Gov. Braun announces up to $1M for community-led, entrepreneur-focused grants

Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced the allocation of up to $1 million to the state’s Community Collaboration Fund (CCF), making additional funding available to support community-led projects focused on entrepreneurial education, tech enablement and acceleration across Indiana.

"We're focused on growing Indiana’s entrepreneurial community statewide,” said Gov. Braun. “Each community and each region is unique and is best suited to know what its current and aspiring founders need to grow. This partnership through CCF is designed to help communities lead, making sure Hoosier entrepreneurs have access to the right support system and the right resources locally.”

Through CCF, entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) can apply for matching grants between $5,000-$40,000 to support new community collaborations, services and programming that will benefit Indiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Applications should be designed to fill unique gaps in the organization’s communities in one of the following areas:

• Education: Projects designed to educate entrepreneurs or the general public in some entrepreneurial capacity.

• Tech Enablement: Projects that increase tech access, digital transformation, research/pilots, etc.

• Acceleration: Projects designed to accelerate an entrepreneur’s journey in a given area.

Applications for 2026 CCF funding may be submitted online and must be received by 11:59PM on March 2, 2026. Additional qualifications are outlined below. Community and entrepreneur support organizations interested in learning more should visit the website for detailed guides, instructions, templates and more.

To be eligible, projects must:

• Be managed by an Indiana-based organization serving Indiana residents/businesses;

• Address entrepreneur education, tech enablement or acceleration; 

• Be completed within one year of funds being awarded (July 1, 2026-June 30, 2027); 

• Provide at least a 25% match (required 15% cash match); 

• Be between two or more Indiana-based Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) with one lead ESO; 

• Provide direct entrepreneur support; and,

• Be a new initiative or expansion in the ecosystem. 

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) expects to make grant decisions in early April 2026. Projects will be selected based on their abilities to fill gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, work across community boundaries and support the unique needs of local founders. Ineligible applications include but are not limited to: projects that are duplicative of existing ecosystem offerings, projects that offset the budget of an existing project, event sponsorships, projects focused primarily on planning, or applications that are part of a larger funding request. For-profit entities and organizations that have received $120,000 in prior CCF awards are not eligible to be the lead ESO on a proposed project.

For more questions, organizations may reach out to the Office of Commerce via ccf@iedc.in.gov or a regional Ecosystem Navigator through ConnectIND.