MicroBiz Capital Accelerator Program (MCAP)
MCAP is a six-month grant and technical assistance program for nonprofit, small business capital providers. NCRC will award between $20,000 – $50,000 to up to six nonprofits with grant and/or small-dollar capital programs that uniquely target local, microbusinesses owned by people of color.
Need help applying?
Get grant details, technical assistance offerings, eligibility criteria and view the application process here.
DEADLINE: December 2, 2022
Photo: ©Monkey Business – stock.adobe.com
Strengthening Capital Ecosystems to Grow Microbusinesses of Color
Record small business formation and historic levels of investment in addressing small business capital gaps is creating a unique opportunity to advance racial equity and wealth-building through business ownership. With support from Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase, NCRC is proud to partner alongside its members and communities to build stronger ecosystems and more aligned capital programs that help resource and scale our nation’s most underserved microbusinesses owned by people of color.
Eligibility: Centering Equity and Innovation
NCRC seeks to work with small organizations whose capital programs can or aspire to demonstrate potential impact on their area’s most underserved microbusinesses and has embedded innovation around equitable capital program design and deployment to achieve such impact.
Innovation and equity models can include, but not limited to:
- Community-controlled models of capital investment and deployment
- Tailored, targeted clients within sectors of opportunity (or great need) in your community
- Capital products designed with racial justice and equity underwriting criteria
- Program design that uniquely addresses barriers to capital for microbusinesses within your community
We’ll strongly consider applicants who can also detail concisely how the grant and technical assistance program can help mitigate existing capacity and/or programmatic scale constraints.
Additional eligibility criteria:
- Must be an NCRC member
- Must be a 501(c)(3) organization or a U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund certified CDFI
- Must provide affordable capital and/or small business assistance to local microbusinesses
- Must serve microbusinesses who make less than $50,000 in revenue, and has less than five employees
Participants of MCAP will benefit from:
Peer
Learning
Grantees will join a cohort of 6-8 peer organizations with similar capital programs to share common challenges while also brainstorming solutions and resources for program development, implementation and scale.
Equity
Trainings
Grantees will learn how to expand their impact through NCRC and expert-led training focused on equitable program design and delivery; innovative capital models and partnerships; and tools in measuring success.
Capacity
Grant
Grantees will be awarded between $20,000 - $50,000, depending on organizational/community need and/or program scale, which can be used to supplement existing capital funds and/or support its operations.
Technical Assistance
Grantees will experience tailored, one-on-one technical assistance to meet the needs of their respective programs. Assistance includes, but not limited to research, advocacy and program strategy development.
DEADLINE: December 2, 2022
Need help applying?
Get grant details, technical assistance offerings, eligibility criteria and view the application process here.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The MicroBiz Capital Accelerator Program (MCAP) is a pilot program seeking to strengthen capital programs deployed by members of NCRC and designed to support underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The U.S. Census Bureau and the Small Business Administration (SBA) define microbusinesses as entities with a small number of employees, annual revenue and startup costs, as well as companies with fewer than 10 employees. MCAP seeks to work with organizations targeting microbusinesses with less than five employees and $250,000 in revenue.
In addition to being an NCRC member and a certified 501(c)(3), NCRC is seeking to work with organizations that provide capital directly to underserved microbusinesses. With the program’s focus on capacity building, a strong emphasis will be placed on:
- grassroots organizations (community development corporations, CDFIs and/or civil and social justice groups) with budgets less than $1 million and/or
- larger organizations exceeding $1 million budgets (local, regional and/or national) whose capital programs target a specific underserved geographic market
A capital program is a program that provides monetary funds directly to small business owners. Programs can be grant or loan-based; focus on equity and/or debt financing; funded by banking and/or other financial institutions; and can include technical assistance offerings. Organizations providing non-capital technical assistance but focused on strengthening capital access to microbusinesses are eligible.
This grant opportunity is for business support organizations serving communities with sizable microbusinesses owned by people of color density who are experiencing:
- An increase in small business formation
- Challenges in scaling assistance resources to support them
- Gaps in capital available for small business growth.
A business support organization and NCRC member must have a plan established to launch and/or operate an existing capital or small-dollar loan program. Preference will be given to programs targeting the most underserved, and those whose models:
- Seek to incorporate equity in design
- Directly address unique barriers for business owners of color
- Program innovation has potential for scale
Yes, applicants must be a member of NCRC in order to participate in MCAP.