Small-Business Grants for Women owned businesses, grants for women & female entrepreneurs Owned Businesses – Small business grants for women entrepreneurs are an incredible funding option to start a new business or grow an existing one. Small business grants for women-owned businesses are offered by governmental organizations, nonprofits, educational institutions, corporations and private companies.
These grants are funding that are not required to be paid back and are classified as taxable business income as per the IRS. It is important to keep in mind that small business grants for women are highly competitive so applicants must take advantage of all the potential resources. This guide will throw light on different women’s small business grants and how you can apply for them.
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Highlights of this Post
What Are Women’s Small Business Grants?
Small business grants for women refer to a form of business capital designed particularly for women entrepreneurs. These grants are financial gifts to women entrepreneurs from the granting organization and are not required to be repaid.
Competition for a woman’s small business grants is highly intense as many people apply to avail of these opportunities. Women business grants are created for particular purposes so they have specific and detailed eligibility criteria to make sure the funding is used for the intended purposes.
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What Are The Eligibility Criteria And Documents Required To Avail Women’s Small Business Grants?
Women’s small business grant programs are intended to encourage and support women entrepreneurs so that they can reach their business goals.
The grant funding is provided by public and private institutions and nonprofits so the eligibility, application and purpose of every program may vary. The general eligibility criteria for women’s small business grants are as follows.
- Applicants or women business owners should be 21 years or above in age
- Applicants must fulfill their citizenship and residency status and run businesses within the United States. You need to prove your businesses engage in commercial activity within us and sell goods or services in America.
- Must fulfill the identification criteria of the program and be the founder or owner of the program.
- Prove that the primary source of income of the women-owned business comes from the qualified business
- Must fulfill the annual business revenue criteria
- Must fulfill the intention of the grant funding for instance supporting women entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry
- Must fulfill the nature and size of the business including the number of employees and industry type
- Must fulfill the age limitation of the business for instance the business should be in operation between one to five years.
- The taxes should be correct and in good standing. The business should not have any outstanding tax liens or legal judgments unless exempted.
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There is a wide array of grant funding available for women-owned small businesses therefore the documentation required may vary depending on the specification of the grant opportunity. The general documents required for women’s small business grants are as follows.
- Financial documents like pay stubs, bank statements, tax return forms
- Detailed information about the business owner and their business
- Applicant’s resume or CV
- Personal or professional references
- Information about the applicant and their business
- A detailed project plan, abstract or business proposal
- A budget showing how you intend to use the grant funding
- A completed application form
- Personal and business identification number or any other relevant official documents.
- Tax ID or EIN IRS letter for reference
- Electronic payment form or voided check.
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What Are The Available Small Business Grants For Women-Owned Businesses?
Federal Small Business Grants For Women
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Grants.gov
The government of the United States of America is surely providing grants to small businesses so they can grow and improve the economy of the country. One of the best government platforms is the Grants.gov where you will easily be able to get grants for your small business. You can directly visit grants.gov and get all the information about them.
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Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs
If your business highly contributes to federal research and development you will surely get grants. You can find around 12 federal agencies that can help you with grants, you can visit their website to get more information about it.
You can find websites of Defense and Health, Human Service and Department of Agriculture. However, it is important for you to research a bit about the grants that are offered on the SBIR website.
The SBA does not provide direct grants to small businesses however the program for investors and micro-entrepreneurs offers federal grants and funding to micro-enterprise development organizations so that they can provide coaching, technical assistance and training to disadvantaged small business owners.
The grants are available to private, state, local or tribal-run organizations and nonprofit institutions. For instance, the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation 2022 was awarded a grant for $2,00,000.
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Private Small Business Grants For Women
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Cartier Women’s Initiative Award
Cartier Women’s initiative award is another organization that offers the female business owners grants. The main aim of this grant is to help out the female business owners so that they can highly contribute in improving the economic development. The top 10 finalists will be receiving around $100,000.
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Idea café Grant
Idea Cafe grant is another possible way to get grants for your business. If you are the owner of a small business you can get around $1000 from the grant.
This grant is offered to 10 business owners every year. However, the female owners get high priority if your business is capable of creating employment opportunities.
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FedEx Small Business Grant For Women
FedEx is another well known organization that helps small businesses to grow in the long run. They award the small businesses around $25000 to 10 small business owners who meet the eligibility criteria. The winner also gets access to print and other services of FedEx.
