Eat Soup, Support Creativity in Your Community

This Sunday, Toledo Soup will host its inaugural soup dinner and vote for 5 creative projects that have been vetted by a panel of local people from 36 submissions.  The doors open at 5 p.m. at 116 10th Street in downtown Toledo, and then they will pay $5 to listen to the five candidates pitch their projects.  Then they vote, and the top vote-getter gets the money from attendees to fund their project and the voters eat soup, salad and bread. 

This is just part of a worldwide phenomenon.  The Soup Network maps places in North America, Europe, Egypt and Australia where similar projects are supporting the arts, or sometimes, as in Chicago, community groups as well.  It's part of the growing trend of using social networking to raise money in the arts, like Kickstart, where artists announce their financial goal and a time limit when describing their proposed project to people who have a chance to finance it.  Either they get the goal, in the time prescribed, or they get nothing.  If not, the project fails and no money changes hands. 

Teh internets offer some exciting new ways for artists to reach potential funders and new markets, so I'm looking forward to the upcoming book, New Markets for Artists: How to Sell, Fund Projects, and Exhibit Using Social Media, DIY Pop-Ups, eBay, Kickstarter, and Much More by Carey Brainard in a few months. Buy it or nag your local library to buy it.  Meanwhile, check and see if your community has a soup circle that can help fund your project.

Microfinancing in New York City and Elsewhere

I'm always on the prowl for business grant money, for the same reason people track down two-headed animals--it's a real rarity.  I have come across an article in the Utne Reader this year that piqued my interest--and should pique yours, if you are an aspiring microenterprise person (a "microenterprise" being a business that takes less than $35,000 to start, with fewer than 5 employees).  In Turning Hustlers into Entrepreneurs, Kai Wright looks at the efforts of differnt groups in turning people with a small business dream into small businesspeople.  Many of these people don't have access to banks and traditional business finance sources, and microenterprise lenders are trying to level the playing field for them. 

One organization they focused on is the Business Outreach Center Network, which offers business training and small loans to clients who are largely immigrants in New York City and recently, in Newark, New Jersey.  Those going through the training are eligible to apply for $1,000 grants.  Acorrding to the article, the BOC Network has given away more than $170,000 in grants in seven years. 

But there is also information on ACCION USA, a microlender that lends all across the United States, with loans of up to $50,000.  In most places in the US, you can apply to them online, and in a few places, in person.  They also give business training. 

Roundup of Some Micro Grants for Business, Individuals

What’s a micro grant? It’s generally a very small grant that doesn’t have to be paid back. They are fairly common for nonprofit agencies, but can businesses and individuals get them too? Depends on where you are, who you are, and what you plan to do with the money.

Probably the most famous giver of micro grants is Modest Needs, a nonprofit that takes requests for very small grants for specific purposes—car repair, or a trip to visit a dying relative—and allows others to vote on and donate money to fulfill that need.
But there are some others IIW (Investing in Women) has some yearly grants for entrepreneurial women, including Seeds for Success (not really so small, since it’s $20,000), and the Amber Grants, as well as listing some from other organizations.  There's also the Huggies MomInspired Grant Program and PeaChic grants.   The Partnership for Community Development in Hamilton, NY is giving micro grants specifically to for-profit businesses in that area. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, Microgrants is a nonprofit organization looking for people for whom a grant of about $1,000 may help them up to the next rung in life. They specifically are looking for people “with potential” who are determined to improve their lot in life, and applicants are vetted for their potential. If you live in the Twin Cities and have the potential to improve your life with a small grant, Microgrants might be for you.