Traverse City, MI (September 2026) - A good business idea often starts close to home, with someone noticing what their community needs.

In one northern Michigan community where several restaurants have closed, a woman is planning a farm-to-table food truck. She wants to buy from local farmers and give residents fresh, healthy options. But without a business track record or enough collateral, she couldn’t qualify for a bank loan.

So the bank sent her to Venture North.

Laura Galbraith, the nonprofit’s president, hears versions of this story often. Entrepreneurs take a chance on an idea, sometimes borrowing against their homes or drawing down retirement savings. Then comes the difficult stretch between getting started and building a business a traditional lender will finance.

Venture North helps owners navigate those years with affordable loans and free coaching and consulting. A two-year grant from the Walters Family Foundation will extend that support into Cheboygan, Crawford and Otsego counties while continuing work in Antrim, Kalkaska, Missaukee and Wexford counties. Across the seven county-area, Venture North aims to serve 329 additional businesses.

The push came from the communities themselves. For years, local partners had asked Venture North to bring its financing and practical guidance to businesses with few places to turn. This grant is helping the organization respond to those requests.

Some owners need relief from expensive online loans that drain their daily cash flow. Others need help choosing an accounting system, understanding their financial statements or reviewing a lease. A retired CPA and an attorney are among the specialists providing what Galbraith calls “behind-the-scenes” support.

With the grant, Venture North is adding an experienced small business lender to its team so more owners can get that help close to home.

That support can carry a business to its next stage. A Traverse City firefighter borrowed $50,000 from Venture North to launch a golf cart rental company. Venture North later introduced him to a bank partner, and he has since paid off his original loan.

“We were there for that moment in time, when he was starting off,” Galbraith said. With that early support, he built a business ready to qualify for traditional financing.

The Walters Family Foundation helps make those moments possible. Galbraith said the foundation understands both the importance of rural businesses and the resources needed to serve them. Interest on small loans cannot cover the full cost of free coaching; philanthropic support keeps that guidance available and lending affordable.

For an owner, it means having someone to call when the next step is unclear. For a community, it can mean a customer for a local farmer, a service that had been missing or a business with a future in the place it calls home.