Canada Book Fund Publishers Business Development — Business Planning
Highlights
This program is designed to support your publishing business by providing financial assistance for internships and business planning. Internships can help you bring in new talent and provide valuable training for future professionals in the book industry. Business planning projects can help you develop strategic approaches to improve your business activities and competitiveness.
What You Get
- Internships: Up to $15,000 for general internships, and up to $22,500 for interns from Indigenous, Racialized, or official language minority communities.
- Technology internships: Up to $20,000 for innovative technology strategies, with higher funding for specific communities.
- Business planning: Up to $50,000 to develop business, succession, or strategic plans, with increased funding for certain publishers.
Why Apply?
- Financial Support: This program covers a significant portion of your project costs, reducing your financial burden.
- Capacity Building: Gain access to skilled interns and strategic business planning to enhance your firm's competitiveness.
- Easy Qualification: If your business meets the criteria, the application process is straightforward and support is readily available.
By participating, you can strengthen your business operations and ensure sustainable growth in the competitive publishing industry.
Financing Details
Type of Financing:
- Grant: This program provides non-repayable funds to eligible businesses.
Eligible Expenses:
Publishing Internships:
- Salary of an intern, including benefits.
- Professional development costs for interns from Indigenous, Racialized, official language minority communities, or those with print disabilities (excluding travel and accommodation).
Technology Internships:
- Similar to publishing internships, with an emphasis on innovative technology strategies in production, marketing, or information management.
Business Planning:
- Fees for independent third-party research and analysis.
- Executive training related to business plan development.
- Administration fees.
Ineligible Expenses:
- Salaries of owners, executives, and employees.
- Travel and accommodation expenses for professional development.
- Any expenses incurred before April 1, 2024.
Fees:
- There are no fees associated with applying for or receiving this grant.
Qualifications
- Must be an individual publishing firm.
- Must have total sales of own titles under $1 million.
- Must have received funding from the Publishing Support sub-component of the CBF’s Support for Publishers component in 2023-2024 or from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Supporting Artistic Practice – Literary Publishers program in the most recent funding cycle.
- For publishing internships, must propose an intern who is Canadian.
- Must demonstrate the capacity to provide a productive training environment for the intern.
- Must provide the opportunity for the intern to contribute to the development of the publishing firm.
- Must assign the intern useful work that the organization could not otherwise undertake due to a lack of human or financial resources.
- For technology internships, must place a significant emphasis on the acquisition and application of skills relating to innovative technology strategies in production, marketing, or information management.
- Must include a strategy for knowledge transfer to ensure the recipient continues to benefit from the work undertaken by the intern after the internship period is completed.
For business planning, must contribute to the development of a business plan, succession plan, or strategic plan related to significant business shifts.
Disqualifications:
- Proposed interns cannot be existing employees of the publishing firm.
- Proposed interns must not have previously benefited from a CBF-funded internship.
Description
This program offers your business significant financial support. You can receive funding for two main types of projects: internships and business planning.
For internships, you can get up to $15,000 to cover the salary and benefits of an intern. If the intern is Indigenous, from a Racialized community, from an official language minority community, or has a print disability, you can receive up to $22,500. This funding helps you bring in new talent and provide valuable training, which can lead to innovative contributions to your business.
For business planning, you can receive up to $50,000 to cover costs related to developing strategic business plans. If your business is Indigenous-owned, owned by members of a Racialized community, or an official language minority publisher, you can receive up to 75% of eligible expenses or $50,000. This funding can be used for hiring third-party consultants, conducting research, and developing comprehensive business strategies.
This program is designed to help you offset high costs and improve your business's capacity and competitiveness. By participating, you can gain access to resources and expertise that might otherwise be out of reach, ensuring your business remains sustainable and competitive in the market.
Program Steps
Read the Application Guidelines: Carefully read the application guidelines to understand the requirements and ensure you meet them.
Prepare Documentation: Gather the necessary documents for your application. These include:
- Project plan
- Intern resume (if applicable)
Complete the Application Form: Fill out the application form with accurate and detailed information about your project.
Submit the Application Electronically: Submit your completed application form and supporting documents through the Canadian Heritage Online System by 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), January 31.
Contact Technical Support if Needed: If you encounter any issues with the online submission, contact the technical support team via email at [email protected] or by phone at 819-997-0055 or 1-866-811-0055 (toll-free).
Await Acknowledgment: You will receive an acknowledgment of your application within two weeks of submission.
Provide Additional Information if Requested: Be prepared to submit additional information or documentation if requested during the evaluation process.
Review Funding Decision: Once a decision is made, review the funding terms and conditions provided.
Sign Funding Agreement: If approved, sign the funding agreement which outlines the terms and conditions of the funding.
Submit Interim and Final Reports: During and after your project, submit any required interim and final reports as specified in your funding agreement.
