New round of Kauffman grants focuses on area entrepreneurship

Four Kansas City area nonprofit organizations that support entrepreneurs received a total of $1 million from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in a round of grants announced this month.

The organizations and what they do to help business startups:

▪ Artist INC, a nonprofit that connects members of the “creative community” to tools, resources and ways to develop their business skills.

▪ KCSourceLink, an organization launched in 2003 by the Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of Missouri-Kansas City to connect entrepreneurs in the 18-county metro area to resources.

▪ Power of Two, a mentoring program of the Enterprise Center in Johnson County, to pair startup businesspeople with experienced mentors.

▪ Women’s Business Center in Kansas City, for technical assistance for its microlending program to assist small businesses that can’t get traditional financing from banks or credit unions.

The foundation, which focuses on entrepreneurship and education as its funding priorities, previously announced other entrepreneurship grants or partnerships to UMKC’s Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center, Pipeline, UMKC’s Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, LaunchCode, Kansas City Startup Week, 1 Week KC, TechWeek: Maker Faire and Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The Kansas City-based foundation also makes civic grants throughout the year to organizations and programs that help the area as a whole or the foundation’s key causes. In 2015, the foundation made 195 grants in Kansas City, totaling more than $62 million.

The foundation said the new round of entrepreneurship grants was in addition to the foundation’s ongoing local education and civic program support.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 10:06 AM with the headline "New round of Kauffman grants focuses on area entrepreneurship."