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Census is Open! Recruit Readers

In this Must Know…

  • The Census is Open!
  • Recruit Readers
  • Take Action: District Meetings on Truth-in-Lending!
  • The Goodies – This week’s highlight is to have your Latino clients fill out the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative 2018 Survey of U.S. Latino Business Owners.

The Census is Open!

FIELD’s microTracker census is open! CAMEO partners with FIELD at the Aspen Institute to conduct a census of California’s microbusiness programs using the microTracker platform. Your impact data proves your value to your funders and constituents and helps you to build the best organization possible. So gather your info and log in.

You have two incentives:

  • From FIELD: if your data is uploaded and approved by August 30, they will upgrade your microTracker subscription from basic to premium for one year, which gives you access to data analysis tools and reports to share with your board and funders.
  • From CAMEO: if you fill out the Census, CAMEO will treat you and your staff to a free lunch. Email Andrew for details.

You rely on CAMEO to advocate on behalf of the sector. We rely on you for your data. This data fuels our advocacy and supports our members at the state and national level. The better data we have, the stronger our case is, and the easier it is to express the vital role MDOs play in the small business sector.

The actual nuts and bolts of gathering data can be difficult if you don’t build them into your program from the beginning. To help you with this year’s data collection process, we brought together the experts to explain the benefits of good data collection and demystify the process for a webinar that you can download: “Data Collection: Make the Case for Funding and Get It Right From Intake To Reporting.”

You can also participate in EntrepreneurTracker for 2018. FIELD at the Aspen Institute is continuing enrollment for the 2018 EntrepreneurTracker client outcomes survey. Indicate your interest, and they will reach out to you with more information. Training starts in late September.

If you are not the person in charge of submitting data for your organization, please forward this email to whomever that might be. We’ll be forever in your debt.

Recruit Readers

We receive many emails thanking us for the solid information that is presented in the Must Know. Do you know someone who should be receiving our weekly newsletter? It’s full of professional development opportunities, bite-sized policy updates to keep you in the know, latest reports on small business credit, funding announcements, conferences, and much more – all in one place.

Take the Summer challenge and get five people to sign up for CAMEO’s Must Know and I’ll be your new best friend. Seriously, help us grow our network and engage more organizations and staff members and we will be eternally grateful and you’ll earn good karma points for helping to expand the influence of the microbusiness sector.

Since you signed up, you do want to hear from us. Avoid CAMEO email going to your spam folder. Add CAMEO to the safe sender list per your email provider.

Read our last two blog posts that were featured in recent newsletters.

Take Action: Tax Credits for Small Businesses

SUPPORT AB 916 – California Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)

California has a new hiring tax credit. However, according to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) data, this credit has been severely underutilized due to numerous limitations. As a result, the FTB, Legislative Analyst and Governor have proposed substantial changes to the hiring credit. AB 916 is an alternative and replacement of the current hiring credit with a California WOTC.

The state version would mirror the federal statute and utilize the existing processes and infrastructure that facilitate the successful federal WOTC. Your clients would be eligible for tax credit if they hire individuals with poor work histories or who are otherwise stigmatized creating a barrier to participation in the workforce. The bill will be heard on August 8, 2018, in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee.

Download the sample support letter, put on your letterhead, take a couple of minutes to edit and send to Toni Symonds by July 31, 2018.

And one more action to take: CalNonprofits is on record urging the legislature not to pass AB 888 to extend these raffles until the Department of Justice conducts an audit of the practices and impacts of the last two years of 50/50 major league sports raffles. Please join CalNonprofits, the American Legion of California, and the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations in opposing this bill. (Click the link to add your organization’s name to the letter) by tomorrow, Friday, July 27, 2018.

The Goodies

New opportunities for training, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know. I have posted a running tab of current Industry Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

Member Kudos / For Your Clients: CDC Small Business Finance developed a primer for small businesses who “Want to Get an Online Small Business Loan?” It’s a great resource to share with all your clients!

