CBDC Consultant Advisory Services

The Community Business Development Corporations are a network of locally run, non-profit offices across Atlantic Canada that lend to and advise small businesses, with programme funding from ACOA. Their Consultant Advisory Services stream pays most of the cost of bringing in an outside consultant for a defined piece of work: a diagnostic, a plan, a system set-up. It is the programme that makes a small, fixed-price engagement nearly free to the owner, which is why it matters more to a five-person shop in Antigonish or Bathurst than the larger programmes on this site do. Everything on this page is as reported by the CBDC network and by clients; the terms are set office by office, so confirm them with yours before you count on a number.

What it covers

Consulting fees for a scoped engagement with a defined deliverable. That has included business planning, marketing plans, financial analysis, technology and digital adoption work, and the diagnostic assessments that precede a larger project. It does not cover the software itself, the seats, or ongoing operating costs; those are the business's own. Whether a given engagement qualifies is the local office's call.

Funding details

As reported, the programme reimburses 75 percent of eligible consulting fees to a ceiling of $5,000, as a non-repayable contribution. On a $3,500 engagement that leaves the owner paying $875; on a $7,500 engagement the contribution caps at $5,000 and the owner pays the rest. The consultant is normally paid by the business, which then claims the contribution against the invoice, so plan for the cash flow. Ceilings and percentages have varied by province and by year; treat these as the typical shape, not a quote.

How to apply

Start with a phone call to the CBDC office that serves your community (the network's site lists them by province). Bring the consultant's written proposal: scope, deliverable, fee, and dates. The office confirms eligibility, and in most cases approval is needed before the work starts, so do not sign the consultant first and ask second. Aurenia writes proposals in the form CBDC offices are used to seeing, and will name the deliverable and the price on one page.

How it stacks with other programs

CBDC advisory support sits underneath the larger programmes. It is the right fit for a first, small engagement; ACOA REGI is the right fit for the build that follows. The same invoice cannot be claimed under both. In Nova Scotia the Small Business Development Program is an alternative for the same kind of fee, at 50 percent to a higher ceiling, when it is open.

Work this program tends to fund

Mapped against Aurenia's nine-stage methodology and its packaged offerings. Useful when scoping the application.

• S1Diagnostic Mirror

  An honest written diagnostic of where your organization actually stands. Your specific situation, not a generic maturity model.

• PackageClaude for Your Business

  Setup, tuning, staff training and a runbook for Claude Team, for small businesses of 2 to 25 people in Atlantic Canada. Seats bought from Anthropic directly. No tokens, no API keys.

Common questions