Business Development Organizations

Rural LISC informs and empowers our partners in the Business Development Organizations field through:

• Ongoing capacity-building grants. Many of the BDOs in the Rural LISC network are long-term partners of LISC, and we'll continue to provide resources to help them add capacity for the labor-intensive outreach and coaching they do so well.
• Technical assistance. Our survey showed tht BDOs are hungry for learning and connection to reliable resource streams.
• Access to affordable LISC financing products, both for BDOs themselves and for their business-owner clients.
• Connectivity with like-minded local organizations. BDOs in our network tend to be very skilled at meeting the needs of particular local business constituencies. In order to provide "warm handoff" referrals to business owners who may need additional or different services - and to connect with regional and national opportunities - each BDO needs to be joined to a sturdy, high-functioning network. In markets across the country, LISC is engaged in convening BDOs, business lenders, government entities, and other organizations for that purpose.
• Data management platform access. This LISC-built data system allows BDOs to organize the information needed to track clients and report outcomes, and allow LISC to measure and report the overall impact of our BDO partners.
• Advocacy. LISC advocates for ample funding streams and smart policy to support underappreciated BDOs in the work they do - among philanthropic and corporate funders, and the local, state, and federal levels of government.