Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants

Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants is sponsored by Merchant Maverick. Provides grants to small businesses, including women-owned startups, with a focus on diverse entrepreneurs.

Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants | Merchant Maverick Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants Welcome to the official page for the Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants Program. At Merchant Maverick, we aim to make small business easy by providing comprehensive, unbiased reviews of the software and services you need to make your business succeed.

Each review on our site represents hours of research, fact-checking, and testing by our writers and experts. But we don’t draw the line at simply educating readers. We’re also here to help you finance your small business dreams.

Curious about the impact of our grant program? Read about our past winners!

The 2021 Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant for Black, Female Business Owners The 2022 Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant for AAPI Restaurant Owners The 2023 Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant for Portland-Area Startups The 2024 Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant for Native-Owned Small Businesses The 2024 Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant for Kid-Entrepreneurs Frequently Asked Questions What is the Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants Program?

Since 2009, Merchant Maverick has specialized in the creation of fair, evaluative content. We work hard to equip small businesses with accurate information and create consistently positive outcomes for our readers. Our content is free and available to all, and our primary objective is clear: to guide and empower business decision-makers with honest, accurate, and actionable information.

In short, we make small business easy. The Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grants Program is an integral part of our mission to drive positive change in the B2B space. Its sole purpose is to extend financial opportunities to business owners who otherwise have trouble accessing traditional financing.

What can I use the grant money for? We’re not placing a lot of restrictions on the use of these grants. As long as you use the money to keep your business afloat, we will consider that a proper use.

Grant money can be used for the following things: Rent for your business space Payroll for self or employees Repayment of business loans Equipment for business, such as freezer, stand mixer, printer, etc. Payment of business taxes Renovations to business space Advertising or marketing for your business Business software subscriptions What are my legal responsibilities if my business receives a grant?

Please note: Merchant Maverick is not a law firm, and its employees are not lawyers. The information provided below is solely for educational purposes. If you need legal advice, please consult with a practicing attorney.

The first important thing you should know is that a grant is not a contract. That means a grant is not legally binding. Grants are asked for and given in the hope and anticipation of specific projects being completed and the accompanying goals met.

Let’s say that you gave it a go, but for whatever reason, either you weren’t able to carry through with the project, or your stated goals weren’t met. While it might make the grantmaker hesitant to work with you in the future, they cannot sue you in civil court for breach of contract. If you make no effort to work on the proposed project, the grantmaker could ask for the funds to be returned to them.

Even then, though, they cannot sue you for breach of contract. Because grants are not legally binding, they have more flexibility than contracts do. If you get into your project and find that you need to adjust your scope, budget, or outcomes, let us know what’s going on, and we’ll work with you.

The second important thing to be aware of is the various forms of grant fraud because these are the things that will get you into trouble. Grant fraud typically takes one or more of the following forms: Embezzlement/Theft: Keeping the money for yourself instead of for the business. Bribery: Using the money to get somebody to do a favor for you.

False Statements: If you deliberately lie about something. (For example, you say in your proposal that you’re a business owner, but you’re not.) False Claims: Billing for a service that either you didn’t provide or that you submit to multiple sources for payment (that last part is called double-dipping).

Will I need to pay a fee to receive the grant? What are my tax responsibilities if my business receives a grant? In general, the IRS considers most grants received for business purposes to be taxable income.

To what degree a grant impacts your business at tax time depends on your business’s structure. How you pay taxes as a sole proprietor is not the same as how you pay taxes as an LLC, an S corporation, a partnership, etc. However, you can use grant funds to purchase tax-deductible business items. These can include office equipment, insurance, advertising and marketing, just to list a few.

Bench, a company that provides bookkeeping services to small businesses, created this handy list of small business tax deductions that you can refer to. Also, be aware that there is still some ambiguity surrounding language in the tax code since it specifies corporations as opposed to other business structures.

To be on the safe side, you should consult with a tax attorney and/or an accountant about whether or not your business needs to pay taxes on grant funds, as well as what deductions you can take for items purchased with those funds. What are my personal responsibilities if my business receives a grant?

In addition to complying with all federal, state, and local laws regarding the use of the funds, each Merchant Maverick Opportunity Grant recipient will have one additional requirement: Meet with a writer on a regular basis to share their business journey.

With scheduled interviews throughout the year, Merchant Maverick would like to take readers inside the stories of real small business owners and their experiences — trials and triumphs, seasonal challenges, observations and insights, industry-related issues, and more.

Grant recipients will be required to meet with a writer a minimum of six times (start and end of the year and once a quarter) for an interview and agree to provide photographs of the business/business owner for use on the website.

8 Grants For Women-Owned Small Businesses Grant Opportunities For Minority-Owned Small Businesses Small Business Grants: Resources For Small Businesses " * " indicates required fields URL This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Questions, Comments, Feedback 💬 " * " indicates required fields This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Let us know what we can help you with or what you'd like us to know. You can use this form for questions, comments, reviews, feedback, recommendations, or general contact. Your question, comment, or message * May we follow up with you about this via email?

* Great! Provide your contact information and we'll be in touch. Depending on the volume of inquiries we're processing, responses may take between one and five business days.

Want to help shape the future of the Merchant Maverick website? Join our testing and survey community! By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.

Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today. The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews.

Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.

Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.

Never show me any popup offer again. Maverick Newsletter Signup 📬 " * " indicates required fields This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.