Who can apply, defined precisely.
The short version: if you run an Ohio business, you can apply. Priority, not exclusivity, determines who the fund reaches first.
Ohio-based. That’s the line.
The fund serves Ohio businesses only. It’s a local program, run by local people, and its size definitions are anchored to Ohio law. If the program expands beyond the state someday, this page will say so.
Three sizes, honestly labeled.
Solo on up, under 20 FTE
A business of one absolutely counts. Sole proprietors, freelancers, and single-member LLCs sit squarely in this top-priority tier. Fewer than 20 starts at zero employees, and most of the people this fund exists for are running the whole show themselves.
Formally, per Ohio Revised Code §166.50: an independently owned and operated for-profit entity, including affiliates, with fewer than 20 full-time employees or full-time-equivalents, located in Ohio. Full-time means averaging 30+ hours a week; part-time staff convert to FTEs at aggregate monthly hours ÷ 120.
20–50 employees
The program’s working definition: not a legal standard, just an honest label for businesses past the micro threshold but nowhere near enterprise scale.
50+ employees
Eligible to apply, and deliberately not excluded, but effectively the lowest priority. A larger organization will never outrank a smaller, higher-priority applicant for the same dollars.
Priority order across all applicants: businesses both woman- and minority-owned first, then minority-owned, then woman-owned, then microbusinesses, then small businesses, then larger organizations. The apply page shows how priority combines with the substance of your ask.
The lines are clean.
- C-01Existing New Era Systems customers are eligible. The fund doesn’t exist to subsidize its founder’s client base, but it also doesn’t punish a business for already having a relationship. A prior relationship neither helps nor hurts an application.
- C-02Family members and New Era Systems employees are not eligible. That is the actual conflict line, and it’s absolute.