Nebraska Innovation Fund Prototype Grants

Grants for Growth is Verity Credit’s Union’s new community investment program designed to help small businesses across Washington State create meaningful, lasting change in their communities. This grant provides flexible capital to small businesses often shut out of traditional funding—especially those led by BIPOC, immigrant, LGBTQIA+, women, low-income, or veteran entrepreneurs. Flexible funding gives small business owners the freedom to decide where funds will make the greatest impact. Rather than being tied to a specific program or expense, these grants allow entrepreneurs to invest in what their business needs most—whether it’s stabilizing operations, purchasing equipment, expanding marketing efforts or preparing for growth.

The Facade Improvement Program provides eligible project funding from $3000 up to $34,500 for facade repair and restoration. A 5% match is required and can be satisfied via in-kind monetized amounts for grant application preparation, site plans including approval compilation, estimates, architectural rendering costs, as well as total project cost cash match. The goal of this program is to encourage building restoration, historic preservation, and improved economic vitality by improving building facades. Eligible buildings are commercial and mixed commercial/residential with facades visible from the street. New construction will not be considered for this program.

The Spectrum Reach Pay It Forward Grant program provides small business owners with marketing resources and tools to expand their brand, connect with new audiences and achieve lasting success. Grant recipients will receive free TV and streaming advertising, an original 30-second commercial, support from local marketing experts in the community, on-demand educational resources and top-level industry insights and opportunities to network and learn at invitation-only events with peers.

The BGV Pitch program flips the traditional pitch experience on its head: we coach entrepreneurs, host a live crowdfunded pitch competition, and connect you to community and professionals to support you on your journey. We democratize funding by allowing the audience to vote with their dollars using our Raisify platform for the founders whose pitch they favor. Each founder has 3 minutes to pitch, followed by a 2-minute Q&A with the audience. Winners will receive cash prizes ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, access to the BGV Connect Incubator, and a network of business owners and investors.

The Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation for the Astronomical Sciences (ATI) program provides individual investigator and collaborative research grants for the development of new technologies and instrumentation for use in ground-based astronomy and astrophysics.The program supports achieving the science objectives of the Division of Astronomical Sciences. The development of innovative, potentially transformative, technologies and instruments are sought, even at high technical risk.Supported categories include (but are not limited to):advanced technology development, concept feasibility studies, and specialized instrumentation to enable new observations that are difficult or impossible to obtain with existing means.Proposals may include hardware and/or software development and/or analysis to enable new types of astronomical observations.