How Do I Get a Grant to Start a Teaching Facility?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My friends own a shop that offers classes in gem faceting, cabochoning, gold smithing, metal casting and such. There is some jewelry for sale but they also have a large selection of rough stone for cutting and they sell supplies for jewelry making and rock collecting/hunting. They do custom jewelry design as well. Business is terrible for several reasons but that’s a separate argument that can be hashed out when or if a way is found to keep the place open. They said that if I can find a way to save the shop they would allow me to make any changes I wanted. We’ll see about that.

I was wondering if there was a way to get grants to turn it into a proper teaching facility. Rather than sales I would shift the primary focus of the shop to the classes. They would need all new equipment and the space would need a slight remodel but it could probably be done for $50-75,000.

If turning it into a school isn’t an option, is there some kind of small business grant that would help them learn how to run a business and upgrade the shop?

I know this all sounds kind of ridiculous but I’m out of other ideas. I know nothing about how to apply for assistance or if it’s even available in this situation. I need any help or ideas you guys can give me, please.

2

Not trying to sound like a negative Nancy but

Why turn it into an actual school? You’d have to get students somehow. What are the students going to get out of the school that they cannot get elsewhere like YouTube? A solid certification?

Upgrade the shop and learn how to run a business grant? I’m not sure. There are grants to go to college for this.

But you don’t need a degree to know that if there isn’t a demand for a product/service you’re basically SOL.

What’s the demand in the area where this shop is located for the product/services they provide anyways? What’s their advertising like?
Why not just run the shop exclusively online from their home?

3

Shooting from the hip since I don’t know anything about the situation but if the school thing doesn’t work out…

[spoiler]When most people think of jewelry they think of gifts and events: anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, prom, baby showers, etc.

The only thing that I can think of to fix this shop is to give it more purpose.
Give customers a reason to first, step into the shop, and second, not buy a ring or necklace online or from Walmart, or Kay’s, etc.

I think if the shop umbrellas out and grabs a wider group of eyes through targeting events and offering things like: tuxedo/shoe rentals, wedding dress rentals, prom dresses, it’d be better off traffic-wise.

Renting out tuxedos is simple— you just go to whatever tuxedo company online and become an authorized rental shop.

Maybe even buy one of those bouncy house things for kids and rent it out to birthday parties. Or do the whole clown and balloon animal thing.

Make the shop event-centered and have the gem classes/creation as what sets you apart from everyone else.

Like a little girl’s birthday party. You bring all the stuff and have them make jewelry, plus a bouncy house? I don’t even have kids, but if I did, I’d hire you for a party.

Another example- “Come on down to Susie’s with your prom date and receive 20% off tuxedo rental and a special $10 off coupon for a Couple’s gem-casting class,” etc etc. Then they can make one another’s prom jewelry to match the dress and tux or whatever.

Same with weddings, anniversaries, and things like that. It’d be cool if a couple made one another’s 50th anniversary necklace charms or what have you.

If I were having a baby shower, I think it’d be awesome to let the guests create their own jewelry for their party favors.

Even holidays like Christmas-- an ornament class, Thanksgiving-- make centerpieces, Easter-- decorate eggs, etc.

These are all things that can be done for relatively cheap. As long as advertising is on point.[/spoiler]

4

This is not something you can learn from Youtube. Gem faceting is a very complicated and very hands on class. It can take anywhere from a couple of weeks of intensive training to several months to complete depending on what you want to do and how quickly you learn. To grade a someones progress you have to be able to see and feel the stone they are working on. The same goes for metal smithing.

The materials and equipment can be very expensive. A decent cabbing machine that won’t break down every other stone costs around $1,200. It comes with a set of polishing wheels. Replacements are in the range of $80 each and there are 6 on a machine. Faceting set ups run from about $1,000 to over $5,000. The polishing disks are usually not included in that price. They’re close to $100 each and you’ll need at least 6 for high quality results. It’s not a cheap hobby/profession. You should be sure you really want to do it before you invest all that money. The best way to see if it’s for you is to take classes.

A big part of their problem is a lack of advertising. There are a lot of people interested in learning these skills. When students manage to find them they get people coming from out of town and even out of state. They stay at one of the motels or temp. residence type places about a mile down the road while they take the classes.

5

Perhaps the business could make arrangements with the local community college to offer gem faceting courses. While this would provide additional revenues I don’t see them investing money in the business.

6

Try the Small Business Administration (a Federal agency; also referrals to state agencies):

http://www.sba.gov/content/what-sba-offers-help-small-businesses-grow

Most community colleges have classes on starting/running a small business, plus many helpful general business classes.

The usual method of financing business expansion is commercial loans, not grants. So your friends should talk to local banks, as well.

7

Unless you are in a major city (and I basically mean NYC), I think it is a lost cause.

Fine gem working is a niche of a niche of a niche. In an economy when landscapers and pizza restaurants are struggling, a poorly managed hobby shop that specializes in an expensive and arcane hobby doesn’t have a chance. The market is just too limited, and will continue to shrink thanks to new online options. Maybe with extremely good marketing it could eek out a survival. But mostly this kind of business is the realm of people who turn small fortunes into smaller ones.

They probably either need to change focus, or cut expenses so that it can survive as a part-time business run out of a home or on space rented for workshops.

8

How many people are interested in learning these skills?
How many students have come from out of state to take the classes? At what frequency?

The question is, even with better advertising, is this place going to be able to stay afloat-- past the point of breaking even, on a regular basis, without appealing more to the locals?

I agree that if this shop isn’t in NYC or on the Strip in South Beach, probably not going to save the place, grant or not, school or not, without broadening the scope of products/services offered.

9

Charge a bit for the classes, esp. since there are such incredible amounts of money being spent for materials. AIUI, they are flying in to take the classes already. Why not charge them? When you write a grant proposal, the benefactors will want to see if anybody gives a hang about what you want the grant for, and people who pay tuition, even a token amount, will be a sign that classes are viable. It will also show that you have a proper idea of handling money.

Also, grants can come from anywhere, try Goodwill, local colleges, local arts enterprises, the manufacturer of the gems that you are trying to sell, etc… Sit down, write a list of anybody who could be a possible sponsor/benefactor.

Your job would be to contact them and try and shake the money tree, with a good letter of purpose, etc…, showing them why they should give you money.

There are some great grant writing books out there…IIRC, “The Last Grant Writing Book You Will Ever Need” is a great one.

Best wishes.

10

The shop has been open for over 30 years so somebody had to be doing something right at some point. It’s only in the last few years that they’ve run into difficulty. They do have more to offer than just the classes. Currently, they are primarily a jewelry store that specializes in custom work. They also do repairs for their own customers and for other shops in the city. There is a large variety of rough stone as well as crystals, geodes, beads, and tumbled stones. They have jewelry making supplies, tools, how-to books, and the classes. I think things might get better if they put more emphasis on the classes. That’s part of what all this is about.

Thank you for the info. They do charge for the classes. Prices start at $25 - $40 for the small classes like wire wrapping, gem trees, intro to soldering. The big classes like gem cutting are from $300 - 500 or so and you do get a certificate at the end.

You mentioned writing a grant proposal? I’d be interested in learning more about that sort of thing. I’ll definitely check out the book you mentioned. I was posting this online because I was hoping to hear about other people’s experiences with the process. A few do’s and don’ts from people who know how it goes already.

11

Giving this a bump because I’m still looking for any advice available. Hopefully, during the work week more people will be on who might be able to help.