible for the application and administration of grant monies, as well as all reporting and communication

Use of Funds – Limitation of Administration Costs

Administrative costs associated with the Small Business Resiliency Technical Assistance Grant Program may not exceed 10% of the proposed budget.

Eligibility

For purposes of the Small Business Resiliency Technical Assistance Grant Program and this Request for Proposal (RFP), only Massachusetts-based, not-for-profit corporations who previously applied for the SBTA FY 2021 are eligible for program participation. For the purposes of this program, the entity shall:

Be duly organized under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 180 and incorporated as such by the Secretary of State for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, whose mission includes facilitating a community driven economic development process for small businesses.
Hold a tax-exempt status under the United States Internal Revenue Code.
If the applicant cannot meet the first two criteria, then it must have an established fiduciary relationship with an organization that is both incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and maintains a tax-exempt status under the United States Internal Revenue Code. Under those circumstances where a fiduciary relationship is in force, a memorandum of agreement signed and dated by the authorized representatives of the two cooperating agencies attesting to the fiduciary relationship, along with copies of the sponsoring organization’s tax-exempt certificate and Certificate of Good Standing from the Massachusetts Secretary of State must be submitted with the applicant’s proposal.
Demonstrate an ability to develop and manage programs as reflected in the effective functioning of the Board of Directors, operations managed by a full-time and experienced management team, involvement of and responsiveness to community residents and constituents.
Provide evidence of fiscal stability, as documented in prepared financial statements.

Ineligible Activities

Ineligible for funding under the Small Business Resiliency Technical Assistance Grant Program are projects or activities which:

Are for the private profit or benefit of an individual or a select group of individuals.
Involve the replication of services already provided under the auspices of a federal or state agency.
Are primarily intended to serve prospective business ventures, defined as individuals who are more than twelve months from beginning to operate a business.
Do not have the capacity to measure status outcomes relating to business stabilization and growth.

MGCC reserves the right to reject any and all submitted proposals and any or all parts of a proposed activity.

Selection Criteria

MGCC has established a competitive review process known as the Small Business Technical Assistance Review Committee. All awards are subject to the Small Business Technical Assistance Committee of the MGCC Board of Directors and the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development (EOHED). A Review Committee will evaluate proposals, seeking those that most completely meet the established criteria accompanied by credible, historic outcome metrics.

Proposals must demonstrate the ability to meet the following small business assistance priorities in order to receive funding:

Provide a strategy for addressing the small business needs as they recover from the circumstances related to COVID-19.
Provide a minimum of 5 hours of direct services to small business clients of whom a minimum of 60% reflect the following target populations: women, minority, and LGBTQ owned and operated businesses, immigrant and non-native English-speaking populations, low or moderate income entrepreneurs, and businesses located in economically disadvantaged urban and rural communities, including Gateway Cities[1].
Collect and report on specific outcomes achieved that can be attributed to services provided in terms of business starts, financings made or facilitated, businesses stabilized, jobs created or retained, and/or revenue growth.

In addition to the required criteria outlined above, proposals demonstrating the ability to meet these additional priorities will be given preference:

Programs must demonstrate:

a) how the organizations will reach out to and assist under-resourced and low-moderate-income small businesses impacted by Covid-19, including those linguistically and culturally diverse small businesses and entrepreneurs; and b) how they will provide technical assistance services and connect them with local and State resources to stabilize their business operation and preserve jobs.
Have a well-defined service area or service population and a strategy to outreach to targeted businesses and entrepreneurs in that service area or population.
Enhance and complement government service providers, such as the Small Business Development Centers.
Implement collaborations or coordinated services that magnify the delivery of services in efficient, economical, and effective ways. Preference will be given to agencies that can demonstrate strong collaborations with micro-lenders or whose funding will support micro-loan fund clients.

[1] See list of Gateway Cities here.