Capital & Funding Providers ($$ + Coaching)
IRC Microenterprise Development Center – no- and low-interest business loans; along with financial literacy and financial tracking coaching for your business, personal business coaching; great kind team; can email Kendall (one of their business coaches to learn more) at kendall.souders@rescue.org; often help with applying for small business grants also
ACE Women’s Business Center – register on their site to receive any below resources, to sign up directly for their newsletter full of ATL opportunities, events, grant and funding opportunities, etc.; can view all past newsletters here; provide low-interest SBA small business loans; free business plan templates in a self-paced 13-step by step online platform called Dreamweaver, 1:1 coaching, etc.
- ACE Resilience and Recovery Program Loans (for minority- and women-owned businesses); website here; flyer here for more information
LiftFund – not a local org, but a national one; they are primarily a loan provider for start up and mid sized small businesses; but they do have free library of various topics to support capacity building and you can search by all kinds of topics; they don’t have business coaching though; create an account to access all those free resources, templates, and online courses; two documents for more specifics below
Qualifiers forLiftFund.JPG
Start Up Requirements for LiftFund.pdf
**Accion Opportunity Fund: Small Business Progress Loan – national loan program for $5k – $100k small business loans; interest rates as low as 5.99%; must have been in business for at least 12 months and have at least $50k in annual revenue
Accion Eligibility Overview Graphic.png
SoGal Startup Grants (for Black women entrepreneurs) – $5,000-$10,000 grants for Black women entrepreneurs who are fundraising to grow their startups; this opportunity is best suited for business models that have high-growth potential and are seeking outside investor capital (so not a local small business or micro-entrepreneur level); ongoing rolling applications.
Capacity Builders & Business Coaching
- Our Village United – supporting Black solo-preneurs especially with retail and products; newsletter of resources; with a retail store The Village Retail in Ponce City Market; 12-week incubator program
- Village Micro Fund – educate and empower Black entrepreneurs through coaching, consulting, connecting, and capital; have a spring and fall fellowship program (12-week cohort-based accelerator for Black-led small businesses) with small grants awarded also; sign up for newsletter to get notified. Otherwise, still a nascent org with budding programming and events.
- Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) – a big hub for Black founders and entrepreneurs, especially trying to scale, in town; have an online curriculum where you can self-pace learning through stages like Inspire (ideas), Develop (early steps), Execute, Accelerator, Scale; but there’s a monthly fee for membership of $100 to get access to those virtual learning modules; will also have some great networking events that non-members are able to attend too
- Urban League of Greater Atlanta (Entrepreneurship Center) – huge hub of resources to write business plans and business coaching programs; have a great weekly easy to drop in business coaching class on like Tues. evenings; also have small business grants and funding opportunities (sometimes for specific focus, like restaurants, or specific industries). Marc who runs it is great, have coaches to help you navigate which of their programs or funding opportunities are best for you; can schedule that intro session with them on their website (contact form at bottom of page, or Marc’s email is listed)
- Women’s Entrepreneur Opportunity Project (WEOP) – for Black women (mostly) led small businesses; founded by two twins who were successful and feel passionate about creating more opportunities and networking for other women leaders; subscribe here to get on their listserv for events and trainings; WEOP especially has support if you’re interested in getting registered and eligible for federal, state, and other government contracts
Coworking Spaces
- Pittsburgh Yards – very affordable memberships; seem very community focused; located south of downtown near the Beltline South Side trail; events calendar to see what’s happening
- **The Lola** – a beautiful spot for only women near Ponce City Market; membership is expensive, but they have a free resource online about how to network, can subscribe to their newsletter to hear about networking and open events
- Plywood Place near West End Beltline; plywood is community of ‘do gooders’ (for- and non-profits) with affordable rates like day passes; can also sign up for their newsletter to see all kinds of events, speakers, networking that Plywood does
- Switchyards locations around the city; a nice vibe; can sign up for their emails to see if/when they have networking or business events open to non-members
Other Resources
- Habitat for Humanity – Atlanta – not necessarily business related, but they have a 6-month financial literacy coaching program (My Money. My Future) that helps if you want to prepare to buy a house, or just to stabilize all your home finances. Or if you need repairs funding support for your home (for low-income home owners).
- Find Help – anywhere. Search and connect to support. Financial assistance, food pantries, transportation help, medical care, and other free or reduced-cost help. Search by your zip code and see what kind of social services are offered in your area.
- The Tender Foundation – Atlanta-based non-profit helping to stabilize single moms. If you need rental or utility assistance, diapers, or grocery help. They also put together this Atlanta area list of other support providers.
- Open Path Psychotherapy Collective – Open Path is a nonprofit that serves clients in financial need seeking affordable therapy. Open Path clients cannot afford market rates for therapy, are uninsured or underinsured, and have an annual household income below $100,000.
