Glossary
Small business funding glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms and acronyms a shop owner runs into chasing funding.
- CDBG
- Community Development Block Grant — federal money HUD sends to cities and counties, which can fund local business/microenterprise assistance. You reach it through your city, never directly from HUD.
- Discovery platform
- A site (like Hello Alice) that matches you to grants run by others, rather than funding you itself. Useful for finding programs, but always verify each on the funder's own page.
- EIN (Employer Identification Number)
- Your business's federal tax ID, issued free and instantly by the IRS. Nearly every funder verifies it via a W-9. Never pay a site for one.
- Grant vs. loan
- A grant is money you don't repay; a loan you do. Most 'small business grants' that turn up online are actually loans (like SBA 7(a) or microloans), training programs, or equity investments — check which before you apply.
- Microenterprise
- Generally a business with five or fewer employees including the owner. Many local CDBG-funded programs target microenterprises specifically — confirm the local definition when applying.
- Non-dilutive funding
- Money that doesn't take a piece of your ownership — grants and SBIR awards are non-dilutive, unlike equity investment (where an investor buys a share of the business).
- RBDG
- USDA Rural Business Development Grant — funds public bodies, tribes, and nonprofits that help rural businesses (often via revolving loan funds). For-profit businesses can't apply directly.
- SAM.gov / UEI
- The free federal registration and Unique Entity Identifier required to apply for federal grants directly (like USDA programs). Registration can take weeks — only needed for direct federal money.
- SBIR / STTR
- 'America's Seed Fund' — equity-free federal R&D funding for small businesses doing scientific research with commercial potential. The biggest non-dilutive money in the U.S., but only for R&D firms.
- Use-of-funds statement
- A specific, realistic explanation of exactly what you'll spend a grant on. Every legitimate funder judges it — vague requests lose.
- W-9
- The IRS form a funder collects to report a grant payment to you. Having your EIN and legal business name ready to complete a W-9 is part of being grant-ready.
Chasing funding means wading through jargon and mislabeled programs. Here’s the plain-English version of the terms that decide what you can actually get.
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