Genesis of this Initiative: 

Accelerate Montana, Catalyze Global Impact LLC, and the Women's Entrepreneurship & Leadership Lab launched this initiative exploring Access to Finance for Businesses in Montana in 2022 to better understand:

• Who provides small business finance in Montana

• Which businesses receive financing

• What type and volume of financing to businesses receive

• What are the financing needs expressed by businesses

• How to ease market bottlenecks in the flow of small business finance across Montana.

To achieve this goal, the project team, guided by a deeply experienced advisory committee from across Montana, designed and implemented two quantitative surveys and over 125 qualitative interviews from 2022 to 2023.

Part 1 - A Survey of Funders focused on lenders, investors, state and federal agencies, and foundations that fund Montana’s small businesses.

Part 2 - A Survey of Montana Businesses focused on business owners, from solo entrepreneurs to businesses employing more than 50 people.

This report provides quantitative information, views of specialists across the state, and recommendations that state and federal policymakers, lenders, investors, and economic development organizations can use in shaping small business programs. We hope the study findings will generate discussions to pursue new opportunities that will increase the flow of successful business financing in Montana.