Financing Alternatives

The Kansas Development Finance Authority is the independent instrumentality of the state responsible for the issuance and use of bonds. Issuance purposes include:

  • Financing capital improvement facilities, educational facilities, health care facilities and housing developments.
  • Activities and projects of state agencies.
  • Any combination or interest of financing such facilities as industrial enterprises, agricultural business enterprises, educational facilities, health care facilities and housing developments.
  • Establishing and funding one or more series of venture capital bonds.

Financing private sector projects in much the same way that cities and counties can issue industrial development bonds (IDBs). Several small projects can be combined, or “pooled”, into one large bond issue to benefit from economies of scale.


Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs)


  • CDBGs are available on a competitive basis to provide low interest loans of up to $500,000 to new or expanding employers who agree to provide 51% of the new jobs to “low and moderate income” persons.
  • CDBG Section 108 can be used to guarantee loans up to $7 million for up to 10 years for land, building, equipment and working capital. Interest rates are determined in the open market.
  • CDBG interim financing loans can be used to make short-term (two-year) loans at below market interest rate (5% below prime) to companies for land, building, equipment and working capital. Loans of up to $1 million are available. Loans must be secured by acceptable collateral. There must be a commitment for permanent financing to take over the CDBG loan at the end of two years.

Micro Loans


Micro-loans of up to $50,000 are available to counties to establish a revolving loan program to micro-enterprises consisting of five or fewer employees.


Start-up Kansas


StartUp Kansas provides gap financing to help entrepreneurs start or grow a business in Kansas. The loan program matches other public sources of capital and can provide up to $45,000 per project. Funds are flexible and can be used for a variety of business purposes, including equipment, inventory, and working capital. Entrepreneurs work with a NetWork Kansas resources partner to apply for funds.


E-Communities


A NetWork Kansas E-Community is a partnership that allows a town, a cluster of towns, or an entire county to raise seed money for local entrepreneurs through donations from individuals or businesses within the community. The E-Community program, now in its ninth year, has grown from six communities in 2007 to forty-eight in 2014.

The goal of the E-Community partnership is to increase entrepreneurial activity and develop a self-sustaining ecosystem favorable to long-term entrepreneurial growth. The E-Community program, now in its ninth year, has grown from six communities in 2007 to forty-eight in 2014.


Certified Development Companies (CDCs)


CDCs are available to assist businesses in obtaining financing. They assist businesses with loans for fixed asset purchases with the Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loan program.

A lending institution provides 50% of the funding, the CDC provides 40% at a fixed interest rate for ten or twenty year terms, and the borrower provides 10% (New businesses will be required to provide up to 30%).

CDC’s also package SBA applications for working capital and administer additional in-house loan funds. The maximum amount available to any one business is $150,000.

CDC’s also package applications for the Kansas Department of Commerce business programs, and for the Rural Development loans to businesses.


City & County Revolving Loan Funds


Several western Kansas communities have special economic development loan funds. These are competitive loan applications with the amount of money available to loan at any given time being dependent on the balance in the funds at the time of application. Job retention or creation is required.