VCEDA Telehealth Fund

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), America's Seed Fund offers up to $2 million for U.S.-based startups and small businesses developing innovative technology. Project pitches are accepted on a rolling basis, with official responses from NSF typically taking one month.

The Bend Small Business Assistance Grant Program provides Bend, Oregon small businesses with grants to strengthen operations, invest in employees, improve services, adapt to changing conditions, and invest in climate-smart projects. Administered by the City of Bend's Economic Development Department, the current program cycle offers a total of $130,000 to be distributed among qualifying businesses, allocated across two tracks: $100,000 for economic development projects and $30,000 for climate and sustainability projects. Individual grant amounts are determined based on project scope, funding requests, and available program funds. Eligible projects fall across six broad categories: Business Growth and Customer Engagement (such as website updates, online sales tools, marketing and outreach, customer service enhancements, and multilingual communication materials), Employee Development (workforce training, professional certifications, leadership development, and employee retention tools), Operations and Technology (technology upgrades, cybersecurity improvements, financial system improvements, business planning and consulting, and HR or compliance support), Business Resilience (business continuity planning, risk reduction projects, supply chain improvements, and economic or environmental preparedness), Planning and Innovation (market research, feasibility studies, strategic planning, and product or service testing), and Climate and Sustainability Projects (energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy planning, waste reduction initiatives, transportation improvements, and environmental tracking and reporting tools). Eligible uses of grant funds include professional services and consultants, employee time dedicated to the project, equipment, tools, and technology, training and certifications, marketing and communications, translation services, project supplies, technical studies and assessments, and environmental planning and support services. To qualify, businesses must be registered in Oregon, hold a current City of Bend business registration, employ 50 or fewer people, operate within the City of Bend, and propose a project that benefits business operations in Bend and supports program goals. Applications are reviewed by City staff for eligibility and completeness, then evaluated by either the Bend Economic Development Advisory Board (for economic development projects) or the Environment and Climate Committee (for climate and sustainability projects). Staff develop funding recommendations, and the City Manager makes final award decisions. Applications are scored across five categories: Project Impact (42 points), Business Capacity and Readiness (12 points), Feasibility (12 points), Alignment with Program Goals (12 points), and Equity and Accessibility (12 points), for a total of 100 possible points. Grant recipients are required to provide project updates every six months for two years following award. Businesses applying for climate-related projects are encouraged to first explore incentives available through utility and energy-efficiency programs (including Energy Trust of Oregon and Central Electric Cooperative) and explain in the application how those opportunities were considered before requesting grant funding.

One-time microgrants up to $500 to help women start or grow business

This program provides grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses damaged by a fire that is no fault of their own. Grants to eligible businesses are available on a first-come-first-serve basis, based on fund availability.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) encourages applications for investigator-initiated, early phase, clinical trials of natural products (i.e., botanicals, probiotics, and products marketed as dietary supplements), which have a strong scientific premise to justify further clinical testing. For this NOFO, natural products include promising nutritional regimens that standardize the amount of a specific naturally occurring nutritional compound (e.g., omega-3 fatty acids, anthocyanidins, or polyphenols) and have compelling preliminary evidence. Under this NOFO, trials must be designed so that results, whether positive or negative, will provide information of high scientific utility and will support decisions about further development or testing of the natural product. This NOFO will provide up to three years (R61 phase) of support for milestone-driven testing of pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, and assessment of the natural products effect (i.e., measure of mechanism of action) when used by humans on a specified target measure. If milestones in the R61 phase are achieved, up to 3 years of additional support (R33 phase) may be awarded to replicate the impact of the natural product on target engagement(s) when used by humans and assess whether there is an association between the degree of the impact on the target engagement and clinical outcomes in a participant population. Applications are encouraged to design R33 studies to determine how to optimize the impact of the natural product on the target engagement by optimizing the delivery of the natural product through examination of different doses or formulations. In addition, applications can be designed to combine the natural product with another treatment approach that is known to impact the same target engagement measure; or study the impact of the natural product in a population that is more responsive,