Marketing & Branding Consulting Services Grant is sponsored by Center for Dairy Excellence. Provides marketing and brand development assistance to value-added dairy businesses.

Marketing and Branding Consulting Services Grant | Center for Dairy Excellence Marketing and Branding Consulting Services Grant This grant is now closed. If you are a value-added dairy business looking to build your brand, create a marketing plan, and identify appropriate strategies to increase product sales and consumer access, consider applying for a Marketing and Branding Consulting Services Grant.

If accepted, you will have access to a consultant who has experience in the dairy value-added space. The goal is to cultivate our regional food economy, strengthen our regional dairy food processing capacity, improve consumer access to locally produced foods, and create and improve economic opportunities for individual dairy producers and food businesses.

This grant is made possible by the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center, which is a USDA initiative. This grant is open to value-added dairy businesses, including dairy farms and small-scale dairy businesses, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Click here to see how other producers have used the grants .

Funding Levels and Application Window This is a competitive grant with a limited window to apply: September 15 – October 31, 2024. Up to 9 grants will be awarded for up to $6,150 in funds for marketing and brand development assistance. Winning grant award recipients will be notified by November 15, 2024.

If awarded the grant, your value-added business will receive up to $3,750 to work with a consultant and up to $2,400 for direct implementation of the consultant’s recommendations. Click here to apply online. Click here to download a PDF application to mail back .

Eligibility and Requirements This is a competitive grant open to value-added dairy businesses, including dairy farms and small-scale dairy businesses, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. You must agree to comply with all applicable Federal, State and Local license requirements. A $100 application fee is required but will be reimbursed if your application is not accepted.

The grant is designed to provide financial assistance to help value-added dairy business owners access the private consulting resources they need to build their brand and to help cultivate our regional food economy, strengthen our regional dairy food processing capacity, improve consumer access to locally-produced foods, and create and improve economic opportunities for individual dairy producers and food businesses.

Click here to view the consultants who will provide grant recipients with branding, direct marketing & value-added technical assistance. Do you have a consultant in mind who’s not on the list? If you have a consultant you would like to use to provide the expertise needed to assist with value-added, marketing and brand development, please contact Melissa Anderson .

We will vet the advisor for approval. The consultant will send the bill and summary of work provided to the Center and will be paid directly by us. If the consultant’s bill is over the allotted funds, the applicant will be responsible to pay the remaining balance.

If awarded the grant, your farm will receive up to $3,750 to work with a consultant and up to $2,400 for direct implementation of the consultant’s recommendations. Funding should be used by June 11, 2025. -Brooks Long, Deliteful Dairy, Maryland For more information, contact Melissa Anderson at 717-788-0296 or manderson@centerfordairyexcellence.

org . Click here to view a list of frequently asked questions . Download a 2024-25 expense reimbursement form .

Click here to download a W-9 form .