1 Million Cups Mishawaka - Small Business and NPO Grant Reviews February 2026

www.1millioncups.com/mishawaka

Transcript

1. Grow, innovate, and positively impact communities SMALL BUSINESS AND NPO GRANT REVIEWS February 18, 2026
2. WHAT WE’RE COVERING TODAY Agenda MBA Member Perks Ben & Jerry’s/Breva Grant Overview Grant Strategy Summary Step – by –step preparation “In It To Win It” Process Q & A Conclusion
3. MBA PERKS Why you should join today! Get help with finding and submitting grants, Get your grant application reviewed before submission, Get personal strategies for success, Learn about local, Prepare for winning grants in the future!
4. BREVA GRANT OPPORTUNITY What You Need to Know Very broad opportunity – open to small businesses $5k Small Business Grant for Growth and Startups Opens: April 1, Deadline: April 30 www.breva.ai/thrive-grant Preparation for this and other opportunities
5. BEN & JERRY’S GRANT OPPORTUNITY What You Need to Know The National Grassroots Organizing Program (NGO) offers unrestricted, general operating support grants of up to $30,000, with an average grant size of $20,000, to small (budgets under $350,000), constituent-led grassroots organizations throughout the United States and its territories. Deadline: February 25th at 4:00 PM ET Https://benandjerrysfoundation.org/national-grants/
6. $5K SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS - ELIGIBILITY OPEN TO: For profit organizations, Looking for impact: lead job creation, contribute to the economy, or at the helm of innovation, Serving an underrepresented community, Organization with demonstrated impact, Generating revenue prior to your application for a grant OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: Quarterly, opens again in June, Prefer businesses directly impacting high-need ZIP codes or LMI census tracts, Ineligible businesses include those whose principal activities involve lobbying, partisan political work, adult entertainment, cannabis, firearms, gambling, or any operation that violates applicable law; entities in bankruptcy; or entities unwilling to comply with Breva’s data-security requirements.
7. $20K NONPROFIT GRANTS - ELIGIBILITY OPEN TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT: HAVE AN ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET UNDER $350,000 USE GRASSROOTS, COLLECTIVE-ACTION ORGANIZING CAMPAIGNS AS THE PRIMARY STRATEGY FOR CREATING SOCIAL CHANGE NON-PROFIT WITH 501(C)3 STATUS, OR HAVE A FISCAL AGENT WITH THIS STATUS U.S.-BASED AND EXCLUSIVELY U.S.- FOCUSED OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: Leaders are inspired by the Civil Rights legend John Lewis’ admonition: “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” We are looking to understand how your organization builds people power to advance progressive change in systems, policies and practices, pursues racial and economic justice, and addresses inequity in our society.
8. GRANT STRATEGY SUMMARY PREPARATION • Gather data: who, how many, why, how • Create Budget: stay within range • Create goals/objectives: SMART • Population description/need: demographics • Organizational Description: with respect to funder focus • Long term plan: partners, fundraising, etc THINGS TO FOCUS ON • LOS/Partnerships • Signatures: Board Chair, testimonials • Write in Word first and get proofreaders • Don’t wait until the last minute • Use wording from organizations’ posts • Make sure your message match across all platforms
9. GET STARTED ON YOUR DRAFT Executive Summary – a paragraph style synopsis of your entire program describing who you are, who you are serving, what you hope to accomplish, how much you need, and how long it will operate. Population Need – describe your service population, why they need your services, why their current condition is undesirable, why current solutions don’t work, how your intervention is a more appropriate response. Use data to support the need. Program Description/Timeline – describe in detail what you plan to do from recruiting to wrap up. Lay out your work on a timeline that matches the organization’s schedule. Goals and Objectives – state 1 to 4 goals with associated objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic, and time delimited. Finally state how you will measure success and what threshold will signal success.
10. GET STARTED ON YOUR DRAFT Budget/Narrative – be sure that your budget reflects your project description. The narrative should describe each expense item and why its important. Organizational Description – describe your organization’s start, main accomplishments, and key personnel. Keep it focused on their mission. Sustainability Plan – fully describe how you will keep this program/initiative going after the funding period. Have a plan to increase income, partnerships, community involvement. Community Partners – connections prove support and need. Try to demonstrate a wide range of support (clients, leaders, peers, partners). Some or all of these may be good options for letters of support.
11. DRAFT COMPLETION Certain things can hold up the process. It doesn’t have to be completed in any order. Just get it done! CEO/Board Chair Manager/Executive Director Outside Support Organizational description Overall draft Proof Reading Signature Page Program description Sustainability Options Requests for LOS/MOUs Data Collection Partnerships Data sharing Sustainability Plan Data Proof reading Budget Mentoring
12. PAY ATTENTION FOCUS ON • Answering the question being asked, • Staying within character/word limits, • Keeping your responses concise and compelling, • Ensuring that your proposal doesn’t contradict itself (budget, goals, timeline), • Constantly refer back to the funders’ mission, vision and goals. AVOID • Focusing on your own mission, vision, goals, • Don’t bite off more than you can chew, • Mission drift, • Depending on outside funding to sustain your business/organization. Be creative and consider ways to create multiple funding streams that support your organization long term, • Trying to go it alone.
13. IF YOU PLAN TO WIN, WHAT NOW? PREPARATION • Start your preparation (with at least 30 days to work). Otherwise, obtain a copy of the questions and begin drafting responses in word. • If you haven’t collected data in the past, start doing it now. Contact past/current clients/customers to obtain key information about their needs, how you benefited them, etc. • Join the MBA and get help with your applications! NEXT STEPS • If you don’t have partnerships or community relationships, start now! • Put a team together within your organization that can help with drafts in the future. • Purchase list of opportunities that can benefit your organization. • Don’t wait for funding to get started, you are more likely to get funding, data, and partnerships if you are already working the community. • Plan on applying again!
14. THANK YOU FOR COMING! Felicia Seals-Buchanan Mishawaka Business Association www.mishawakabusiness.org director@mishawakabusiness.org (574) 330-1833 Email to schedule an appointment Next grant review will be in May. Announcements