WBD is excited to partner with Red Letter Grant to support and empower women throughout west central Wisconsin! Our partnership with Red Letter Grant and many other organizations is part of our mission to support non-profit organizations focused on growing small business in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
About Red Letter Grant
Red Letter Grant was founded in 2016 as a social entrepreneurship endeavor and later became a nonprofit in 2019. Their program’s aim is to support and empower women entrepreneurs throughout west central Wisconsin by providing start-up capital grants to women entrepreneurs on a bi-annual basis. Applicants submit business plans that are peer reviewed by a rotating panel of women in business and top applicants are called back for an interview. All applicants receive critical feedback to take their ideas to market. Four awardees per period take home $2,000 grants. To date, they have helped 39 businesses launch throughout their current service area - ten counties in West Central Wisconsin.
Red Letter Grant has been looking to expand their grant program to serve eight more counties in Northwest Wisconsin - furthering their mission and providing more resources particularly for women entrepreneurs in rural communities. Currently, the Red Letter Grant serves ten counties throughout West Central Wisconsin: Buffalo, Clark, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Jackson, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix, and Trempealeau. This project will expand their program service area to 18, adding eight new counties. These counties include: Barron, Burnett, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor and Washburn – which are rural communities that lack resources for entrepreneurial support in this region of Wisconsin.
Red Letter Grant is Poised to Expand
Red Letter Grant's plans for expansion are extensive, and the counties where they'll be able to assist women entrepreneurs will benefit in significant ways. Here are some of their expansion goals that WBD will help support:
- Hiring a part-time staffer to oversee grant expansion, building a fundraising campaign and stakeholder relationships.
- Award $16,000 in start-up capital to aid in the launch of 12 new businesses over the next two years in Northwest Wisconsin.
- Growing their board to include two members from the new service area.
- Expand their info session offerings and grassroots outreach to more rural communities and more diverse populations.
WBD Support
WBD has awarded Red Letter News grants for FY 23 and FY 24!
Red Letter Grant Contact
Program Founder – Becca Cooke – 715-829-0165 – becca@redlettergrant.org
For more information, visit their website and watch their video - https://www.redlettergrant.org/.
Also, several news outlets have picked up our partnership story, including WQOW in Eau Claire. Click here to find out more.
WBD is a mission based non profit working to help grow business, create jobs and build communities. To support its mission, WBD makes grants to other non profit organizations who are working on programs aligned with the WBD mission. For more information on how to apply for grant funding from WBD visit: https://www.wbd.org/opportunityfunds
