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Department of Agriculture - Rural Business Development Grant Program

Agency/Department
Federal Agency/Bureau
Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Program Name
Rural Business Development Grant Program
Authorizing Legislation

Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act

Program Overview

The Rural Business Development Grant program provides funding designed to support targeted technical assistance, training, and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas that have fewer than 50 new employees and less than $1 million in gross revenues. Programmatic activities are separated into enterprise or opportunity type grant activities.

CFDA

10.351

Type of Funding

Discretionary

Link to application site, NOFO, FOA, or Grants.gov (if different from program website above)
Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) or Federal Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Type

Initial

Important Dates (if applicable)

The application deadline is posted on the program’s website.

FY2023 Appropriations Amount

Total Amount: $37,000,000
Amount Available Towards Broadband (if specified):

Matching Requirement

No

Complementary Federal Funding Option

A RBDG grant can be used with other funding opportunities, but it can be difficult to match up the timing of the loan and a grant. However, one factor considered when evaluating applications is the percent of non-federal funding committed to the project.

Broadband-related Program Purpose/Eligible Expenditures
Speed/Technical Requirement for Broadband Infrastructure

Not Applicable

Criteria for Eligible Recipients

RBDG funds must be used for projects that benefit rural towns or areas outside the urbanized periphery of any city with a population of 50,000 or more. Small businesses, to be eligible for the program, must have fewer than 50 workers and less than $1 million in gross revenue.

Grant Beneficiaries (if different from eligible recipients)

Not Applicable

Programmatic Resources

Not Applicable

Reporting Requirements

Information on monitoring and servicing can be found at 2 CFR chapter IV.

Publicly-available programmatic data

Not Applicable

Contact Information

Varies by state. See agency website

Updated

March 2023

Funding Guide