Rural Business Opportunity Grants (RBOG)

Providing grants to nonprofits and public bodies for community planning, technical assistance, and training for rural businesses

The purpose of the Rural Business Opportunity Grants Program is to promote sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs. This is accomplished by making grants to pay costs of providing economic planning for rural communities, technical assistance for rural businesses, or training for rural entrepreneurs or economic development officials.

Application and Financial Information
Projects eligible for RBOG funding compete based on certain grant selection criteria. Priority points are awarded to those projects that best meet these criteria and are ranked from the highest to the lowest scoring. The criteria include the sustainability and quality of the economic activity expected; the amount of leveraging of other funds; economic conditions in the service area, and the project’s usefulness as a new best practice.

Applications are funded up to the maximum amount available in any given funding cycle. The statutory limit for fiscal year 2004 is $1.5 million. The size of grants approved is limited by the amount of program funds available. Most FY 2004 grants will be $50,000 or less.

You may file applications with the Rural Development State Office in the state where the grant purposes will be carried out. First, obtain a copy of the program regulation (4284G) and refer to the application section. A complete application must be filed before it will be scored. An application can be obtained at: www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/rbog.htm.

Eligibility, Uses, and Restrictions
To be eligible for a Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG), an applicant must be a public body, nonprofit corporation, Indian Tribe, or cooperative with members that are primarily rural residents.

You must also have significant expertise in the activities you propose to carry out with the grant funds and financial strength to ensure you can accomplish the objectives of the proposed grant.

You must also be able to show that the funding will result in economic development of a rural area (which is defined as any area other than a city or town that has a population of greater than 50,000 inhabitants and the urbanized area contiguous and adjacent to such a city or town). Your project must include a basis for determining the success or failure of the project and assessing its impact.

Grant funds may not be used for:

Duplication of current services or replace or substitute support previously provided
Costs of preparing the application
Costs incurred before the date of the grant
Political activities
Acquisition of real estate, building construction, or development

Contact
Additional information, copies of the regulations, and forms can be obtained by contacting any USDA Rural Development State Office. Check your telephone directory under "Federal Government" or visit the Rural Development Field Office website to obtain addresses and telephone numbers of state offices.

For further information on this program, please call the state office servicing your state.

Marc Warman
National Program Office
Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Specialty Lenders Division
1400 Independence Ave, SW, Stop 3225
Washington, DC 20250-1521
Phone: (202) 720-6819; Fax: (202) 720-2213

Internet
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/rbog.htm

Last Updated January 24, 2005