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37 Angles Grant
37 Angles grant is another well known organization that offers funds to the women to start their business. The main aim of this organization is to provide opportunities to the women so that they can grow their business at the starting stage.
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Open Meadows Foundation
Open meadows foundation is another well known organization that provides grants to small businesses. Apart from that they also help startup businesses that are led by women. If you are a woman and looking for grants, you can surely apply for this grant. However, it is important to be sure that the budget of the organization should not exceed $75,000.
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The Girlboss Foundation Grant
THe Girlboss Foundation was launched in the year 2014 and offers grants two times in every year to the capable women entrepreneurs. The women who are generally from the fields like arts, music, fashion and design can easily avail these grants to grow their business. You can get around $15000 grant from this foundation. To know more you can directly visit the website of Girlboss Foundation Grant.
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Eileen Fisher Women Owned Business Grant Program
Eileen Fisher organization provides grants up to $100,000 to 10 women who own a business. However, to get the grant amount the women should have at least 51% percent ownership of that particular business. It is also seen that the business should be lasting for a minimum of 3 years and the revenue that is generated each year must be less than $1 million.
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Amber Grant
Amber grant by the Amber Grant foundation offers around $10,000 to female owned businesses every month. They chose 12 grant winners at the end of every year offering them an extra $25000. However, you are required to explain to them about your business model and then you can easily receive the grant amount. The application fee that is charged is $15.
The National Association for Self-employed grants are available to eligible small business owners including women entrepreneurs.
The Growth grants provided to eligible business owners can range up to $4000 for businesses. Applicants should be a member of the organization in good standing. These grants cannot be used for debt or for paying rent or mortgages.
Applicants get an opportunity to win $500 through a Freed Fellowship Program in addition to $2500 end-of-year giveaway entrance and free mentorship.
Your application will be reviewed by the organizer before approval of the grant. Recipients of the program are provided a one-year membership to Freed Studio completely free.
An online marketplace known as IFundWomen enables women entrepreneurs to seek funding opportunities and grant programs to grow or start their businesses.
This database comprises multiple grant funding opportunities with different eligibility criteria, application deadlines and funding amounts.
The database uses the grant criteria of the partner and the business information to determine which grant program will suit your eligibility and will send you a notification
The nonprofit organization known as Yva Jourdan provides the HerRise Micro Grant to eligible small business entrepreneurs. The grant funding goes to women of color entrepreneurs who need community assistance, free coaching and capital to grow their businesses.
A micro-grant worth $1000 is awarded to eligible female business owners of color. You can use this grant to make website creation, cover the cost of marketing or for purchasing business equipment.
Black woman small business entrepreneurs can receive the Women Of Color Grant Program from the Torchy Burch Foundation. The foundation provides capital for small businesses in partnership with Fearless Fund.
Nearly 75 grants are provided to eligible women small business owners every year with a Fearless Fund that ranges between $10,000 to $20,000. Businesses should have annual revenue up to $100,000 and be one to five years old to qualify.
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Women-owned small businesses can apply to the Atomic Grant Program and get a micro-grant worth $1500. The recipients get one-on-one strategy coaching sessions as well. The applications for this grant program are accepted on a rolling basis and are awarded quarterly.
An annual award provided to eligible small business entrepreneurs belonging to the silver jewelry industry is the Halstead Grant. The winner of the grand will receive a startup grant worth $7500 and jewelry merchandise worth $1000.
Around 5 semi finalists and finalists receive grant awards ranging between $250 to $500. Men and women who own small businesses are eligible to receive their small business grants. You need to answer 15 business-associated questions and submit a design portfolio to qualify for this grant.
The Small Business, Big Dream: Women In a Business Challenge by BankUnited is open to women small business entrepreneurs in Florida or New Year.
The grant prize winner receives an award worth $15,000, the second prize winner wins an award of $5000 and third place winner gets an award of $2500. The eligibility criteria require businesses to have less than 20 employees and their annual revenue should be less than $3 million.
Grantsforwomen.org founded in 2000 is an online platform that assists women business owners to locate and research plenty of scholarship and grant opportunities.
This online platform helps to encourage women across the globe so that they can attain their business goals. The grant application process may vary from one program to another. From here you can discover the grants that align with your business needs and fill out an application to secure a program.
The program known as SoGal Startup Grant helps black women entrepreneurs in their business endeavors. This demographic is one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs however they face unique challenges when it comes to securing venture capital funding.
