2023 CZI Inclusive Entrepreneurship RFA

Entrepreneurs that start businesses rooted in their communities are part of the social fabric that drives economic mobility across the United States. This fund was created to support local entrepreneurs with an emphasis on reaching small and micro-businesses with 20 or fewer employees. Consideration will also be given to primary service populations that are underrepresented in the entrepreneurial sector, including women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color; low-income households; immigrants, regardless of documentation status; and people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Nonprofit organizations, intermediaries, and CDFIs that work with entrepreneurs and small business owners serving one or more counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Marin) are eligible to apply.

Select organizations will join the 2023 Inclusive Entrepreneurship grant partner cohort, and will receive a two-year project grant of $500,000.

The 2023 Inclusive Entrepreneurship RFA will open on March 1 at 8 AM PT. Interested organizations are invited to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) from March 1, 2023 -March 15, 2023.

• Experience supporting entrepreneurs: Existing relationships with entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area and demonstrated capacity to increase access to capital and/or technical support among marginalized entrepreneurs.
• Response to the community: Consideration will be given to primary service populations that are underrepresented in the entrepreneurial sector, including women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color; low-income households; immigrants, regardless of documentation status; and people who identify as LGBTQIA+.
• Geography: Organizations must work in at least one of the 9 Bay Area Counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma).
• Leadership, Staff, and Governance: Preference will be given to organizations whose leadership, staff, and governance (1) have deep experience in the communities supported; and (2) reflect the rich diversity and stories of the communities they support.
• Collaboration: Preference will be given to organizations that demonstrate a collaborative spirit through (1) an awareness of available overlapping and complementary efforts; (2) partnerships to increase impact, where appropriate; and (3) an understanding of local community context and the desire and ability to leverage existing community relationships and build new ones.
• Data, Monitoring and Evaluation: Preference will be given to organizations that have experience tracking and reporting outcome data, or demonstrate an interest in growing their capacity and participating in the third-party evaluation process.

CZI will award up to six grants of $500,000 each; funding is to be spent over a two-year period, beginning July 1, 2023, through July 31, 2025.

Funds can be allocated toward:

• Programmatic expenses, including staff salaries and benefits.
• Capital for entrepreneurs, such as micro-grants and loans.
• Data collection and reporting capacity (see below).
• Overhead expenses (up to 20%).

CZI values continuous learning and improvement for ourselves and the organizations we fund. We strive to be service-oriented, equity-centered, pragmatic, and action-focused in our monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) work.

With that in mind, we have the following expectations for data collection and reporting for Inclusive Entrepreneurship grantees:

• Grantee organizations will work with an independent evaluation team hired by CZI to refine the portfolio’s evaluation and learning plan through 2 synchronous meetings. This will require an anticipated 5 hours of staff time. (Summer/Fall 2023)
• Based on the refined learning plan, organizations will coordinate data collection and report data to the independent evaluator twice per year.
• Organizations will participate in bi-annual learning and reflection sessions with the evaluation team, which will provide valuable opportunities for MEL skills and networking building among grantees.

We anticipate data collection, reporting, and attending meetings will require roughly 5 staff hours per quarter. (Fall 2023-Summer 2025)

We would like the evaluation process to be a collaborative effort to ensure that data collection, analysis, and insights benefit grantee organizations and do not require significant staff time. During our initial evaluation planning meetings, selected organizations will have an opportunity to provide guidance to the evaluator to ensure that the evaluation process is not unduly extractive. Please send any additional questions or concerns about the evaluation requirements to inclusive-entrepreneurship@chanzuckerberg.com.

Organization characteristics

• Nonprofit organizations, intermediaries, and CDFIs that work with entrepreneurs and small business owners.
• Serving one or more counties in the greater San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Marin).
• Minimum annual organizational budget: Grants supported through this Fund will be two-year project support grants. To make decisions about financial sustainability, we ask that you provide a clear and current budget for your organization, as well as a fiscal sponsor letter (if applicable). We do not require a specific format for these budget document(s); however, we can’t provide grants that exceed 30% of your annual budget. (For example, this is a 2-year grant; we consider it divided by half and would base the 30% threshold on whether $250K is more than 30% of your annual budget.)

Characteristics of the funded program

• Can include support for businesses at any stage, including testing out a business idea, formalizing an informal business, creating a worker cooperative, or growing an existing business.
• Emphasis on reaching small and micro-businesses with 20 or fewer employees.
• Serve underrepresented entrepreneurs and business owners, including women, low-income people, and people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, or Latinx.
• Capacity/Willingness to manage data and evaluation requirements.

Letters of Inquiry (LOI’s) must be submitted online through the SurveyMonkey Apply portal at apply.chanzuckerberg.com. All LOI’s must be completed and submitted no later than Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at 5pm PT.

The LOI process will include submitting organizational background information and a short description of your organization’s mission and the proposed project.

