By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting In all my years consulting with manufacturers and for-profit companies, I have yet to find one company leader who has come to me with a list of grants to support their growth. Why is this the case? Wouldn’t company leaders naturally want to look for grants and/or incentives once they

By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting In our line of work, there is a strong misperception that grants are only for non-profits.  However, as I have mentioned in previous articles, there are many grants specifically created to support for-profit businesses.  This article will discuss the distinction between businesses and manufacturers, grants available to businesses and a

By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting Manufacturing companies are known for their ability to manufacture quality US made products while maintaining strong profits and keeping their customers happy.  One thing that is not normally associated with manufacturing is research and development or R&D.  Though this may be the case, a lot of manufacturers conduct R&D activities

By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting It sometimes feels as though grant applications are as varied and different from one another as snowflakes vary and are different in size and shape! After all, each state has a different training program (or multiple programs) with a different application portal and a unique application form for each program.

By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting Many states offer manufacturing incentives, which includes grants and tax credits.  These incentives are meant to fund hiring, workforce development and capital investment.  For example, states offer training grants, equipment tax credits, state R&D tax credits (to offset state tax liability for product development and trial efforts), and apprenticeship funding. 

By: Micki Vandeloo, President, Lakeview Consulting Training grants have long been offered by state economic development organizations and by Workforce Opportunity Innovation Act (WIOA) Centers (or Job Centers as they are called in some states).  They are also the most well-known source of funding in the manufacturing community. But today’s training grants have evolved and changed