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You have been selected to receive the inaugural Black Entrepreneur Collective $1,000 grant to help Black-owned businesses in the Chicagoland area. The funds for this grant were raised on Facebook, where 237 people donated, with an average donation of $59.  After about 6 weeks, the fund raised just about $14,000. As an inaugural recipient of this grant, you will be required to help bring awareness to The Black Entrepreneur Collective™ so that we can begin our next campaign to raise funds in January 2021 and give grants to more businesses like yours.

 

What now?

To receive the $1K grant from the fund, please carefully read the requirements, sign and submit by 10/26/20.  Requirements are below and on the form, where you will submit everything requested.

 

About the founder of The Black Entrepreneur Collective™

As a small business owner, Stacey Pitts Caldwell, owner of SMP Creative Business & Design™ wanted to rally support for Black-owned small businesses in the Chicagoland area and raise money to help them during COVID-19 and all the civil unrest as Crisis Relief. Yes, there were funding options (mostly loans) available to try and alleviate the burden on small businesses, BUT they were geared toward the larger small businesses in the beginning. Slowly we saw loans/grants specific to micro-businesses and Black-owned small businesses, but there were very few. In May 2020, The Black Entrepreneur Collective became an initiative to raise money on Facebook to support Black-owned businesses.

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Requirements to receive the $1K grant (you must submit your agreement form, send your Selfie Thank You Video and post to your social media account tagging TBEC)

 

As a recipient, you agree to assist us in raising awareness and sharing your story on social media:

• Social Media Post on Facebook & IG tagging/mentioning TBEC | Facebook @BlackEntrepreneurCollective, Instagram @tbecollective. Simply copy and paste post below along with any of the attached images.  Of course, you can create your own post and share as much as you like to help us talk about this initiative and prepare for fundraising round 2 in January 2021!
   

I just received a grant from The Black Entrepreneur Collective™ which is an initiative started back in May to help small Black-owned businesses in the Chicagoland area during this tough time.  Every little bit counts right? Please support this initiative by sharing, donating, or purchasing a tee shirt so they can give more grants to businesses like mine.  #TBEcollective #blackentrepreneurcollective #TheBEC #TBEC #supportthecollective #supportblackowned
 

• Thank You Selfie Video - email to BlackEntrepreneurCollective@gmail.com and share on social media

  • less than 1 minute so that we can share on Instagram and Facebook via TBEC social media accounts

• Headshot or picture of the owner for a TBEC frame that we will share with you once we announce grant recipients, and on TBEC social media

• Business Logo in Vector (.ai, .eps, .svg) file, if applicable, or high res PNG (.png) file 

• T-Shirt Size for a unisex, crew neck TBEC branded shirt

• SHORT (a paragraph or LESS) blurb about your business 

• Check Presentation Date preference for an in-person or virtual "BIG CHECK" presentation to be held at your business location or via Zoom

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Stacey Pitts Caldwell, MBA

Owner, SMP Creative Business & Design™ 

Founder of The Black Entrepreneur Collective™