The Importance of Applying For Business Grants
Leave a CommentRunning a business or company is an expensive venture. To be successful you must always be looking to upgrade your facilities and knowledge to the highest levels. From making improvements to your building and facility, to making sure your employees are trained with the highest certifications and programs, it is important not to fall behind your competitors. While you may think that you can’t afford to make any of these upgrades, at Mid-West Screw Products we want to tell you about grants, and how they have made a huge difference in our company.
Grants are available from many different areas including local government, the federal government, and non-profit organizations. The goal of grants is to provided money for specific upgrades and training that you may not be able to afford, but will be a huge benefit for you. Grants can be from 50 cents on the dollar to 100 cents on the dollar to save companies money. They also can help a business stay in a city or county in the situation where they were looking to move to an area with cheaper costs of doing business. Certain requirements must be met to obtain these grants, but doing so will be worth it in the long term.
Local Industrial Retention Initiatives (LIRI) Councils are city-contracted non-profits that provide economic development services to companies located in industrial corridors. They work with businesses to help them find out what grants they are eligible for, and to help companies go through the approval process to obtain these grants. It takes some time and work to go through the grant approval process but the LIRIs are a big help in getting a business through it.
Grants are beneficial in helping a company reduce its overhead costs for things that might not be in your budget. Grants usually have time limits for when they are available, so if you stay in touch with your LIRI you can be first in line for the grant when it becomes available. The city and local government want you to be successful and grow your business, as that will have a positive effect on the local economy. Getting these grants for things like AS9100 certification makes your business more attractive to your customers, and will bring more business in for you. That is why it is important to research all the grants available to you and take advantage of them.
At Mid-West Screw Products we have seen firsthand how beneficial using grants can be to a business. In our previous blog “Going Green” “Going Green” we discussed the efficiency changes we made to our facility. This was possible by using green grants that were available to us. Our recommendation is to do the research in what grants are available in your area, and to take advantage of them! We have and they have been a huge boost to our company!