Microgrants

Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Microgrants From the Trinity Entrepreneurship Center.

Information and Guidelines

Trinity College students can apply for Microgrant funding totaling $1,500 to help establish the foundational elements of their startup venture.  Microgrant funds are commonly used for establishment of legal entities, trademarks, provisional patent filing fees, and the like.

Key Program Dates

Application Stages	Deadlines
Application	Apply Anytime: Application Form
Review	Applications Reviewed Promptly
Grant Completion	Submit Expenses During Current School Year
Unused Funds	Will Be Forfeit

Eligibility

• All full-time Trinity College students (undergraduate, graduate) are eligible to apply.
• Students from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply. Preference will NOT be given to students studying business-oriented majors.
• Students may apply as individuals or in groups.
• Students are eligible for up to three $500 Microgrants ($1,500) during their Trinity College tenure.
• Proposals may include faculty or staff in a mentoring or advisory role only, not as a group member. A faculty/staff sponsor is not required.
• Awards are made to students. If an award is made to a group, all members of the group share it equally.

Students must apply for grants and not all applications are approved for funding.  Students apply sequentially for funding — students applying for Seed grants, for instance, should have exhausted their Microgrant and Pre-Seed Grant options beforehand.

Filing Requirements

• Presentation Deck
• Business Model Canvas
• Product Plan
• Respond to all questions via email from Grant Review Committee

Allowed Expenses

Students are encouraged to be creative with their requests, with the one restriction that all proposed expenses must directly relate to innovation or entrepreneurship and must be packaged as some sort of specific initiative that meets a need appropriate for this stage of their company. Requests should be the $200 to $500 range and meet the other criteria below.

• Market research
• Marketing, including business cards and logo wear
• Website development and domain registration
• Product design
• Programming or coding
• Patent searches or trademark expenses
• Startup legal costs including company formation filings costs
• Freelance/Consulting support

Unacceptable expenses include instances where the full expense is substantially greater than the amount of the microgrant, and the microgrant award would not enable the student to achieve the full coverage of the expense.  Also, grants may not be used directly for expenses related to salaries, meals, entertainment, or travel.

It is important to note that the Entrepreneurship Center will only reimburse or pay directly invoices once they have been received by the Center. At the discretion of the Center, students may be reimbursed for the invoices. or Trinity will directly pay the invoices. If any services or transactions are cancelled, funds must be returned to the Entrepreneurship Center.

Application Procedure

To receive a Microgrant, successful applicants must:

• Submit an Application Form including a written Proposal and Budget that demonstrates the use of 100% of the requested microgrant funds. A request for less than $500 is allowed and the student can subsequently request the balance in another request.  Trinity Entrepreneurship Center staff will promptly acknowledge receipt of your application and competitively review all proposals promptly.

Proposals should be two pages (a one-page project activities narrative and a one-page budget).  The narrative proposal should allow reviewers to evaluate:

• the appropriateness of the proposed activities to meet the clearly stated project objective, and
• the impact these activities will have on the success of the venture.

The project narrative should also include a timeline for the completion of the proposed activities.

The budget proposal should contain all information required to evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed activities/expenses, including:

• all proposed expenditures listed in line-item format with accurate, well researched cost estimates
• a verbal explanation of why precise budget details cannot be provided, if that is the case

Grant recipients must provide a report after the funds are spent with receipts and documentation and a budget analysis. The report should also detail the progress the student made that was aided by the grants and include photos of the students with their grant funded materials, projects, and customers as appropriate.

Students may apply for up to 3 Microgrants for their ventures. Prior grants must be completed and the report submitted before a student is eligible to apply for another Microgrant.

These Microgrants are selected by and administered via the Trinity Entrepreneurship Center. Funds awarded are based on independent criteria developed by the Trinity Entrepreneurship Center.