Kate Lawless: New round of Biz-M-Power grant funding available

Thank you for your article on the Biz-M-Power grant recipients by reporter Madison Schofield in the May 16 Recorder (“Local businesses get funding boost”). Biz-M-Power is a great program run through MassDevelopment’s Growth Capital Division. Applicants featured were required to work with one of several organizations statewide, such as the Franklin County CDC, to submit applications and set up a crowdfunding webpage. We were proud to work with most of the businesses featured in the story who were able to raise funds to grow their operations. So many great success stories!

Businesses should know that there’s a new round of Biz-M-Power funding available now, and that grant applications are due June 15. For this round, business owners do not need to work with a partner such as the Franklin County CDC — they can apply on their own. They also do not need to use crowdfunding for a one-to-one match. Instead, they need to have 20% of the requested grant amount in their business bank account. So, for example, if they were requesting $10,000 to buy a new oven, they would need to show that they have $2,000 in the bank.

More information about the current round of funding and the link to the application is online if you search ”MassDevelopment grant programs” and then scroll down to the Biz-M-Power program.

While working with the Franklin County CDC or another agency is not required for this round of funding, we are here to answer questions and support businesses. Reach out at hello@fccdc.org.

Kate Lawless, communications director, Franklin County CDC

Greenfield