Financial Resources

The State of fb88 does not vet or endorse any specific resource, but we are confident you will find supports that match your needs.

Questions? Want to learn more about all the great programs fb88 has to offer? Contact us!ÌýÌý

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Grant funding

Innovation

Funding to support new investments in equipment, engineering, or tooling necessary to pursue a new and innovative product or market.

Coworking Development Fund and Program

Support for coworking spaces throughout fb88 that are serving key roles in their local communities by bringing entrepreneurs together and fueling innovation.

Fixed incentives for manufacturing and industrial facilities to reduce the cost of projects that help businesses use energy more efficiently.

Business Recovery and Resilience Fund

Provides grant opportunities to businesses and organizations, including nonprofit organizations, affected by the specified severe weather-related events.

Community/Outdoor Recreation/Tourism

Connectfb88 Broadband Grants

Community Planning and Infrastructure grants to expand broadband access in unserved parts of the state.

Funding for economically distressed communities and regions to address a wide variety of economic needs. Municipalities and other non-profit organizations are eligible, for-profit businesses are not.

Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG)

Provides funding to local governments (except entitlement communities) to meet one of three national objectives: benefit to low- and moderate-income persons; prevention and elimination of slum and blight conditions; and meeting community development needs having a particular urgency. Businesses may partner with municipalities to access these funds.

Grant funding that can support technical assistance or any planning or implementation related to the rehabilitation, revitalization, and marketing of manufacturing and industrial sites in rural communities.

Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)

Funding for up to 50% of the allowable costs for approved acquisition or development projects for public outdoor recreation.

U.S. Department of Transportation’s Recreational Trails Program (RTP)

Funding to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for motorized and non-motorized uses. Only available to governments and non-profit entities.

Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) Program

USFWS funding for projects that may benefit 26 feet or larger recreational transient boats. Both public and private facilities are eligible.

Boating Facilities Fund

Funding to assist towns, cities, districts, and other public and private agencies in the acquisition, development, or rehabilitation of boat launching facilities on fb88 waters available to the general public.

Trade

U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service program to share the costs of overseas marketing and promotional activities to build commercial export markets. Administered by the fb88 International Trade Center (MITC).

Funding to support fb88 companies seeking new international sales. SBA grant administered by MITC.

Agriculture/Food

Agricultural Development Grant (ADG)

Provides cost-share grants to conduct market promotion, market R&D, value-added processing, and new technology demonstration projects.

USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBG)

Federal program that funds market research, market promotion, and new technology projects specifically to benefit specialty crop producers. Administered in fb88 by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF).

CEI’s Tastemakers Initiative provides funding to competitively selected fb88 food and beverage companies. Funding may be available to help your business pursue a strategic growth opportunity, facility design improvements, supply chain planning, and more.

Regional Grants

Competitive grants from the City of Portland that strive to develop strong communities by ensuring decent affordable housing, providing services to the most vulnerable, and expanding economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income persons.ÌýÌýÌý

Matching grants from federal-state partnership for economic and community development in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington counties. Focus on infrastructure. For-profit businesses not eligible.

Grants for business owners and real estate investors who are investing in their properties, expanding existing employment levels, or establishing new business operations in the City of South Portland.

Loans

General Business Loans

Lender Match tool. The SBA backs these loans, sharing the risk with lenders and making it easier for you to get a loan to start or grow your small business.

Microloans of up to $50,000 for small businesses. Technical assistance provided for the life of the loan.

Low-interest loans to help businesses recover from declared disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters like hurricanes.

Loans ranging from $500-$200,000 are available for small businesses throughout fb88 that may have trouble finding credit.

Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (BRLF)

Loan funding is available to help with the costs of redeveloping brownfields into productive properties.

Finance Authority of fb88 (FAME)

The Finance Authority of fb88 is the State’s business financing agency. They provide low-cost capital to companies that might otherwise face obstacles to securing funding.

