In 2022, the SBDC at UW-Eau Claire was awarded ARPA funds to provide Eau Claire County business owners with entrepreneurial education through ten Small Business Clinics. When the Eau Claire team completed all Small Business Clinics and still had budget left, the team recognized an opportunity—but also a challenge.
Knowing that time was limited and there wasn’t need for an additional Small Business Clinic in Eau Claire County, the Eau Claire SBDC assessed the needs of their clients and saw that many clients could use more in-depth financial education. Eau Claire knew they could build a course in-house but that wasn’t their specialty, and the time and energy needed to develop something from scratch didn’t make sense.
Instead, they turned to their colleagues at the SBDC at UW-Madison, who already had a well-developed, high-quality Financial Management series. Upon hearing interest in collaborating on this from Madison, the Eau Claire team worked with their grant administrator to amend the grant to allow this addition. Eau Claire prepaid for course seats and then worked to recruit their local clients for both the introductory and intermediate offerings. So far, 72 entrepreneurs from Eau Claire County have enrolled, with many more expected in the coming months.
The handoff was seamless: Eau Claire handled outreach and enrollment, while Madison delivered instruction and managed logistics. This partnership has not only deepened financial skills for clients in Eau Claire, but it’s also shown the value of open communication and collaboration across the statewide network.
By working together, both centers created a win-win: stronger services for clients, better use of resources, and a clear example of how we can collectively increase our impact.