Eligible winners of this grant get cash awards ranging between $5000 to $10,000 in startup funding. They also get professional guidance that helps them to navigate the fundraising procedure. The program helps to promote equitable chances for small businesses founded by black women entrepreneurs.
Capital funding is provided to eligible businesses owned by women, veterans, minorities, disabled persons or LGBTQ individuals through the Beyond Open Small Business Grant.
The program is administered by FFTC Partners For Empowering Communities and funded by the Wells Fargo Open For Business Fund. Every year two winners are selected with a grant ranging between $10,000 to $150,000. The funding will help you to cover the cost of real estate, inventory, technology and equipment but not for operational expenses.
A part of an initiative launched by Comcast known as Comcast Rise Grant supports the growth of small businesses that emphasize diversity and inclusion as well as community investment.
The organization provides 500 grants each of $5000 to more than 100 businesses in five cities. The winners of the program can also access technology makeover, creative media services, educational resources, mentoring and consultative business services.
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The objective of Backing The B.A.R Grant program is to support black-owned small businesses that are operating in the hospitality, beverage and sales industry.
To this date, the Bacardi and NAACP has provided more than $350,000 in the form of financial grants, support, education, and entrepreneurship solutions to black female-owned businesses, black female owners of loungers, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and liquor stores. Eligible business owners receive grants of over $10,000 including educational support and mentorship to grow their businesses.
A program launched by Hidden Star nonprofit organization is known as Galaxy Grant. The focus of the program is to ensure the success of minority and women-owned businesses. The program provide a grant award up to $2500.
The Fearless Strivers Grant Contest supports black women-owned businesses that are an important component of the American economy.
Small businesses throughout the United States of America are provided a grant award $20,000 that helps their business grow online and also provides free mentorship.
Businesses should have annual revenue of $3 million or less to apply. In collaboration with MasterCard, the organization has created this grant program to improve accessibility to venture capital funding for women-owned small businesses.
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Additional Resources For Small Women-Owned Businesses
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Small Business Development Center
SBA sponsored the Small Business Development Centers all over the United States. You can find these centers in universities and colleges. They help you to plan, research and finance the business.
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Economic Development Administration
You can surely find an Economic Development Administration in each state that helps to grow business by promoting economic activities. They mainly provide economic development resources so the business is able to grow.
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Women’s Business Centers
There are around 100 Women’s Business Centers all over the U.S that support female entrepreneurs by offering them grants to grow their business. However, you are required to explain to them about your business model. If they are impressed with the model they will surely provide you grants.
The Minority Business Development Agency Centers operates a wide network of business centers throughout the United States of America and assists minority business owners including women to access capital, develop financial strategies and secure contracts.
You can contact your local media business center to identify the potential funding opportunities available at the federal, local and state levels. The agency also runs an Enterprising Women Of Color Initiative to support minority women in attaining their business goals.
A nonprofit organization and partner of SBA known as Score offers mentoring and education to small business owners. Women business owners can participate in workshops and free training and improve the aspects of owning and growing a small business.
The state Chambers of Commerce has several grant funding opportunities available for women and minority business owners. These organizations help to grow local businesses therefore building a relationship with your State Chambers of Commerce will help you to explore a lot of funding opportunities.
The focus of Community Development Financial Institutions is to promote economic development among underserved communities.
They provide services and products to business owners who are not approved of funding through conventional financial institutions and banks schools.
A lot of women-owned business owners belonging to low-income communities can receive funding opportunities to cover their business expenses through this resource.
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Conclusion
Raising capital is important to ensure the success of businesses. However, a lot of women-owned small businesses face critical challenges when it comes to securing investment and business financing. Women business owners struggle to qualify for business loans compared to their male counterparts. Fortunately, there are tons of private and public small business grants designed for women to encourage them. You can apply for the above business grants to get the right financial support required to scale your business.
Learn more about How to Apply for Small Business Facebook Grants Program at the Get Government Grants’ section today. Our resources will help you to find the right type of support based on your needs and requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there any grants for Women-Owned Businesses?
There are various platforms like government, non profit organizations and private organizations that offer grants to the qualified women so that they can grow their business in the long run.
Where can I get federal small business grants for women?
If you are looking for help you can try Grants.gov, The Girlboss Foundation grants and Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs. There are some federal small business grants for women that prioritizes women and provides them grants so that they can grow their business.
Are there any private small grants for women?
There are private small grants like Amber Grant and Eileen Fisher Women Owned Business Grant. However, there are some specific eligibility requirements that you need to fulfill to qualify for the grant amount.
