Finance · Funding
With the funding of management consulting for SMEs, the federal government covers a large part of your consulting costs. For mid-sized businesses as well as for startups and the self-employed. You get a fresh perspective, AI and digital know-how and concrete recommendations on marketing, sales or processes, and pay only part of it yourselves.
The key facts
Source: funding directive and BAFA programme page, as of 24 October 2026
Applications only until
31.12.2026
Only those who submit the application by 31 December 2026 are funded.
What matters is the date of the application, not of the consulting. Count backwards: submit the application, wait for the information letter, and only then sign the consulting contract. The consulting and the proof can follow afterwards. Directive, no. 8
For whom
How it works
The order is the most common stumbling block. We keep an eye on it for you.
We clarify the consulting topic with you, whether the requirements fit and which grant applies to your location.
The application is submitted online via the BAFA platform, with company data only. Very important: before the consulting contract. Even signing the contract counts as the start.
The BAFA and the coordinating office check the requirements. Only once the information letter arrives may the consulting begin.
A maximum of five consulting days, as individual consulting: analysis, weak points and concrete recommendations for action. At the end there is a written consulting report.
At the latest six months after the information letter, the report, invoice and proof of payment go to the coordinating office. The BAFA then pays the grant out to you.
Consulting topics
The funding covers conceptual consulting: analysis of your situation, weak points and concrete recommendations for implementation. At startup pace, but for established workflows.
Positioning, target groups, channels: where do you lose attention today, and which measures reliably bring more enquiries?
Learn moreFrom first contact to close: we analyse your sales process and show where leads get stuck.
Learn moreWhich tools, data and interfaces does your company really need? A clear roadmap instead of a software collection.
Learn moreWhere does AI noticeably save time in your day-to-day, and where not? Concrete use cases with effort and benefit.
Learn moreWorkflows, responsibilities, handovers: we find the friction losses and show how to reduce them.
Learn moreFunding expertise in-house
Funding has been part of our everyday work for years. We know which formalities count and where applications fail. You can find more on all funding and financing topics on our Finance page.
€4M+
funding volume secured
90+ %
approval rate
15+ years
routine in submitting applications
Funding quick-check
Six questions, one minute, an instant first assessment. Non-binding and without sign-up.
Your result
6 of 6 questions left
Answer all questions to see an initial assessment here right away.
Non-binding self-assessment based on the BAFA funding directive. It does not replace a review by the BAFA, and there is no entitlement to funding.
FAQ
The key answers based on the BAFA's current funding directive.
The BAFA consulting grant (officially: funding of management consulting for SMEs) is a federal grant, co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus. With it, small and medium-sized companies get part of the cost of an external management consultation reimbursed, on economic, financial, personnel and organisational questions of company management.
Consulting costs of up to 3,500 € net per consultation are eligible. For business locations in East Germany (excluding Berlin and the Leipzig region) as well as in the Lüneburg and Trier regions, the BAFA reimburses 80 %, i.e. up to 2,800 €. In West Germany, Berlin and the Leipzig region it is 50 %, up to 1,750 €. For companies without input tax deduction, the BAFA has been calculating with the gross amount paid since 15 November 2025.
Eligible to apply are SMEs as defined by the EU (fewer than 250 employees, no more than 50 million € turnover or 43 million € balance sheet total) from the commercial economy and the liberal professions, with registered office and business operations in Germany. This also applies to startups and the self-employed: anyone who has been on the market for less than a year first needs an information meeting with a regional contact point. Excluded are, among others, consulting professions, non-profit organisations and companies in insolvency.
Applications are only possible until 31 December 2026. So submit the application in good time. The consulting itself and the proof of use can follow afterwards; the proof must be submitted at the latest six months after the information letter.
No. The application must be submitted and the BAFA's information letter must be there before the consulting begins. Signing the consulting contract already counts as the start. Anyone who signs too early loses the funding for this consultation.
Funded are conceptual individual consultations on all economic, financial, personnel and organisational questions of company management, for example marketing, sales, digitalisation, use of AI, processes or securing skilled staff. Not funded are consultations that mainly concern funding, law, taxes or annual financial statements, as well as seminars and workshops. The consulting lasts a maximum of five days and ends with a written report.
During the term of the directive (since 2023), up to five self-contained consultations are eligible, a maximum of two per year. The relevant date is always the date of application.
Intro call
Tell us where you currently stand. Together we check whether the BAFA consulting grant fits, and how you submit the application in time before 31 December 2026.
