Chase, LivingSocial To Give Out 'Mission: Small Business' Grants

A new grant program sponsored by Chase and LivingSocial will give 12 small businesses the leg up they need to keep growing. Mission: Small Business will grant up to $250,000 to individual businesses that convince a panel of peers and small-business mentors that they deserve the funding.

The program, which runs through June 30, provides businesses with the capital and marketing resources needed to grow. To apply, businesses must be established for at least two years and have fewer than 100 employees. Entrepreneurs applying will answer a series of questions identifying their motive and outlining their plan to use the grant.

"The program aims to find innovative small business owners and provide them with the capital to help execute a business plan for growth," Richard Quigley, president of Chase Business Card, said in a statement.

The program will dole out a minimum of four and a maximum of 12 $250,000 grants. Supporters can log on through social media and vote for their favorite small-business candidate. For every vote of support, Chase will add $5 to the grant pool.

Ultimately, winners will be selected by a panel of small-business experts, including entrepreneur and AOL co-founder Steve Case; Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes; Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com; David Chavern, COO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Richard Quigley, president of Chase Business Card, and Tim O'Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial.

"LivingSocial's goal is to help energize their connections with people seeking new and exciting experiences in their communities," Tim O'Shaughnessy, LivingSocial CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.

Interested small-business owners can log on to the Mission: Small Business webpage, where they'll find a marketing toolkit to help them get the word out about the grant program and voting.

Comments

[RyanP22]

11:46 PM on 07/04/2012

This is great that Chase and Living Social are giving grants to Small Business. These grants are very competitive so not every Small Business will not be able to receive a grant. An alternative is going to GrantWatch.com for Small Business. GrantWatch makes it very simple for small business to get the grants they need.

[Jeff McMahan]

11:01 AM on 06/30/2012

Hello,

I am trolling for votes at the 11th hour. So please vote 4: www.RealSeat.com

[pubwvj]

11:56 AM on 06/23/2012

Check out:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/mission-small-business/

[Jan Leasure]

07:02 AM on 06/20/2012

This is a great boon to small community businesses! My daughters, chiropractors Dr. Jordan & Dr. Jade Leasure coud use your vote to help them turn around the health & well being of women and children in their community. Please go to https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/ where you can log in with Facebook or AOL and vote for North Shore Pro-Active Health, Illinois, Libertyville. I am super proud of the work they are doing and how they are trying o make a difference. Small Businesses need 250 votes before their grant proposal can be looked at. Please Help! Sincerely, Jan Leasure, $uper $aver, www.extreme-couponing-tips.com

[Jan Leasure]

06:54 AM on 06/20/2012

What a generous boost for small community businesses! Please vote for my daughters, chiropractors, Dr. Jordan & Dr. Jade Leasure who are trying to change the health & wellness of women & children in their community. It only takes a minute and it could change hundreds of lives! If you go to : https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/ and sign in with /facebook or AOL and vote for North Shore Pro-Active Health, Illinois, Libertyville your participation would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Jan Leasure, www.extreme-couponing-tips.com

[Ken Alejandro]

07:07 PM on 05/29/2012

Help us qualify for a $250,000 grant from Chase and LivingSocial.
Mission:Smallbusiness.com

Go to: https://www.missionsmallbusiness.com/pledge/302769-Ken.and.Lylla log in using Facebook, AOL, or Gmail email accounts and vote for KenLylla Enterprises LLC, Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248

[Antione Johnson]

06:13 PM on 05/20/2012

This is an amazing effort, and I am praying that I am selected. i wish that others would join, because there are hard working people like myself that was born poor and are doing great things for the sake of mankind. I spent my entire life savings to help combat veterans who have given up on the veterans administration to help them and its been all out of pocket because the government continues to use outdated therapies and expects different results. 6500 veterans suicide are reported every year, Veterans are so happy that we exist, we even have WWII combat veterans participating. If you want to find out more about us and why we deserve to be selected visit www.warriorrrc.com and look us up on google Warrior Relaxation Response Center. My credit has been destroyed because I took a risk and trusted the professional community to embrace a research proven and established program, but they have (once again) turned their backs on us. But if you asked me if I would do it again for my brothers and sister warriors.....

[PhantomShadow]

03:27 PM on 05/08/2012

Wish I had my business off the ground already.

[littleblackcat]

12:53 PM on 05/08/2012

My daughter and I could have used this program 3 years ago when our B & B desperately needed help when the economy tanked. People who stayed with us who had visited the Inn before we got it said they had never seen it looking better nor had the food been as good.

When the bottom fell out of the economy in the spring of 2007 and really collapsed in 2008, there were too few guests since no one had the money for vacations. My daughter lost everything she had, we lost the Inn, our home, and our living. No one would help us once we had used up all of our money. So much for this being the "land of opportunity".

[Max Load]

11:11 AM on 05/08/2012

That's getting shared on FB, immediately.

[John Baird]

10:27 AM on 05/08/2012

The problem is that we have bad credit and no one want's to help us I mean no one we need an truck and an mower , the only one that get help is the one that dose'nt need it , if you know some were we can get HELP here is my e-mail [e-mail] only if they can help some one that's POOR we have an lawn service trying to make an living and now I got sick and had to hire one more person that can't afford I just don't know what to do

[lofttypeofaview]

08:02 PM on 05/07/2012

What about those whom need funding just to obtain a patent. People need more help protecting their invention by being able to prove ownership, before they can even attempt to manufacture it; than expanding an already successful small business? Of course I know about angel investors but since they require detailed product descriptions before they are willing to invest, it's impossible for an inventor to provide this information without a patent first; to protect themselves from having their idea stolen by a potential investor.