City resources for small businesses: Kiva loan matches and Building Improvement Grants

As part of National Small Business Week, the City of Madison's Economic Development Division is highlighting some of the programs and resources offered to local business owners through the Office of Business Resources.

Kiva is a crowdfunding platform that provides loans to small business owners and startups at 0% interest, giving new business owners up to $15,000 in crowd-funded loans. The City of Madison offers a match program for Kiva loans for businesses that work with designated community partners, which gives qualifying businesses access to an additional match loan of up to $7,500.

Businesses that work with the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, the Hmong Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County, the Madison Cooperative Development Coalition, the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation, Dane Buy Local, and the Madison Central Business Improvement District are eligible for the match.

JustVeggiez, a restaurant, catering and vending services company based downtown, is one of the Madison businesses that has benefitted from the Kiva program, receiving a total of $11,000 in 2023. The City's Kiva project is one of many that gets its funds from the Small Business Equity and Recovery (SBEG) program in the City of Madison's Operating Budget.

You can learn more about Kiva loans and how to apply on the Office of Business Resources' website.

Another resource for local businesses looking to cover the costs of renovations, enabling them to stay in their current locations longer and put down roots in their community, is the City of Madison's Building Improvement Grant program. Those grants help business owners cover some of the capital costs associated with renovating the interior and exterior of their retail spaces. JustVeggiez, which is located in a building built on State Street in the late 1800s, was also able to participate in that program and received $50,000 from the City to help cover some of the costs of renovations.