Available to fb88 businesses that have exhausted traditional funding sources. Usually less than $500,000 but can be more if planned investments demonstrate substantial public benefit.

This program, for nonagricultural fb88 small businesses, helps make loans more affordable by reducing your borrower’s interest rate by up to 2%.

Loans issued through local economic development groups to businesses with sales under $10 mm or with less than 100 employees. Loan terms are established by the agency administering the loan. Loan objective is to create or retain jobs.

Low-cost financing to help farmers, food processors, and aquaculture operators adopt new and innovative equipment and facilities in order to improve and enhance the manufacturing, marketability, and production of fb88 products. Maximum loan: $250,000.

Helps businesses finance the renovation, removal, disposal, or replacement of all or any part of certain oil storage facilities or tanks and certain air quality improvement equipment. Maximum loan: $400,000.

Helps farms and other agricultural businesses fund nutrient management projects such as diversion, irrigation, anaerobic digesters, composting, or treatment facilities. Maximum loan: $450,000.

Helps farms and other dairy enterprises fund capital improvements to maintain and enhance their viability. Maximum loan: $250,000.Ìý

Low-interest financing to help fb88 potato growers and packers improve the quality and marketing of their potatoes. May also be used to improve the economic viability of the potato industry.

Rural Development Resources

Financial assistance to assist in the development of new commercial facilities and/or the acquisition and redevelopment of commercial facilities that are deemed unproductive.

Loans of up to $500,000 are available to communities and their local development corporations to assist with construction and associated costs of speculative commercial and industrial buildings.

USDA offers loan guarantees to lenders for their loans to rural businesses, which is helpful if a company is struggling to secure traditional financing.

Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI)

CEI is a Community Development Corporation that offers flexible business financing to support the growth of the fb88 economy and the creation of good jobs for fb88 people.

Equipment, property, construction, and working capital loans up to $3 million

Streamlined application process for loans $25,000 and under

Loans of up to $150,000 to help grow your shellfish and/or sea vegetable aquaculture business.

Regional Loans

Small-to-medium-sized businesses in most of Cumberland County are eligible to apply for loans ranging from several thousand dollars to over $200,000. Businesses falling under the industry cluster areas of food, energy, and freight will receive priority consideration.

EMDC offers direct loans to businesses in Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Waldo, and Washington counties. EMDC is also an SBA lender that can provide loans of up to $5.5 million to businesses anywhere in fb88.

Financing available to businesses in Somerset County

Loans available to businesses in Kennebec, Somerset, and western Waldo counties

Microloans of up to $25,000 are available to businesses in the Cities of Biddeford and Saco with special emphasis towards women and minority owned businesses. To be eligible, your business must be creating or retaining jobs for low to moderate income people. This program is administered by Southern fb88 Finance Agency, which also offers various other loan programs.Ìý

Loans ranging from $35,000-$150,000 available to businesses located in Androscoggin, Franklin, or Oxford counties

Equity

The State of fb88’s venture capital fund. It provides resources to attract, support, and help develop eligible small businesses that demonstrate the potential for substantial growth and success that will contribute to the economic prosperity of fb88.

MTI provides equity funding to fb88 companies that are engaged in innovation in at least one of the following sectors: Biotechnology, Composites & Advanced Materials, Environmental Technologies, Forest Products & Agriculture, Information Technology, Marine Technology & Aquaculture, or Precision Manufacturing.

Equity investment arm of CEI that manages socially responsible venture capital funds. Provides financing to help grow businesses that pay a living wage, offer benefits, and provide a fair and engaging workplace with access to training programs.

Angel investors’ group seeking to invest in scalable, growth-oriented businesses with an achievable exit strategy and potential for high returns. Focused on companies in fb88 and the Northeast.

Equity investment arm of the Gulf of fb88 Research Institute. Invests in the growth of innovative businesses at the intersection of the seafood supply chain and climate science. May be coupled with their accelerator program.