📣 Funding Alert: Deadline for EDA's University Center Economic Development Program Competition is 9 Days Away
The Economic Development Administration is giving away millions to university entrepreneurship centers around the country to support their programming. Are you eligible to get a slice?
If you run or support a university entrepreneurship center (which according to my data is most people receiving this email) - then there may be an opportunity for your org. to receive up to hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help scale up your programming.
Sound like something you’d be interested in? Read on to learn if you qualify.
University Center Economic Development Program Competition Overview
The EDA has made a total of $8.4 million in federal funds available to accredited institutions of higher education (or a consortium of accredited institutions) that are focused on one or more of the following program focus areas:
Advancing regional commercialization efforts
Advancing high-growth entrepreneurship
Developing a high-skilled regional workforce
Encouraging business expansion in a region’s innovation cluster(s)
Increasing the resiliency of a region
Essentially this EDA funding can be used to amplify the impact of any relevant programs that are already up and running or others that you’re planning to launch in the near term future.
However … there are a few things to know off the bat.
Important Dates + Eligibility Requirements
First off - the application deadline is April 29th. Yes, that’s soon. Hopefully this isn’t the first time you’re hearing about this grant. Or if it is, hopefully you’re a fast typer/document gatherer.
Additionally, the geographic criteria for this application cycle is more narrow than some people reading this might like.
In order to qualify for this funding, the state your university is based in needs to be served by either the Atlanta or Seattle regional offices, which are as follows:
ATLANTA REGIONAL OFFICE: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
SEATTLE REGIONAL OFFICE: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Rep. of Marshall Islands, Rep. of Palau
I recognize that only constitutes ~1/3rd of the states, although still a significant proportion of universities in this country. If you don’t see your state on a list but know a colleague who could benefit from this opportunity - be a friend and pass it on!
Also there are additional EDA Regional Offices offering similar grants in the future, so keep an eye out for them by signing up for their newsletter and reviewing the grant schedule below.
How to Apply
If you’ve read this far and have checked all of the eligibility boxes, then you might naturally be wondering: how can I apply within the next 9 days?
Don’t worry - it’s not too difficult and not too long (don’t mistake this for the application being short).
You’ll first need to register on the Grants.gov site in order to access the application package. Once you’re on the Grants.gov page, just type in “university” in the Keyword section and select either the Atlanta (ATRO) or Seattle (SRO) regional office.
Now you’re able to officially start the application process.
Application Materials
There are 5 main components you’ll need to complete in your application in order to complete your application, those being:
Project Narrative
Applicant Capacity and Project Management
Budget Narrative and Staffing Plan
Matching Share Commitment Letters
Resumes of Key Project Staff
You can learn more about what each of these entail starting on Page 12 of the NOFO. In fact, that document will tell you exactly what information the EDA is looking for in your application which helps eliminate the guesswork.
The most time consuming aspect of this application package would likely be the Matching Share Commitment Letters component, so I’d recommend that you take a look at that ASAP. However if you have internal funds committed towards a certain project or program already, then that should suffice (based on my reading of the NOFO).
EcoMap as a Tool to Help
Throughout the solicitation, you’ll notice the EDA keeps utilizing the term “ecosystem” in the context of economic and entrepreneurial development.
Just as one example:
EDA encourages the submission of applications that will create and nurture regional economic ecosystems through science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skill development, workforce training opportunities including Registered Apprenticeships, applied research and development, technology commercialization, and targeted activities that cultivate entrepreneurship and improve regional economic development.
As the Head of Business Development for EcoMap Technologies - a company that maps ecosystems in order to make them more accessible - it’s heartening to see such a strong focus on this concept of “ecosystems”, which can be thought of in this context as simply a shared awareness of the interconnection between the people, organizations, and resources within a community.
EcoMap works with a wide variety of organizations - including university entrepreneurship centers - to help them answer the question of “Who is doing what?” within their community. Once we’ve identified the key players and the resources they offer, we map this data to keywords that make it easy for a user to find what’s most relevant for them.
What does that mean practically?
EcoMap can support your university e-ship center’s mission by taking inventory of all the assets available to empower your student entrepreneurs and making sure they’re getting connected with the resources and organizations that are most relevant to their needs.
To see what this looks like in action, feel free to explore the EcoMap we built for an organization in the renowned college-town of Charlottesville, VA: The Hub CVA.
On that platform you can explore 350+ resources for entrepreneurs across the Greater Charlottesville region and distill them down to the ones that are most helpful for your situation, like say, being a student entrepreneur.
Fully admitting my bias, it seems like an EcoMap could be a helpful tool for a university entrepreneurship center … but, as you know, there are plenty of wonderful programs out there in the ecosystem.
Whatever you end up choosing, I hope this guide was helpful for navigating the EDA's University Center Economic Development Program Competition!