Member Kudos: Deborah Muramoto is featured in the California Treasury new CalSavers promotional videos.

Free Webinar: EARN hosted “Big Data on Small Savings.” Click to download the slides.

For Your Clients: Greenlining invites you to take the 2018 Survey of U.S. Latino Business Owners. Every year, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) surveys thousands of Latino business owners across the country to measure the critical impact Latino entrepreneurs have on the U.S. economy. Let your clients know that if they fill out a survey, they will have a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card (for completed surveys).

New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy release “One Year of Equity Crowdfunding: Initial Market Development and Trends.”

Professional Opportunity: If you work for a nonprofit and have student loans, you need to know about Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. PSLF forgives student loan debt for nonprofit or government employees after 120 qualifying payments (10 years’ worth), as long as they meet a number of additional requirements. CalNonprofits is hosting “How Nonprofit Staff Can Get Student Loan Forgiveness Webinar” on Wednesday, August 1, 2018, 11:00am-12: 00 pm PDT

Grant Opportunity: With the support of JPMorgan Chase, NALCAB – National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders will provide grants of $40,000 – $50,000, technical assistance, and training to up to ten non-profit organizations for a period of 18 months to develop and implement data- and community-driven action plans for equitable development. Plans will prevent involuntary displacement and increase access to wealth generating assets for low-income communities through strategies including, but not limited to, affordable housing and/or commercial real estate development, policy development and advocacy, affordable housing and/or small business lending, housing services and programs, small business development, and community engagement. Download the Request for Proposals: Equitable Neighborhood Development Planning. The deadline is August 5, 2018.

Funding Opportunity: Applications are open for AEO’s Tapestry Project. The project includes two opportunities: 1) Tapestry Project Innovation Registry (TPIR) will register your project to help broaden the reach of your organization’s work to funders, investors and other potential collaborators; and 2) the Tapestry Project Action Lab will support collaborative funding contracts, with awards of up to $50,000, organized around a shared business development objective that addresses the interlinkage of the three barriers for Black businesses reaching their potential. Click on the website for more details including informational webinars on July 23, July 26, and August 2. The deadline is August 7, 2018.

Professional Meeting: The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the counties of Alameda, San Francisco, and San Mateo partnered with two CAMEO members – Working Solutions and Opportunity Fund – to develop a microloan program that provides capital for nail salons to become recognized as Healthy Nail Salons. Learn about the results of the pilot, and hear the story of how unlikely partners came together to promote the health of low-income nail salon workers. Register for “Expanding Access to Capital to Advance Healthy Nail Salons” on Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 10:00am-12:00noon.

For Your (Young) Clients: BizWorld is hosting the Girlpreneur competition during the WorldWideWomen Girls’ Festival at Santa Clara University on Sunday, October 6, 2018. They are inviting girls ages 8-18 to apply to pitch their business ideas to our panel of expert judges and compete for the Grand Prize of $1,000! The application deadline is September 2, 2018.

Professional Conference: Join Prosperity Now’s 2018 Prosperity Summit on September 5-7, 2018 in Maryland.

Professional Conference: The 34th OFN Conference – “CDFIs: Agents of Change” – takes place October 8-11, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago.

Got Federal Funds: The US General Services Administration has changed their policies regarding the online System for Award Management. As of April 27th, all users must submit a notarized letter naming an Entity Administrator to the Federal Services Desk in order to activate their sam.gov registration. Any organization applying for federal or state funding through grants.gov is required to have a current registration with sam.gov in order to submit their application, so make sure to check your account! More information, including a template for the notarized letter, click the link.

New Report: The SBA Office of Advocacy Research release “Why Do Businesses Close“, using U.S. Census Bureau data, and found that over the last 25 years, about 7–9 percent of employer firms close every year and a slightly higher share open. Many reasons for closing are personal.