San Francisco Business Portal

Review the descriptions of each nonprofit to learn how they can help you.

Last modified date: Mon, 08/25/2014 - 09:48

Children’s Council of SF

Children’s Council offers free and low-cost professional development courses for prospective, licensed, and license-exempt child care providers in San Francisco. The Council’s Provider Support Services offers technical assistance in English, Spanish and Chinese, for providers before, during, and after licensure. The supportive services include: Assistance with child care licensure, free and low-cost workshops, one-on-one home visits and consultations, advice on business development, access to the providers’ business center and the Lending Library.

http://www.childrenscouncil.org/

Chinese Newcomers Service Center

The Chinese Newcomers Service Center (CNSC) provides multilingual services that help Chinese immigrants adapt to life in the United States. CNSC provides information and referral services, citizenship services, job preparation workshops, form filling, translation services, and free income tax preparation. CNSC also offers educational classes on such topics as computers, ESL, and citizenship.

http://www.chinesenewcomers.org/en/front-page/

Excelsior Action Group

The Excelsior Action Group engages residents, merchants, neighborhood institutions, associations, and city agencies through activities aimed to reinvigorate, green, beautify, strengthen, and unify the Excelsior community. They also conduct door to door outreach to merchants, property owners, residents, and other community stakeholders in the area.

http://www.eagsf.org/

Japantown Task Force

The Japantown Task Force (JTF) develops the City and County of San Francisco's historic Japantown as a culturally and commercially enriched neighborhood and district, and as a local, national, and international resource. JTF works toward creating an atmosphere of safety, beauty, vitality, and prosperity for the present and future residents, organizations, institutions, and businesses residing or located in Japantown. JTF provides technical assistance on commercial leases, loan packaging, marketing, and assists merchants in accessing resources.

http://japantowntaskforce.org/

La Cocina

La Cocina provides a commercial kitchen incubator (for up to five years) as well as technical assistance and training to women food industry entrepreneurs. Knowledgeable volunteer professionals provide assistance to the entrepreneurs in various aspects of business development, including pricing, packaging, target marketing, and more. La Cocina also provides commercial kitchen rental space.

http://www.lacocinasf.org/

Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA)

MEDA’s mission is to achieve economic justice for San Francisco’s low and moderate income Latino families through asset development. MEDA offers microloans up to $10,000. Additionally, their Business Development Program offers individual coaching and group workshops to assist in business planning, marketing, commercial leasing, access to capital, financial projections and budgeting. MEDA’s Business Development Program also offers these services tailored specifically to Family Childcare Providers and provides computer training to entrepreneurs. All services are in Spanish and English.

http://medasf.org/home/

Ocean Avenue Revitalization Collaborative

The Ocean Avenue Revitalization Collaborative engages residents, merchants, neighborhood institutions, associations, and city agencies through activities aimed to reinvigorate, green, beautify, strengthen, and unify the Ocean Avenue community. They also conduct door to door outreach to merchants, property owners, residents, and other community stakeholders in the area.

http://www.oceanave-oarc.org/

Opportunity Fund

Opportunity Fund advances the economic well-being of working people by helping them earn, save, and invest in their future. Opportunity Fund provides Small Business Loans, IDA Savings, and Community Real Estate services. The Opportunity Fund provides loans from $2,600 to $100,000 in the Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles.

http://www.opportunityfund.org/

Pacific Community Ventures

Does your small business need funds to increase inventory, expand or update your space, scale up for a new opportunity, purchase equipment, or add new jobs? Pacific Community Ventures is a nonprofit lender that provides fair and affordable loans from $10,000 — $250,000 to California small businesses. We don’t require a minimum credit score, and specialize in working with small business owners who’ve had a hard time accessing capital, like female entrepreneurs, immigrant entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, and borrowers that may have been turned down for SBA or traditional bank loans.

https://www.pacificcommunityventures.org/

Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center

A nonprofit organization that provides small business classes and workshops to women and men throughout the Bay Area. They also have a business incubator and provide guidance on finance options. The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center offers comprehensive small business training and support services for entrepreneurs at every stage of their business development, from start-up to sustainability and growth. Services include intensive training classes on business planning, skill building and industry specific workshops, financial education, access to capital, IDAs, one-on-one technical assistance, technology training, a women’s business center, fashion industry network, graduate services, and a small business incubator program.

http://www.rencenter.org/

SFMade

SFMade is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports local manufacturers who create jobs and career pathways for local residents who have overcome barriers to employment for a more vibrant, equitable, and resilient economy. Founded in 2010, SFMade has emerged as a full-service hub that connects low-income job seekers to employment and training opportunities; provides local manufacturers with educational resources and customized, one-on-one services; and arms policymakers with strategies and intelligence to create the conditions for home-grown manufacturers and their employees to thrive. At the heart of SFMade’s work is the belief that local manufacturing taps into the unique identity and spirit of the city and the region, and an economy that prioritizes the workers, entrepreneurs, and artisans who make things has the potential for greater social and environmental impact. From bringing manufacturers into high school classrooms and creating internships to provide early exposure to the field, to creating the region’s first and only nonprofit industrial space real estate development company, SFMade is working constantly to help manufacturers flourish and to ensure low-income residents have access to jobs with wages that keep up with the cost of living.

https://sfmade.org/

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

The US Small Business Administration (SBA) Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides a vast array of technical assistance to small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs, including step-by-step business planning. The SBDC provides free, confidential one-on-one business counseling, hands-on workshops and access to capital for existing small businesses and ready to launch startups. SBDC services include counseling and assistance with business plans, financial projections and budgeting, operating challenges, loan packaging and more.

http://sfsbdc.org/

Southeast Asian Community Center (SEACC)

The Southeast Asian Community Center (SEACC) is a multi-service nonprofit that provides business support services include one-on-one technical assistance, credit evaluation and repair, business plan development, financial projections, marketing, business expansions, interpretation and translation services, and loan packaging to small businesses in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. SEACC also makes commercial loans of up to $35,000 to low-income entrepreneurs and small business owners.

http://www.seaccusa.org/

The SF LGBT Community Center

The SF LGBT Community Center Business Development Program provides free one-on-one counseling to address a full spectrum of business planning and marketing needs. Special emphasis is placed on providing strategic support with loans, loan packaging, and post-loan technical assistance. The Center also offers regularly held group workshops on a variety of topics including marketing, business financing, sales, legal, human resources.

http://www.sfcenter.org/

Working Solutions

Working Solutions is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to serving new and existing businesses throughout the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. Services include Microloans (Small Business Loans from $5,000 to $50,000), Technical Assistance and One-On-One Support, No-Cost Referrals to Local Business Resources, and Educational Presentations on Access to Capital. The mission of Working Solutions is to provide underserved microentrepreneurs with the access to capital and resources they need to successfully start or grow viable businesses.

http://www.workingsolutions.org/

Wu Yee Children’s Services

Wu Yee delivers a comprehensive range of services to low-income children and families with three foci – Child Development, Family Services, and Provider Services. The Child Development Department operates centers in the Chinatown/North Beach, the Tenderloin and Visitacion Valley/Sunnydale neighborhoods, and also provides child care through Family Child Care (FCC) and Home-based programs. The Family Services Department built upon the Resource and Referral component, currently offers more comprehensive services for families, especially in Chinatown through the Joy Lok Family Resource Center. The Provider Services Department provides support and services to child care providers and people interested in becoming child care providers to address the shortage in child care.

http://www.wuyee.org/

SF Business Portal

Local Resources

Submit Permit Applications Online

Sign up for a Business Portal account:

Local Resources