Residents of East Lansing showed how much they love their local businesses last month when they voted in Intuit’s Love a Local Business competition — enough times to earn the city $26,000 in cash grants.
Intuit, a software company that aims to solve financial management problems of small- and mid-sized businesses, created the Love a Local Business competition to help support small businesses throughout the country.
“Any way we can help the small businesses grow a little bit or get back on their feet is a win for us,” Monica Appelbe, Intuit’s public relations manager, said
East Lansing was one of two cities in the country selected as competition winners in June.
”It’s great news,” Lori Mullins, East Lansing community and economic development administrator, said. “We definitely have a lot of wonderful businesses here in our community.”
After East Lansing was selected as a winning city, three local businesses in the city were selected in a raffle to receive a $5,000 cash grant. East Lansing’s Chamber of Commerce also was awarded an $11,000 grant.
“The three that were chosen all have potential for expansion and so that’s exciting that they were chosen,” Mullins said.
How the money is used is up to the recipients to decide.
Ideally, the money would be used to stimulate hiring growth, Appelbe said.
“(Intuit) would love to see (the money) put toward hiring part-time work or contracting,” Appelbe said.
Michigan Safety Conference, a nonprofit organization focused on workplace safety training, is one of the three winners.
For a nonprofit relying heavily on sponsorships and donations, winning this competition was very important, Denise McGinn, Michigan Safety Conference executive director, said.
The money the company receives will be used to purchase new software that they would not have been able to afford without the grant.
The company also hopes to benefit from the media attention it received because of the competition, McGinn said.
Association Guidance, a company providing management advice and administrative services to nonprofit organizations, also was selected as one of the winners.
“We are ecstatic to win one of the Love a Local Business program grants from Intuit,” Darryl McGinn, Association Guidance co-owner, said in an email.
The company plans to use the grant money to add additional members to its staff.
The third winning company, Comprehensive Emergency Management Associates, or CEMA, is unsure of what it will do with the money they will receive.
CEMA is a consulting firm specializing in emergency training and planning.
Although CEMA currently has no concrete plan for how its money will be used, CEMA co-founder and principal officer Joseph Defors said there are several possibilities.
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“That’s a lot of money for a small company,” Defors said. “We’ve got lots of areas that we can invest it in and use it well.”
Not only will the money be beneficial to CEMA, but it also will be beneficial to the city of East Lansing, Defors said.
“Anything that supports and promotes small businesses is good not only for the business, but it’s good for the community as well,” he said.
