Small business
Funding Opportunities
The following is a list of available funding opportunities for your small business in Baltimore and Anne Arundel County. We have excluded standard bank loans (though they might be a good option for you) since they are easy to find and typically fund large and secure projects and businesses, which might not be the right fit for you. The following list has been curated for the types and sizes of businesses typically found on the Baybrook Penninsula.
The Small Business Resource Center has also created a useful database of funding opportunities available to business owners in the area, though it is much broader than the following list. It can be found HERE.
Baltimore Community Lending (BCL)
Loans
Funding Type:
Maryland
Location Restrictions:
Baltimore Community Lending supports the revitalization and strengthening of underserved communities throughout the Baltimore metro area through innovative and flexible financial assistance designed to promote community development.
Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC)
Loans, Grants
Funding Type:
Baltimore City
Location Restrictions:
The BDC is a quasi-government entity that provides assistance for locally-owned businesses seeking a commercial storefront in Baltimore City as well as small business loans and micro-loans for new, expanding, or relocating businesses
Enterprise Development Group (EDG)
Loan
Funding Type:
N/A
Location Restrictions:
Discover EDG – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering refugees, immigrants, and low-income members of the community to start and own successful small businesses.
Through access to loan capital and educational programs to teach the fundamentals of business ownership, our goal is to provide the resources and guidance needed to achieve the American Dream.
Kiva Baltimore
Loans
Funding Type:
Maryland
Location Restrictions:
A nonprofit organization, Kiva underwrites zero-percent-interest, zero-fee business loans of up to $15,000, and facilitates crowdfunding on their online platform. Kiva users can lend as little as $25 to individual entrepreneurs, providing them affordable capital to start or expand a small business. Kiva facilitates loans to entrepreneurs in more than 80 countries around the world and launched in the United States in 2011.
MD Dept. Of Commerce
Grants, Loans, Tax Credits
Funding Type:
Maryland
Location Restrictions:
Programs include venture capital investments and tax credits, direct loans, grants and loan guarantees. These programs work together to attract new companies to the state, encourage expansions and job creation, and revitalize our economy.
Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund (NIIF)
Loans
Funding Type:
Baltimore City
Location Restrictions:
We are a mission-driven investment fund dedicated to delivering capital and promoting inclusive, equitable growth in Baltimore’s historically disinvested neighborhoods. We seek to support communities through loans and investments that can accelerate community revitalization, catalyze business activity and provide greater economic opportunity for residents.
Project Restore
Grant
Funding Type:
Maryland
Location Restrictions:
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), through Project Restore, activates vacant buildings, supports small businesses, creates jobs, improves commercial corridors, and increases local economic activity by providing financial support to place-based organizations working to improve the vitality of Maryland’s commercial corridors. This grant is not always available and is highly competitive