NC BEC’s Funding Initiative aims to address racial inequities in business support and economic development in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Black Entrepreneurship Council (NC BEC) is launching new funding via grants to support the growth of local Black companies.
The council will begin taking applications on March 11 to help elevate Black entrepreneurship through the 2024 NC BEC Ecosystem Grant. Applicants can pursue grants up to $50,000 each out of a $300,000 budget. That means roughly six grants will be awarded. The application deadline is April 15, 5:00 p.m. EST. You must be a North Carolina-based organization to seek funding.
Qualified applicants can only include diverse types of non-profits, for-profits, HBCUs, entrepreneurial support organizations, and others that serve or host programs geared to support or help Black entrepreneurs.
The NC IDEA, a Durham, N.C.-based private foundation that backs entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in the state, created the NC BEC in 2020. That council so far has awarded over $2 million in grants in North Carolina, including Black entrepreneurs ($525,000), entrepreneurial support organizations ($775,990), and Historically Black Colleges and Universities ($775,990).