2015 MDCP Awards: Funding for Projects that Generate Exports
March 20, 2015Brad Hess is the Director of the Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP).
Trade associations like the American Association of Independent Music, whose representatives are pictured above with Deputy Assistant Secretary Maureen Smith (left), can receive MDCP awards of up to $300,000 to pursue export development projects.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is now accepting applications for the 2015 Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP) financial awards. ITA’s Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis Marcus Jadotte announced an April 27 deadline for applications for this year’s awards.
Eligible applicants include trade associations, chambers of commerce, and other non-profit industry and economic development groups. An MDCP award to such a group includes both financial and technical assistance from ITA in support of projects that help U.S. firms to export.
MDCP awards are cooperative agreements. So, in addition to financial assistance, an award recipient benefits from a worldwide team of ITA professionals who advise and assist. Working together with these non-profit industry groups, ITA can help U.S. businesses, especially small- and medium-sized ones, promote and sell their goods and services to international consumers.
The competing non-profit groups will propose innovative projects that generate exports that create or sustain U.S. jobs. An eligible non-profit group must pledge a minimum of two-thirds of the costs of the project and plan to continue the project after the three-to-five year award period. An individual award is limited to $300,000. The funds may be spent during a minimum of three years at a rate determined by the project.
Since MDCP’s inaugural year in 1993, 136 awards have been issued. Uniform reporting of MDCP-generating exports began in 1997. From 1997 to 2014, the average annual exports generated by MDCP projects were $595million. On average, during this period, $335 in exports has been generated by MDCP projects for every $1 of MDCP award.
For more information, please visit http://trade.gov/mdcp/index.html.
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