Today, Foundation For The Carolinas announces the opening of Beyond Open grant applications for the third round of the program. Now through August 30, small business owners can apply for Beyond Open grant funding to purchase capital assets including equipment, technology, real estate and inventory. Beyond Open grants cannot be used for operating expenses such as payroll, advertising/marketing, professional services, maintenance costs, insurance, utilities, debt repayment and investment properties.
Beyond Open is a $20M grant program funded by Wells Fargo’s Open For Business Fund. In this third round of funding, Beyond Open will award up to $5 million to grantees in amounts from $10,000–$150,000. Over two previous rounds, $10.7M in grant awards were distributed to nearly 300 small business owners and select nonprofits in Charlotte.
Program grantees include diverse (minority, woman, veteran, LGBTQ, persons with disabilities) small business owners within the Corridors of Opportunity as identified by the City of Charlotte. Businesses must be physically located within one of the Corridors to be eligible to receive an award in Round 3. A full list of eligibility requirements can be found here.
Beyond Open is a very competitive program. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to learn more and prepare the strongest applications possible. Application support is available at beyondopenclt.com, including eligibility requirements, criteria for review, the Round 3 Application Guide, recorded information sessions, contact information for application support, FAQs, and guidance for key application questions. Three small business support organizations are available to provide technical assistance. These organizations include ASPIRE Community Capital, Prospera North Carolina and Women’s Business Center of Charlotte.
