City of Flagstaff’s Economic Development Program Mission
Enhancing prosperity, long-term viability, and resilience of our community.
Applications close on October 31
Small businesses are a cornerstone of our economic landscape and health in Flagstaff. The City of Flagstaff offers an annual competitive grant program to directly support existing small businesses in Flagstaff.
Proposals for grants of $2,500 to $30,000 may be awarded. The city has allocated $45,000 for this incentive for FY27; up to $15,000 of the total allocation may be awarded to nonprofit(s).
EMPLOYEES
Does your business employ between 1 and 150 people?
SECTORS
Can you find your business in the following business sectors?
Entrepreneurial companies, start-ups, bio-sciences, medical device, research and development, health care, clean energy, software development, forestry, food processing, and education.
ELIGIBILITY
You may be eligible to apply for funding between $2,500 and $30,000 to help you stay and grow in Flagstaff.
Applications must be submitted to cznetko@flagstaffaz.gov between September 1 and October 31.
Applications will be scored on four criteria:
- Wages of the jobs being retained or created relative to the Greater Flagstaff Metropolitan median wage and sector
- Environmental impact relative to water and power usage and volume of waste going into the landfill
- Direct community benefit
- The private investment match
Businesses related to the following targeted industries will be prioritized; all small businesses are welcome to apply:
- Research and Development
- Flagstaff Pulliam Airport Airside
- Research and Development
- Health Care
- Clean Energy
- Biosciences
- Software Development
- Medical Devices
- Forest
- Food Processing
Applicants are eligible if the following criteria are met:
- Operations are physically located within the City of Flagstaff municipal boundary.
- Nonprofit entities focused on economic development issues and located within the City of Flagstaff municipal boundary are eligible to apply for the Business Retention & Expansion Program Incentive, provided they meet all other program requirements. Eligible nonprofit organizations must demonstrate how the propose project will help retain or create jobs, support organizational growth, or address a business challenge through Economic Development activities. Nonprofit applicants will be evaluated using the same criteria as other applicants, including job creation, environmental impact, direct community benefit and private investment or matching funds.
Applicants are encouraged to focus on providing low environmental impact high-wage jobs.
Applying
Any applicant interested in applying for the limited available funds must submit the following information between September 1 and October 31, 2026:
A description of any proposed direct benefits to the community (beyond standard operations) such as infrastructure, workforce development opportunities for residents or students, volunteer work, or some other benefit that the business is able to offer the community.
- Attach your current business plan.
- Provide a written narrative of the venture which includes:
- A description of the business or organization;
- How it benefits the local community;
- Your current business challenge that could be addressed with this grant;
- Your proposed solution(s) to address the challenge(s) demonstrating a correlation between a grant award and the proposed solution;
- The number of jobs you will retain or create.
- Budget and general schedule; what do you plan to do with the award and when?
- The Greater Flagstaff Metropolitan Area median wage is $29.44/hour (US Bureau of Labor and Statistics) What is the wage of the jobs you are retaining or creating?
- Describe your business’s overall resource use and environmental impact. This may include energy and water consumption, waste generated, or other resource consumption through your operations.
- Describe any direct community benefits (beyond standard operations) such as infrastructure, workforce development opportunities for residents or students, volunteer engagement, or some other benefit that the business is able to offer to the community.
- This Business Retention & Expansion Incentive Program requires that you provide a cash match for any funding you are requesting. Does your requested amount equal your cash match?
Submission
Please submit all proposals for incentive requests by email to: Creag Znetko at cznetko@flagstaffaz.gov.
The subject title should be listed as: BR&E Grant Application.
Scoring
A scoring panel comprised of staff and community members offices will review and rank application. Each complete application will be ranked based upon an overall tally of available points for four separate criteria:
Wages (25pts): A comparison of the wages of the jobs being retained or created relative to the Greater Flagstaff Metropolitan Area median wage and relative to the average sector wage.
Environmental Impact (25pts): A narrative of the impact of the applicant’s businesses relative impacts to water and energy usage, and to the community waste stream;
Direct Community Benefit (40pts): A description of any proposed direct benefits to the community (not just the applicant’s business) such as infrastructure, workforce development opportunities for residents or students, volunteer work, or some other benefit that the business is able to offer to the community;
Match (10pts): An accounting of the applicant’s private investment relative to the requested grant.
Funding
The funding allocated for this incentive is $45,000 for FY27. This isa reimbursement grant and will be paid out based on receipts for actual expenditures. The range of awarded grant amounts could be $2,500 to $30,00; therefore, it is possible that only one application may be awarded or multiple applications may be awarded. The scoring committee will determine the number of awards based upon the final rank and consideration of each application. A not-for-profit organization may apply for up to $15,000.
A single Business may be awarded a grant up to three times, but will not be awarded a grant in any successive fiscal year. For example, if a grant is awarded in FY25, the business is not eligible for another grant until FY27.
Reporting
Successful applicants will provide annual updates for two years after a grant award. Successful applicants will meet with City of Flagstaff Economic Development staff quarterly over the duration of the grant. One of the primary purposes of this program is to provide ongoing support to local businesses. Successful applicants may be included in future marketing efforts for the City of Flagstaff.