(Kansas City, MO) – Startup non-profit Generating Income for Tomorrow (G.I.F.T.) has created a new model for growing Black-owned business in Kansas City’s urban core, achieving extraordinary success in only two years. Founded in May 2020, G.I.F.T has already given $687,000 worth of grants, helping 35 black-owned business to expand and creating 58 new jobs in Kansas City’s urban core. In spring of 2022, the organization opened the G.I.F.T. Business Center to provide technical resources to even more black-owned businesses.
“Through G.I.F.T. we are striving to break down the barriers to growth and success for Black-owned business,” said Brandon Calloway, CEO and co-founder of G.I.F.T. “We find that Black businesses in high poverty areas face not only a lack of financing, but also a lack of relationships and network.”
In addition to funding, G.I.F.T. grant recipients receive a year of technical assistance with access to business coaching, accounting and law services. The new G.I.F.T. Business Center enables the organization to broaden its reach by providing technical assistance to black-owned businesses beyond its grant recipients.
G.I.F.T. has a specific interest in helping existing businesses that operate in low-income areas to grow. By creating more jobs, the organization hopes to convert an economically disadvantaged area into an area of economic opportunity.
“Because we focus on providing grants for business to be able to grow their capacity, we are able to make a very big impact,” says Calloway. “We are averaging one new job created for every $10,000 in grant funding we provide.”
In the next five years, G.I.F.T. plans to secure fundraising to sustain its efforts in the Kansas City market and then begin to replicate the model in other communities.
G.I.F.T.’s impact is gaining considerable traction and notice in its region in a very short time. The Kansas City Business Journal calls G.I.F.T.’s grant program “one of Kansas City’s most important funders of Black-owned business.”
Brandon Calloway grew up in the urban core of Kansas City and has long been committed to finding ways to create transformative change in the areas of the city that need it most. Harnessing his combined 10 years of experience in the business and nonprofit sectors, Calloway drives the work happening at G.I.F.T. to have a direct impact on closing Kansas City’s racial wealth gap.
Founded in 2020, Generating Income For Tomorrow (G.I.F.T.) is a movement dedicated to cementing a better future for all. G.I.F.T. provides grants and technical support to Black-owned businesses in Kansas City, with a specific interest in businesses that operate in low-income areas. Strengthening and growing these small businesses creates more jobs and potentially converts an economically disadvantaged area into an area of economic opportunity. G.I.F.T. strive to be an actionable step to closing the racial wealth gap, reducing poverty-related crime and reversing the effects of systemic racism. Kansascitygift.org
