The Business Foundations Technical Assistance program provides technical assistance and small grants to Colorado small businesses to help businesses legally establish themselves.
Donor Name: Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT)
State: Colorado
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/30/2023
Size of the Grant: up to $1,200
Details:
The program includes 3 required training paths for businesses to complete and receive a certification. Once completed, businesses may be eligible to apply for small grants of up to $1,200. At the end of the 3 training paths, participants will receive a certificate of completion after they review your uploaded documents.
The 3 training pathways are:
- Legal Formation and Registration
- helps you legally incorporate your business and access the benefits of training programs and grants from local and federal governments
- Accounting and Finance
- helps you create and learn to manage the accounting system for your business to be able to clearly report your company’s financial information to facilitate access to finance necessary to grow your business
- Digital Marketing and E-commerce
- helps you digitize your business to improve client relationships, increase the presence of your brand in the market, and create new opportunities to deliver your products and services
Eligible Expenses
Training platform
- Any fees paid to access trainings in the Business Foundations program
- Training for the business owner (1 training per topic)
- Approved examples include:
- Make It Official! $30
- E-Commerce Series: Part 1 to 4 $20 each
- Using Instagram to Promote Your Small Business $20
- Leveraging LinkedIn for Small Businesses $20
- Selling online for Beginners – Build Your Online Business $25
Legal Pathway
- Registration fees paid to the Secretary of State to officially register your business in the State of Colorado
Accounting Pathway
- Monthly accounting system costs/fees for up to one year with a maximum of $300 per business
- Examples include: Quickbooks Online, NetSuite ERP from Oracle, Xero
- Training and installation costs of the new accounting system
- Examples include: plan assistance to install the system for your business, QuickStart Plan: $100 includes one hour – One-on-One with Dedicated Consultant to general set up and preferences customized overview and training
- Accounting system devices costs
- Bookkeeping services cost allowable for 6 months maximum $100/month up to 6 months
Digital Pathway
- Automatic payment system (credit card) devices cost
- Examples include: Intuit/Quickbooks, Toast, Clover, USAepay, Square
- Installation, and monthly cost of online sales platform (up to 1 year)
- Examples include: Shopify, Square, Amazon subscriptions
- Computer for business use purpose with a maximum of $300 per business
- Branding development including logo design and business brand with a maximum of $500 per business
- Examples include: graphic designer, business logo
- Website improvement costs with a maximum of $500 per business
- Examples include: design, search engine optimization services, email and website domain
- Appointment platforms for businesses with a maximum of $300 per business
- Examples include: Booksy, Calendly
Eligibility Criteria
Any Colorado small business can take advantage of this program. This program is intended for small businesses that want to be established legally in Colorado, create their basic accounting system, and incorporate digital tools to improve their reach and customer service.
For more information, visit OEDIT.
