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Innovation and Grants

Economic Gardening

Economic Gardening 2026 Application Graphic open_in_full
Read the Program Guidelines

Required reading prior to application

Apply for Economic Gardening

After reading the guidelines, find the application here.

Applications Open from March 9 - April 20.

The Economic Gardening 2.0 prorgram is accepting applications for the 2026 business cohort from March 9 through April 20. 

“Economic Gardening 2.0” is an economic development program designed to provide sophisticated market research and customized small business technical assistance to qualifying local companies poised for growth. The City of Sacramento partners with the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG: https://economicgardening.org/) and Berkeley Strategy Advisors (BSA) to implement this program.

Program Outline

Participants receive executive-level market intelligence and growth strategy consulting culminating in eligibility for a matching reimbursement grant of up to $50,000 to support growth strategy implementation.

Participants will receive tailored advisory services from NCEG & BSA which may include:

  1. Data-driven growth strategy development
  2. Business model evaluation and competitive positioning refinement
  3. Market expansion and entry analysis
  4. Financial modeling and capital allocation planning
  5. Hiring strategy and organizational growth planning
  6. Grant project scoping, modeling, and feasibility analysis
  7. Ongoing technical assistance and strategic advisory support during grant project implementation

Eligible Grant Project Activities

The City encourages grant funding for projects that directly support business growth, capacity expansion, and market competitiveness. Eligible activities may include:

  1. Digital presence and marketing enhancements Website upgrades, e-commerce development, SEO, branding, and digital marketing strategy.
  2. Workforce expansion and talent development Hiring new staff, workforce training, and professional development to support growth.
  3. Facility expansion or relocation within Sacramento city limits Securing, expanding, or improving commercial space to increase operational capacity.
  4. Equipment and technology investments Machinery, tools, or technology upgrades that increase production capacity or efficiency.
  5. Strategic, financial, and operational planning Business planning, financial modeling, growth strategy development, and market expansion plans.
  6. New product or service development Research, prototyping, testing, and commercialization support.
  7. Professional advisory services Specialized consulting or technical expertise that directly supports project implementation and measurable growth outcomes.

Does your company qualify?

Businesses must meet the following eligibility criteria to take part in this program.

  • Be a for-profit, privately held company headquartered and operating in the city of Sacramento
  • Have between approximatley $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue
  • Employ at least 5 but no more than 99 employees (including the owner)
  • Demonstrate growth in employment and/or revenue for at least 2 of the past 5 years
  • Derive or demonstrate short-term capacity to derive 25%-50% of sales from markets outside of the city of Sacramento

Program Description

The City is engaged in several strategic, capacity building efforts to invest in the effectiveness and future sustainability of local companies. Second-stage growth companies are the backbone of Sacramento’s economy and the definition of economic growth and prosperity. These types of companies make a great investment, and are defined as having a proven product, proven market, proven management skills, and room to grow, typically ranging from 5-99 employees, and $1M - $50M in revenue. Research shows that investing in these productive companies is an effective way to grow the economy and create new jobs.

Focusing our efforts on these companies means strengthening the economy of the region and supporting the entrepreneurs who live among us. The Office of Innovation and Economic Development is launching the third cohort of Economic Gardening 2.0, an economic development pilot program designed to provide sophisticated, tailor-made technical assistance to local, second-stage companies poised for growth in the City of Sacramento. The City will be partnering with the National Center for Economic Gardening (NCEG), a national organization that supports entrepreneurship. For more information about the National Center for Economic Gardening, visit their website.

How is this unique to Sacramento?

This program is offered to a select group of companies during one-year cohorts. Companies receive 40 hours of services from the NCEG's team of specialists. The specialist team consists of seasoned researchers that leverage sophisticated corporate databases, GIS systems, SEO and Web marketing tools that provide the CEO with information, data and conclusions about key issues for each individual company.

Sacramento is redefining the traditional Economic Gardening approach by adding a 1:1 grant program to implement the recommendations companies receive following the 40 hours of research with the NCEG's specialists. Participating companies are eligible to receive up to $50,000 in match grant funding.

Program deliverables

This program utilizes state of the art corporate tools in - Commercial Database Searching, deep web, GIS, Search Engine Optimization, Listening post (consumer chatter, signals of change), Network mapping (websites, LinkedIn, Twitter), web marketing and other social media. The NCEG's team of specialists will help companies achieve their stated business goals by -

  • Identifying qualified leads by sorting contents of extensive databases
  • Mapping geographic areas using GIS software to facilitate targeted marketing efforts
  • Reviewing core strategies related to commodity and/or niche markets
  • Examining social media utilization to connect with customers
  • Placing the company website in front of more customers using search engine optimization
  • Analyzing employee temperament to build strong management teams

More

Economic Gardening 2.0 Cohort Participants

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