In this week’s Must Know
- Federal FY2013 Budget
- ShadeFund: New Capital for Natural Resource Based Businesses
- The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlight is new resources from the SBA: September’s FAQ and online courses.
Federal FY2013 Budget
When Congress realized that it would not complete appropriations work on time – (and budgets make for a thorny pre-election season) – the leadership decided in July that they would pursue a six month Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government through March 2013. What does that mean for CAMEO members? The funding levels will remain at FY12 levels, meaning that all of our programs we follow will receive, for the first six months, funding at the same rate as last year.
Read the draft of the House Continuing Resolution, released last week. What’s going to happen? The House must first pass a CR, then the Senate. Barring any changes, the President would sign it before October 1.
ShadeFund: New Capital for Natural Resource Based Businesses
Join CAMEO and ShadeFund for a free webinar to learn about a new capital source for natural resource based businesses. Green micro enterprises are critical to the development of vibrant communities, resilient economies, and healthy environments. Unfortunately, these businesses – whether they are a community sponsored farm or a wood products company using sustainable lumber – find it tough to raise the affordable capital they need to grow, especially in today’s economic climate.
ShadeFund is a national, web-based microloan program (up to $50,000) for green entrepreneurs who use farmland or forestland responsibly. We invite you to participate in a webinar to learn how California microlenders can work together with ShadeFund to ensure that California’s green innovators have access to the capital they need to grow.
Register for the webinar to be held on Thursday, September 27, 2012 from 2:00-3:00 pm PT.
The Goodies
New opportunities for trainings, 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 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!
Make A Note: We moved upstairs. Our new suite is 715. Please change your address books.
New Success Stories: Check out a few new success stories from CVBI/SBDC in Fresno, FarmerVeterans and Women’s Initiative.
Interesting Stats: The Small Business Frequently Asked Questions from the SBA reports that 79.5% of all small businesses are non-employer and it’s an upward trend. The SBA also hosts a number of do-it-yourself webinars on financing your business.
New Report: California Financial Opportunities Roundtable (CalFOR) Handbook to Capital Access: Read more about how micro fits into the CalFORS effort on our websites.
Free Webinar: Friedman Associates hosts Getting the Governance You Deserve! on Tuesday, September 25, 2012 from 11:00am-12:00pm PDT // 2:00-3:00pm EDT. A critical piece of the “sustainability puzzle” is leadership, especially your Board of Directors. But how do you encourage more active board engagement? In this free webinar, we will take you through a dynamic process to assess the health and role of governance in your organization and obtain more meaningful engagement. We will discuss how to create an operations plan for stronger governance and the creation of your Board Policies Manual – your playbook for effective governance. We will also give you tools to get started and recommend a plan of action. Register for the webinar.
Take Action: Two important programs expire on September 27, 2012. The refinance provision of the U.S. Small Business Administration 504 loan program allows small business owners to refinance performing commercial mortgages with longer-term, below-market, fixed interest rates afforded by the SBA 504 program. The First Mortgage Lien Pooling (FMLP) program creates a secondary market where lenders can re-sell a portion of SBA 504 first mortgage loans, allowing them to increase their liquidity and capacity to make more small business loans. Sign the petition to save them.
Renaissance Online Business Prep Class: Attention service-starved areas, the webinar-based classes are scheduled from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. PST one evening a week for 12 consecutive weeks, with two optional 30-minute individual telephone consultations. Clients are expected to participate in every webinar and complete about 3 hours of homework weekly. The next one starts on September 29, 2012. Learn more and register.
Bay Area Office space: Renaissance Marin has two nice offices that they want to fill with compatible CAMEO members and/or lawyers, accountants, etc. that provide services to entrepreneurs. There is a corner office for $850 per month and an office right next to it for $650 per month that includes receptionist service, wifi and an opportunity to hold forums and seminars to provide information and promote services. Contact Boku Kodama by email or phone at 415.755.1115.
For Your Clients: CARAT offers free online trainings for small businesses through December. Check out their calendar.
Job Opportunities: Renaissance Bayview, Accion San Diego, California Farmlink, Valley Economic Development Center, Fresno EOC and Fresno CDFI, are hiring. Please check CAMEO’s job page for more information and other listings.