Truth About Government Funding For Small Businesses

Every day we here at CanadaStartups get hundred of requests for information on government funding for small businesses in Canada. One of the main questions that gets asked of us all of the time is does government funding for small businesses really exist?

We are taking some time to share with you the truth about government funding.

General Public Knowledge

The general public knowledge of when it comes to government funding is near non existent. How do we know this? From the thousands upon thousands of people we talk to each year who come to our website to learn about starting a business and having a business funded. When we end up talking about government funding for small businesses, or when we share information, the general belief is that funding only exists for aboriginal individuals and refugees. While this may be true in a number of sectors, government funding exists for a number of different individuals, different industries and locations across Canada. The most “government funding” knowledge that people have is what’s heard on the news – which is very minimal and more often nothing to do with funding small businesses.

Institutional Knowledge

The institutions (banks), know a lot about government funding. In fact, many major banks across Canada work closely with many different government funding agencies to bank roll the funding programs offered. Especially government backed loans, low-interest, no interest and government guaranteed loans. Many government funding agencies in Canada will actually ask you to visit your local bank to provide them with the “government funding application”.  So why doesn’t the general public know more about this? It’s simple. It’s not as widely promoted as bank loans. Why does’t your bank tell you this? The banks make more money offering you a bank loan, or line of credit versus providing you government info.

Misconception

Those who do know about government funding for small businesses, know very little or their idea of government funding is very clouded with the misconceptions about the government, funding, grants and loans. Why? In Canada, many people who have heard about government funding have a belief that if they pay taxes, that the government owes them. This translates into “the government has money….well they owe that money to me…i must be eligible for government funding”. We know this from experience dealing as mentioned before, with thousands of individuals.

The misconception when it comes to government funding is huge. For one, those know know about it believe they are deserving of it and that they should get it. Those who apply and don’t get it, believe it’s a scam and those who don’t apply and don’t get it believe it’s a scam as well. Certain people believe that only aboriginal people are funded, while others believe only immigrants are funded.

So this sort of misconception only hurts the true business funding seekers from gaining the information and the opportunity to obtain real funding.

The Truth

The trust is that government funding offered by the Canadian government and it’s various funding agencies does exist. It is provided in the form of a government grant, government loan, tax breaks/credits and other various support initiatives.

In order to obtain government funding, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. Some have more and some have less. To know all of the factors, it’s recommended to look at the specific funding agency you plan on applying to and the individual program. As each program is unique – knowledge into the program is key. We help with that with our Funding Database.

The general factors include your location (your province), your industry, your funding needs and amount required, your business plan, your credit score as well as the time of the year you apply, your funding application and the program you apply to.

Government funding is available however a little bit of work is required before you can get it. We help and we direct you towards the right path. Contact us for more details on your government funding search.