6: Funding

Funding an incubator depends on how it is incorporated. If the incubator is a nonprofit, it may be eligible for tax, grants, university, or foundation funding from a variety of sources. Cities are often very interested in incubation of start-ups for economic development. The organization may be eligible for tax dollars set aside for economic development, start-ups or other related reasons. Investigate this before choosing a location since geographic locations can sometimes be of greater interest for economic development.

University incubators are often located in the business school but there are many ways and colleges that support these endeavors. If the program is for artistic or social justice start-ups, liberal arts college are interested. If helping professionals with their office start-ups, the professional colleges— law, dentistry, medicine—are all interested and may have dollars or donors interested in supporting programs. There are also cross disciplinary programs that encourage two colleges to build start-ups such as engineering and business or architecture and real estate programs. Universities are also known to build completely stand-alone incubators that support all colleges across the campus similar to UIC and Purdue. In some cases large firms act as sponsors providing software or other resources to schools and incubators.