This photo was taken at the ABD Business Expo, which was held at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center on May 27. Pictured from left are Hollis Bush, senior director of programs and services for ForcesUnited, Faith Edmondson, ABD publisher Neil Gordon, and Ashley Ashe. Gateway Grant Services helps nonprofits like ForcesUnited receive funding. (Photo taken from Faith Edmondson’s LinkedIn profile)
Faith Edmondson and Ashley Ashe primarily help nonprofits receive funding through grant writing and virtual fundraising, but they have now branched out to help small businesses succeed.
Edmondson and Ashe – owners of the Gateway Company, which is the parent company of both Gateway Grant Services and Gateway Business Services – added business coaching to their list of services last summer. “There’s doing your business, and there’s working on your business,” says Edmondson, who earned her master’s degree in psychology from Augusta University and has 15 years of experience in nonprofit management. “I can’t tell you how to run your carpentry business because I don’t know much about that at all.” But they can help businesses improve in a variety of areas, such as planning, budgeting, and hiring. They say many business owners are skilled at the services they provide, but they lack experience in running a business.
Edmondson and Ashe will host a five-day webinar series Aug. 16-20 that will focus on five topics designed to help small business owners: strategic planning; budgeting and finance; sales and marketing; human resources; and process improvement. Each session will last 45 minutes, and the times and cost haven’t been determined yet. Registration will begin on July 19.
They can also meet with business owners individually and provide additional assistance with any of the topics covered in their webinars. “We want to be a part of your team and make it sustainable,” says Ashe. While they don’t have an office and work remotely, they and their staff will travel to meet clients. Gateway provides potential clients a free consultation and a detailed questionnaire to help small business leaders make an informed decision about using their business coaching services. Edmondson and Ashe say they’ve already been contacted by multiple businesses not only in the CSRA, but also in other parts of the country and even overseas. Specifically, they have been contacted by business leaders in Texas, Washington, D.C., Kentucky, and as far away as Uganda in Africa.
Most of their grant writing work is for nonprofit organizations, but they sometimes write grants for small businesses. “We do grant writing for small businesses, but there are many more opportunities for nonprofits,” Ashe explains.
For more information, visit gatewaygrant.com or call 706-833-9529.