Selected organizations will be contacted by March 31, 2023 and will be asked back to submit a full proposal through SurveyMonkey Apply where we will request the following information for the full proposal:

Organizational Background

• Connection to entrepreneurship, marginalized communities in the SF Bay Area
• Ways that DEI is incorporated into the organization, such as mission/vision, leadership (including board), staffing policies and practices
• Annual budget, FTE

Proposed Project

• Description of the services provided to current/aspiring entrepreneurs and how they align with the Inclusive Entrepreneurship focus areas
• Estimated reach of the initiative, including # of entrepreneurs and their geographic regions
• Project timeline, including planning, staffing up, recruiting participants, and offering services

Evaluation and Learning

• Organizational capacity to track individual-level participation and outcomes for participants
• Examples of metrics the organization currently uses to measure its success
• Describe the organization’s prior experience, if relevant, in participating in program evaluations led by an external consultant

Project Staff

• Proposed roles for the project team
• Bios of key staff members, including prior experience in supporting entrepreneurs

Budget

• Total amount requested
• Project Budget

For selected organizations will be asked to submit full proposals by April 21, 2023. We will notify organizations of grant decisions by the the end of May 2023.

All submitted applications will be kept confidential, except as necessary for evaluation or to comply with any applicable laws. All applications submitted through the shared portal will be shared with a team of reviewers including CZI employees and local community members, consultants, and outside subject matter experts, selected at the sole discretion of CZI. CZI will also aggregate and anonymize data and learnings from the RFA to inform future program development, which may be shared externally.

Q: What are the reporting requirements for this grant?

A: CZI values continuous learning and improvement for ourselves and the organizations we fund. We strive to be service-oriented, equity-centered, pragmatic, and action-focused in our monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) work.

With that in mind, we have the following expectations for data collection and reporting for organizations that receive an inclusive entrepreneurship grant:

• Grantee organizations will work with an independent evaluation team hired by CZI to refine the portfolio’s evaluation and learning plan through 2 synchronous meetings. This will require about 5 hours of staff time. (Summer/Fall 2023)
• Based on the refined learning plan, organizations will be responsible for coordinating data collection and reporting data to the independent evaluator up to two times per year.
• Organizations must also participate in bi-annual learning and reflection sessions with the evaluation team.

We anticipate data collection, reporting, and attending meetings will require roughly 5 staff hours per quarter. (Fall 2023-Summer 2025)

We would like the evaluation process to be co-created with the grantee organizations to ensure the data collection process, analysis, and insights can benefit grantee organizations. If you have any additional questions or concerns about the evaluation requirements, please contact inclusive-entrepreneurship@chanzuckerberg.com.

Q: Given the robust reporting expectations, can we request funding to support data collection?

A: Yes. If your organization is selected to submit a full proposal, your organization will be asked to submit a budget proposal. Funds may be allocated toward data collection and evaluation expenses.

Q: Is there a limit to the overhead expenses we can request in our budget proposal?

A: Yes. Overhead should be limited to 20% of the total project budget. Other eligible expenses include the following:

• Programmatic expenses, including staff salaries and benefits
• Capital for entrepreneurs, such as micro-grants and loans
• Data collection for reporting and capacity
• Overhead expenses (up to 20%)

Q: What if I already have a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative? Can I still submit a letter of inquiry to the inclusive entrepreneurship RFA?

A: Yes! We encourage all current and past grant partners that support underrepresented entrepreneurs to consider submitting a proposal.

Q: Can organizations that do not serve the nine-county Bay Area apply?

A: No. This Inclusive Entrepreneurship Request for Application (RFA) is available only to organizations that work in the nine-county Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties).

Q: Am I able to save my LOI/application and return to it at a later date?

You can safely save and resume your proposal any time before the proposal deadline. You will also be able to check the status of your proposal once it has been successfully submitted. Due to the anticipated high volume, we will not be able to follow up on incomplete or inaccurate information. Please be sure that your proposal is complete prior to submission.

Upon submission of your proposal, you will receive an email confirming receipt. Please let us know if you did not get a confirmation email by emailing us at inclusive-entrepreneurship@chanzuckerberg.com with the subject line “Missing Email Confirmation.”

Q: How much is CZI committing to the 2023 Inclusive Entrepreneurship RFA?

The 2023 CZI Community Fund will make an anticipated $3 million in grants to nonprofits. Selected organizations will receive two-year project grants of $500,000.

Q: How do I give feedback on the LOI/application process?

If you have any feedback or questions about the application process, please contact us directly at inclusive-entrepreneurship@chanzuckerberg.com.

Q: What is the payment structure of the Inclusive Entrepreneurship grant?

Selected organizations will receive the entire grant amount ($500,000) at the beginning of the grant period. Since the grant period is two years, the 2-year budget request should not exceed $500,000.