Business Development Organizations

The Partnership

Rural LISC is excited to announce Rural LISC's new partnership with Mastercard Strive USA, starting in August 2024. Through this partnership, Rural LISC and Mastercard Strive USA will foster collaboration, drive innovation, and amplify the impact of rural-serving organizations across the country providing small business technical assistance. This partnership allows the Rural LISC BDO Network to expand and offer new trainings, tools, and access to funding opportunities.

The Business Development Network

The Business Development Organization (BDO) Network is a group of business development organizations, supported by Rural LISC, who provide coaching, mentoring, trainings, and financial resources to their community's small businesses and entrepreneurs. Our work has shown that rural-serving BDOs are hungry for learning opportunities and connections to reliable, relevant, and cutting-edge best practices, trainings, resources, and peer networking.

Benefits of Membership

Peer Networking Connect with your business development peers across the country to foster collaboration and gain valuable insight.
Go Digital Access tools and resources to make it simpler for you to digitalize your operations and transition to tech-forward ways of working.
Access to Capital and Experts Connect to national experts and potential sources of capital for small businesses.
Access to LISC Financing Products, both for BDOs themselves and for their business-owner clients
Data Management platform access. This LISC-built data system allows BDOs to organize the information needed to track clients and report outcomes, and allow LISC to measure and report the overall impact of our BDO partners.
Advocacy. LISC advocates for ample funding streams and smart policy to support underappreciated BDOs in the work they do - among philanthropic and corporate funders, and the local, state, and federal levels of government

Membership Expectations

Participation - Actively engage in events to share experiences and insights with others
Database Management - Maintain an active database to track activities and outcomes
Positive Client Outcomes - Demonstrate positive client outcomes such as numbers of small businesses with improved operations, access to capital, increases in leveraged funding, etc
Reporting and Feedback - Provide reports, capturing quantitative and qualitative data related to the achievement of anticipated program results

In the news:

9.26.2024 - In the News LISC Stories Funder in the Spotlight

Nadia Villagrán talks Mastercard Strive on RFD-TV

Our new partnership with Mastercard Strive is big news for #Rural #SmallBusiness! Nadia Villagrán, Director of Rural LISC, joined RFD-TV to discuss the impact the $1.5M grant will have on our network of Rural business development organizations.