Ebay Foundation To Fund MicroBusiness Technology Grants

The Ebay Foundation Techquity progam will fund grants to help microbusinesses upgrade their technology without incurring new debt. Here’s the press release from the Association for Enterprise Opportunity:

eBay Foundation and the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) are pleased to announce their continued partnership on the eBay Foundation Techquity Program. This program will provide funds to microentrepreneurs for the purchase of technology equipment and to microenterprise organizations for operating the project and providing technology training to their clients. This year we are also pleased that the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has joined as a project partner.

The success of the pilot year of the eBay Foundation Techquity Program was testament to our belief that microentrepreneurs have a better chance of success if they can utilize new, high quality technology for their businesses without adding debt. The program will also provide an opportunity for microentrepreneurs to start or expand their businesses on-line.

We invite you to learn more about this program and encourage you to apply. Five microenterprise organizations will be selected to be Local Partners in the program, joining the existing four partners from the pilot year. One of the five new partners will be selected from within the ARC region.

Please review the enclosed project information and complete the application as required. There will be an informational call on October 25th to answer any questions you may have. You may also contact Zulma Bianca, Managing Director, AEO, at zbianca@assoceo.org. Grant applications must be received electronically, via email to boconnor@assoceo.org no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, November 17, 2006. Successful applicants will be notified in mid January 2007.

Meet some Ebay Techquity Grant Recipients here. Here Techquity recipient Somer Gardiner is pictured. According to the Ebay Foundation…

Somer used her eBay Foundation Techquity grant to acquire the EffortlessE.com POS system, Broderbund Print Shop 21 Pro, Microsoft Works 8.0 and a Monitor. Somer says she has seen a 33% increase in business revenue and a 10% increase in customers since acquiring her new technology products.