The California Small Business Technical Assistance Program (SB TAP or Program) provides approximately $23 million in annual funding to improve the state’s business and technical resources and networks for entrepreneurs and micro and small business owners.
Donor Name: California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA)
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 08/08/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
California is home to a range of small business technical assistance centers (“Centers”) that provide free or low-cost one-on-one, confidential advising and training to help small businesses and entrepreneurs start, grow and expand, and create jobs in California. These Centers are funded in part by federal and private funding sources and are a crucial aspect of the support system for small business growth and entrepreneurship across the state.
The Program is intended for Centers with the demonstrated capacity to build on existing work, target services to California’s underserved business groups, and ensure equitable access and opportunity for all California small businesses. For this reason, SB TAP provides state grant funding to established Centers with a track record of high-quality technical assistance work. CalOSBA also implements this Program in alignment with Executive Order N-16-22, which requires state agencies and departments to take additional actions to embed equity analysis and considerations in their mission, policies and practices.
Priorities
Eligible advising and training services covered by the Program’s grant funding include: business plans and strategy; capital readiness and fundraising; expansion and revenue growth strategies such as export training, government and private procurement, e-commerce marketplace development and other business development strategies; marketing; management; operations; financial management; cybersecurity; production/manufacturing assistance and increased productivity strategies; innovation and tech transfer; business resilience such as emergency preparedness, disaster economic recovery, succession planning, employer ownership transitions and succession planning; youth entrepreneurship; and other areas identified in this proposal.
CalOSBA seeks proposals that demonstrate collaboration and best practice sharing in the community and across ecosystem partners to build a stronger network of programs, services, and activities that benefit all California small businesses with a focus on reaching underserved business groups.
These may include:
- Research and marketing focused on mapping the continuum of services, identifying any gaps that exist for underserved small businesses, partnering, and ensuring effective outreach to underserved small businesses.
- Identifying and scaling best practices including cross-network and ecosystem wide best practice sharing to ensure a standard level of small business service offerings across the state, especially with underserved small businesses.
- Building programs, partnerships, and collaborations to support underserved small businesses with experts in this area including minority, women, and veterans’ business organizations, mission-based lenders serving underserved small businesses, and others that have effective outreach to underserved small businesses.
Funding Information
The requested funding amount may not be less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per year.
Project Period
The 2025/26 grant period will commence on October 1, 2025 and end on September 30, 2026.
Eligibiltiy Criteria
Eligibility At the time of applying for funds, Centers must meet the requirements below.
- Be designated by a federal entity to provide small business technical assistance services (including federal pass-through funds to state and local entities (e.g., ARPA, MBDA SSBCI funds if proof of source is provided) or a registered 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) with a mission to promote the economic empowerment of underserved microbusinesses, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and small nonprofits. State funds from any agency or funding source are not eligible matches for this Program. Federal funds passed through CalOSBA are not eligible for use as TAP match (e.g. SSBCITA). Local agreements are an eligible primary match source for this Program only if derived from federal pass-through funds.
- Have an established entrepreneurial or small business development technical assistance program that provides free or low-cost services to California’s underserved businesses and entrepreneurs to enable their launch and sustained growth.
- Applicants must submit an active grant or contract designated by a federal entity or private funding source to administer a small business technical assistance program in California OR a Letter of Intent/Funding Announcement from a funding source stating the Applicant will administer a small business technical assistance program in California by or starting on October 1, 2025. The agreement must extend through the end of the performance period, or the applicant must have a clear plan to spend all funds by the end of their active grant. Extensions or renewals of active grants may be included in the plan to fully exhaust funds. Federal pass-through funding is accepted as long as the applicant can demonstrate through an active contract or letter from the funding entity that the funds are from a federal source. State and local funding is not an acceptable form of match, per statute.
- Applicants must have a fiscal agent that is able to receive nonfederal funds and be authorized by a federal entity, or a registered 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) with a TAP-aligned mission, to provide small business technical assistance.
- TAP funds cannot be used to meet a Center’s local cash match requirement as specified in any match agreement with a funding partner. However, funding from other state programs may be used to fulfill this local cash match.
- Applicants must have a plan of action and commitment to fully draw down all funds in their primary agreement with a federal or private funding source during the grant period using local cash match, if required by the agreement.
- Applicants must generate and provide documentation of the local cash match required by the 10 funding partner.
For more information, visit CalOSBA.
