How to Get Grant Money and Other Benefits for Your Business

By Serena Solomon

NEW YORK CITY — ForStellaService, a local tech company that helps other companies improve customer service, buying a decent coffee machine was the cherry on top of winning a $250,000 grant in 2013.

"It really allowed us to move into a much more comfortable space and get amenities that you think would be standard, but if you are a startup those things are not guaranteed," said Ty McMahan, StellaService's senior director of content.

At the time, the growing company had 20 employees packed into a 1,000-square-foot office in Flatiron. The grant helped facilitate its move to a wide-open space in Lower Manhattan.

StellaService won the grant in the Take the H.E.L.M competition, a New York City Economic Development Corporation initiative that aims to keep Lower Manhattan's economy bubbling.

The sweetener is just a fraction of what's available to small businesses in the form of grants and government contracts. This year, for example, the city'sEDC will give away more than $35 million and Empire State Developmenthas hundreds of millions in funding and loans.

Continue reading here:http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141022/battery-park-city/how-get-grant-money-other-benefits-for-your-business