Grants for Staffing Agencies: What They Are and How to Find Them

Last Updated April 17, 2024

In an average fiscal year, employment agencies across the country receive over $150 million in grants. These grants for staffing agencies can provide a lifeline for business owners who need funds to stimulate growth. If you’re looking for funding, grants are a great way to infuse cash into your business.

With that said, let’s talk more about grants for staffing agencies, including how they can help your company, where to find them, and how to apply for a grant.

What Are Grants for Staffing Agencies?

A grant is a type of funding for business ideas, research initiatives, or other projects that require additional cash to properly pursue. Most often, they’re awarded by the government (government grants) or foundations (foundation grants).

Grants inject cash into businesses to help them cover costs for various projects or ideas that are expected to benefit some facet of the public and contribute to the economy in the process. Specifically, grants for staffing agencies are often awarded with the expectation that they will benefit the public and help the economy through, unsurprisingly, lowering unemployment.

Government vs. Foundation Grants

Government grants and foundation grants are very similar. The lone major difference obviously lies in the source of the funds.

Government grants are available to nonprofit and for-profit businesses. Individuals can also apply for government grants, but requirements can be stringent. Some commonly recognized government grants include the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) and EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan). If your staffing agency has suffered as a result of economic turmoil, you might qualify for an EIDL.

Foundation grants are also available to nonprofit and for-profit businesses along with individuals. Many of these are specifically tailored for startups or small businesses with a budget under $1 million and for new businesses less than five years old. Because of the sheer quantity and flexibility of foundation grants, they’re more attainable than government grants. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a prominent example, though this foundation offers funds for far larger-scale projects than a startup or small staffing agency would require.

How Grants Can Help Staffing Agencies

Even the most successful small staffing agency owners are accustomed to operating on a tight budget. Grants can provide a funding cushion for a certain project or initiative that otherwise would be difficult to complete due to insufficient cash. They can also be granted as a sort of relief program for business owners struggling due to circumstances out of their control, such as natural disasters or economic downfall due to COVID-19.

Specifically, grants for staffing agencies and other employment agencies have been awarded for:

• Job Training
• Scaling Plans
• Recruitment, Training, and Job Placements for Seniors
• Employment Opportunities for Educators
• Recovery from COVID-19-Related Economic Challenges

In a given year, over 1,000 employment agencies and job training programs nationwide receive grants from one of the hundreds of foundations (often nonprofits) that award them.

Grants Available for Staffing Agencies

Some of the foundations that have provided the most grants for staffing agencies nationwide include:

• JP Morgan Chase Foundation
• The Boston Foundation
• Seattle Foundation
• Baird Foundation
• Synchrony Foundation

These foundations alone awarded 134 grants to staffing and other employment agencies in a single year, granting funds ranging from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars for various initiatives.

This is a good time to point out that the majority of staffing agency grants were awarded for less than $10,000. However, on occasion, $100,000 to $1 million grants (and higher) have been provided. For example, the aforementioned Boston Foundation granted $3,000,000 to a business that assists urban young adults with professional and career development. Keep in mind, though, that these larger grants are awarded to larger businesses. If you’re still in the startup phase, you likely won’t have projects that require an additional $10,000 or more. Furthermore, foundation grants are often only accessible to businesses in certain locations (for example, Seattle Foundation), in a specific industry, or with a specific budget.

How to Apply for a Grant

Every foundation will have a distinctive process for applying for their grant. However, the application process will almost always involve compiling and sending your business’ financial statements (balance sheet, profit & loss statement, cash flow statement), business plan, mission statement, budget, project description, and cover letter. GrantWatch.com is a fantastic resource, listing the majority of foundation and corporation grants.

Government grants can be found on grants.gov. The website includes a resource for how to apply for grants, which involves creating a “workspace.”

Other Funding Options for Staffing Agencies

A grant is just one example of an alternative lending solution for business owners. If a couple hundred or thousand dollars won’t suffice, there are other alternative financing options you can explore to help fund your staffing agency.

Other popular types of financing for staffing companies are comprised of:

• Traditional Bank Financing (startups and small staffing firms can have trouble qualifying)
• Crowdfunding
• Peer-to-Peer Lending
• SBA Loans
• Payroll Funding

Payroll Funding

Payroll funding is essentially invoice factoring tailored for staffing companies. The process is simple. Once a factoring agreement has been signed, outstanding receivables are sold to a third-party “factoring company” in exchange for an immediate cash advance of up to 90% of each invoice value.

Staffing agency owners use payroll funding for a multitude of reasons. First, it’s not a loan, so no debt is incurred and no assets are sacrificed aside from the AR itself. Additionally, cash is advanced so quickly (usually within 24 hours of the invoice being sent to the factoring company) that it invokes an immediate cash flow improvement and an uptick in working capital.

Plus, qualifying is quick and easy. Qualification isn’t dependent on business credit score or credit history, meaning most startup staffing agencies are eligible for payroll funding.

In Summary: Exploring Grants for Your Staffing Agency

Grants are a fantastic way to help fund your staffing agency without having to dig into your own pockets to pay back the provider. Some grants can be more competitive to win than others, so don’t be discouraged if the first couple of grants you apply for don’t lead to anything in return. Keep researching, keep applying, and keep exploring ways to finance your next innovative idea or project.

If you’re having trouble coming up with funds to grow your staffing agency, it’s worth exploring invoice factoring. This form of payroll funding is a popular alternative for small business owners who need additional cash to reach their growth goals but can’t qualify for traditional lending options.

If you think your staffing agency could benefit from this form of financing, feel free to reach out to altLINE at (205) 607-0811, or fill out our free payroll funding quote form.