The Second Service Foundation’s mission is to provide opportunities for veteran, military spouses, Gold Star, and military-connected small business owners through inspirational success stories, educational content, mentoring, coaching, networking events, and grants to provide a boost of social-impact financial support to grow their business.
The Second Service Foundation believes those with a military background are specifically trained and uniquely qualified to take on the new mission of entrepreneurship. We are helping veteran, military spouse, and Gold Star family entrepreneurs tackle their new mission through coaching, capital, and resources.
We are cultivating the American Dream for military businesses and directly impacting veteran, Gold Star, and active duty military families and communities.
Your country needed you then, but your community needs you now. Your first service was in uniform. We want to help you achieve your new mission and fulfill your second service.
See how our programs are impacting veteran, military spouse, and Gold Star family entrepreneurs.
Individuals nationwide have joined The Second Service Foundation community
Second Service Foundation coaching sessions attended this year
Over 10,000 military community entrepreneurs educated through our programs
Find out more about past Military Entrepreneur Challenge grant recipients and how they are impacting their communities.
A recent study of military veterans-turned-entrepreneurs from Syracuse University identified two truths about veteran entrepreneurs and three common challenges veteran entrepreneurs face. The Second Service Foundation was created to help address these truths and designed to solve these challenges.
There are approximately 2.5 million veteran-owned small businesses in the United States, representing 9.1 percent of all U.S. businesses and employing nearly 6 million Americans annually (SBA, 2017)
Challenge #1: Access to Capital
Challenge #2: Connecting with Qualified Mentors
Challenge #3: Limited Networks
The Second Service Foundation is home to the Military Entrepreneur Challenge, a nationwide grant program that gives veteran and military entrepreneurs whose businesses or non-profits have a significant social impact on the military community the opportunity to compete for capital to grow their small business.
Previous Grant Recipients have developed businesses and non-profits that facilitate change in their communities including addressing issues and needs with the following:
