Applying for the Small Business Assistance grant
The Innovation PEI application runs over three pages and asks a lot of questions. I have written out an answer for every question I can answer for you, so tap a box to copy it and paste it straight into the form.
The questions only you can answer are marked in blue, with a note on what they are looking for.
Read each answer before you paste it. This is your application, submitted in your name, so change anything that is not right.
Two things to know before you start
The money comes back to you afterwards. This is not a discount on my invoice. You pay the full amount, you apply, and if you are approved the province sends you half of it back once the work is finished and paid for. Approval is not automatic either. Applications are reviewed first come, first served and as the budget allows.
Apply before you agree to anything. The program says the application has to be in before you make any financial or legal commitment on the project, and costs from before your approved start date can be refused. So the order is: you have my written quote, you apply, an officer at Innovation PEI calls you and you meet them, and only after approval do we sign anything and I start.
If they ask whether the work has started. Don't say the site is built, and if it comes up, just say I built you a demo so you could see what you were buying. The final product is not done, nothing has been paid, and nothing is signed.
What to have beside you
- Your registration number, 173075, and the date you registered, 2026-02-26.
- Your sales so far this year, and your best guess at the total by December.
- The written quote I sent you (bloom-quote.pdf), saved on the phone or computer you are applying from, ready to upload.
- About half an hour.
The application, page by page
1Page 1Your name and contact details▼
Use the name exactly as it is registered. If your registration reads differently, the registration wins.
Leave all three blank.
Choose Prince Edward Island from the dropdown.
Choose Canada from the dropdown.
This is where every notice about the application goes, so use the address you check.
2Page 2The business, and the project▼
Yes if you have registered a business name with the PEI Corporate and Business Registry. The program requires it, so if you have not registered yet, that is the thing to sort out before you apply. The registry is at ocbr.princeedwardisland.ca and the phone number is 902-368-4550.
You registered on 2026-02-26 and sold your first flowers in August, so you are well inside 12 months. Being a new business is also what opens the second pot of money, the marketing one, which is first year only.
Your registration (#173075) is a business name in your own name, which is a sole proprietorship. If your certificate says something different, the certificate wins.
Retail is the closest fit: you sell what you grow straight to customers at the stand and by the bucket. If you would rather be sure, phone Innovation PEI at 902-368-6300 and ask which one they want for a cut flower farm.
Change any of the prices or hours that are out of date before you paste it.
The farm is your work, 10 to 12 hours a day, so this is a Yes. It is the condition the program checks hardest. When they call, tell them about the church cleaning yourself: part time, and it ends when the building sells. They would rather hear it from you than find it.
Count anyone other than you who worked at least 560 hours this year. If that is nobody, put 0. Zero is fine here, because the program asks for either the business being your primary income or one employee, not both.
The amount is your best estimate of total sales for the whole year, before any expenses come out. You told me flowers brought in about $1,500 to $2,000 so far, so put what you expect the total to be by December. An estimate is what they are asking for.
Total sales from 1 January until today, before expenses.
Everything is picked up at the farm or delivered on PEI.
Check both boxes. Each one opens a second list underneath it.
Under Professional Planning, check three: Business Planning, Market Research/Planning and Website Development and E-Commerce. Those are the three professional rows: the business plan, the marketing plan and the website.
Under Marketing and Promotion (New Business), check four: Advertising Development Costs and Ad Placement (the ads and your ad budget), Design, Development and Implementation of new advertising and promotional material (the printed cards, tags and stickers), Signage and Branding (the brand kit) and Social Media Implementation (Facebook and Instagram).
Leave Human Resource Planning, Operational Efficiencies Planning, Quality/Productivity Improvements and both Other boxes unchecked.
This matches the quote line for line. If anything on the quote changes before you apply, change it here too.
A decision takes two weeks at the fastest, plus a meeting, so mid-October gives it room. If you are reading this in October or later, put a date about three weeks after the day you apply instead. Anything spent before your approved start date can be turned down, so an earlier date buys you nothing.
The season-opening ads run into July 2027, and the 60 day clock to claim your money runs from this date, so the end of August leaves room for the last invoice to be paid.
3Page 3Costs, financing and the declarations▼
Nine rows. The first seven match the written quote line for line, and the last two are your ad budget, which you pay to Meta and Google yourself. Ad placements are on the program's own list of what the marketing side covers, so it belongs here. Tap each box to copy it into the matching column, then click Add for the next row.
Printing is row seven. I have the cards, tags, stickers and signs produced and delivered to you, so this is one vendor and one invoice instead of you chasing a sign shop yourself.
Do not order anything until you are approved. The claim only covers what was on the approved application.
The form adds this up for you. With all eight rows in it should read $8,000.
This section is only for other grants. Your own money is not financing here, and neither is a loan. Innovation PEI is the only place you are applying, so leave the row empty.
Half of the total.
The other half. The program pays 50 percent of professional fees to a maximum of $2,500 (yours come to $3,000, so $1,500 back) and, in a first year, 50 percent of marketing to a separate $2,500 (yours come to $5,000, so $2,500 back, which is exactly the cap). The two halves have to add back up to the total or the form will not accept it.
Upload the written quote I sent you, the PDF called bloom-quote, dated September 4. That is the vendor quote they are asking for, and one file is enough.
There are six statements, then two checkboxes and a CAPTCHA. Read them rather than skimming. The one worth stopping on is the fourth, that you have not defaulted on a previous loan with the Government of PEI or a Crown Corporation.
4Page 4Preview and submit▼
The last page shows your whole application back to you. Check the two long answers, the business overview and the project description, because a text box with a limit can cut the end off without telling you. Then submit.
After you submit
Innovation PEI meets every applicant in person before approving, so expect a call from one of their business development officers once it is in. It might be Mike Gillis, who I spoke to, and it might be someone else. A decision takes two weeks at the fastest. If a few weeks go by with nothing, phone 902-368-6300 and ask where it sits.
When the approval comes through, tell me and we will sign the agreement and I will start on the site. Each piece is invoiced when it is finished. Once the work is done and the invoices are paid, you claim your half back on the Small Business Assistance Claim Sheet. It asks for the invoices, proof that you paid them, and a signed declaration that no other public funding is coming for the same project. I send you a receipt with the invoice number on it every time you pay, so you have both pieces in one place. Keep the Facebook and Google ad receipts too, because the ad budget row is claimed the same way.
Anything on here that does not look right, or any question the form asks that I have not covered, send it to me and I will find the answer.