Business Financing
Unfortunately VA does not have loans or grants for the startup or expansion of a small business.
Loans
The Small Business Administration is the agency that has been tasked with helping small businesses, for which they have several loan programs established. You can learn more about the SBA program by logging onto the SBA site at http://www.sba.gov. You can acquire a listing of their Certified/Preferred Lenders at http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-Information/Certified-Preferred-Lenders/.
Some states have micro loan programs that will help in the development of a new business venture. To find out if your state has a program you can contact the Small Business Development Centers in your state. They are usually affiliated with a local university or college. The development centers can help you establish a business plan and will be aware of any of the state programs. You can acquire a listing of all the centers in your state by going to http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Local-Information/Small-Business-Development-Centers.
Grants
Grants.gov allows organizations to electronically find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies. Grants.gov is THE single access point for over 900 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies.Other sites you may find useful
- Business Funding Capital Search Tool located at http://www.businessfinance.com/
- The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance The online Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance gives you access to a database of all Federal programs available to State and local governments (including the District of Columbia); federally -recognized Indian tribal governments; Territories (and possessions) of the United States; domestic public, quasi-public, and private profit and nonprofit organizations and institutions; specialized groups; and individuals. It is located at http://12.46.245.173/cfda/cfda.html.
- SBA Online Library Reading Room, at http://www.sba.gov/library/listfoo.html, for listings and directories of:
- Business Information Centers (BICs)
- Certificate of Competency Representatives (CoC's)
- Certified/Preferred Lenders
- Commercial Market Representatives (CMR's)
- Local SBA Offices
- Microloan Lender Participants
- Offices of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU)
- One Stop Capital Shops (OSCSs)
- Procurement Center Representatives (PCR's)
- SBIC Licensees
- Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
- Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)
- Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs)
- Small Business Subcontracting Directory
- Tribal Business Information Centers (TBICs)
- U.S. Export Assistance Centers