For many entrepreneurs just starting out, bootstrapping isn’t just a tactic. It’s a necessity.
But what about innovators who don’t have the resources?
That’s where the Good Neighbor Fund comes in.
The newly formed grassroots organization, founded by Jason Bartz and Susan O’Rourke, aims to be a giving circle to help bridge the gap between ideation and business creation.
“The people that we want to lift here … they have great ideas they’re passionate about that they want to pitch and just need people’s support and the funding to make it happen,” Bartz said.
To start, the Good Neighbor Fund is giving out quarterly micro-grants of $1,000 and will help through its limited partners and partnering organizations network to provide introductions, mentorship and program and accelerator matching. For the first quarter, the group is accepting online applications, and plans to start holding in-person events down the line.
Partnering organizations include BootSector and EforAll.
For its micro-grant program, the Good Neighbor Fund is looking for entrepreneurs, from aspiring restauranters to retailers to techies, who have a business idea that’s pre-revenue and hasn’t raised any funding. The group especially wants to support under-resourced and under-represented entrepreneurs. More criteria information is on the Good Neighbor Fund website.
“How many people had great ideas and best intentions to get started but just didn’t have the money?,” Bartz said. “If we hand them $1,000, can they get it off the ground? Can they get it started? That’s what I want to see.”
He has been an active member of other startups and community-building initiatives in Buffalo, working for ACV Auctions for years before joining New York City-based Vero Technologies last year. (He lives in and works from Buffalo.)
He knows firsthand how expensive it is to an entrepreneur just starting out to incorporate a business or create a good website.
Co-founder O’Rourke also worked at ACV and now works for A2Z Sync, a software development company in the Denver area.
Bartz and O’Rourke have three limited partners on board with the Good Neighbor Fund so far. They’ve gotten a lot of local interest and want to keep it to a maximum of eight limited partners this year. They're also opening a Denver chapter Feb. 1.
The pair is working on partnering with a Buffalo-area school district to do an after-school-program introducing high schoolers to business and entrepreneurship and the opportunities in the local startup community.
They also want to fundraise to give out more awards, like prizes for second and third place for the micro-grant program.
“We are looking to grow this into something that can support as many founders as possible in Buffalo,” Bartz said.
