The ESO (Entrepreneurial Support Organization) Development Fund supports Winston-Salem-based organizations whose core functions directly serve Winston-Salem-based early-stage companies to support the creation of jobs and investment in Forsyth County. The Fund provides Entrepreneurial Catalyst Grants of up to $10,000 annually per ESO / applicant to advance operations, programs, or initiatives that strengthen the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Awards are typically between $5,000 and $10,000. These are not restricted funds, but they cannot be used for: debt servicing, unrelated overhead, or staff bonuses.
Grant Cycle
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- Application Period: June 16, 2025 – July 3, 2025
- Application Review: July 3, 2025 – July 17, 2025
- Announcement of Grant Recipients: July 24, 2025
- Grant Cycle: August 1, 2025 – August 1, 2026
Eligible Activities
Capacity Building for Operations: Applications that support the organization’s growth and/or increased capacity to serve more founders / early-stage companies will be accepted.
Program Development & Deployment: Recurring, new, or existing educational programs with defined timeframes that directly advance multiple idea/early-stage companies. Most attractive programs will be those that have definitive programming time windows and cater, in a direct manner, to the advancement of multiple idea/early-stage companies.
Resource Deployment: Providing tools or resources (e.g., software) that promote founders / early-stage companies’ growth. We define a resource as a tool that an early-stage company can utilize to aid in its growth. For example, an organization adopts and provides a software tool to its respective companies that aids in the improvement of their business development processes and practices.
Event Offering: Events that strengthen the local entrepreneurial community, with strong founders’ involvement. The goal of an event must be to provide a space that aids in further cultivating the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County entrepreneurship/small business.
Early-Stage Fundraising Support: Activities that improve founders / early-stage companies’ chances of raising capital, including educational offerings and investor awareness events. The types of proposals that we will consider are recurring and, in some way, spotlight or help to improve local early-stage companies’ chances of raising capital. An organization can do this via educational offerings or events, and programs to augment investor awareness of local early-stage companies.
Ecosystem-Wide Marketing: Marketing efforts that promote both the organization’s core activities and the broader Winston-Salem / Forsyth County entrepreneurial ecosystem. This type of proposal should be tailored to an organization’s marketing efforts related to its core organizational activities. For example, an organization is seeking to promote its accelerator program to attract more applicants. The secondary requirement is that the marketing efforts must also promote the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.