Grants are a non-dilutive sources of funding typically for businesses but can be for nonprofits or individuals. The grant recipients are chosen at the discretion of a foundation or organization. Applicants will have to meet the granting organization’s eligibility requirements and application process. The funding organization sets the amount of the grant and how the funding can be used.
In a lot of ways, grants are the best source of funding for small businesses with highly uncertain ROI and likelihood of success. The foundations and organizations who offer grants are trying to achieve a social impact goal, so they’re less focused on extracting a return on investment. This allows grantees to experiment and be bold in their venture.
Some of the grants here are award as part of a pitch competition. Pitch competitions will require the grantee to be able to travel to the location of the competition since they are likely in person. When considering pitch competitions, it’s important to research the terms and conditions in the small print. Some of the awards may be grants, but some may be an equity capital award. The equity capital takes a cut of the business.
Some of the grants require participation in a fellowship or accelerator program. The goal is for the grantor to have more control and impact on the success of the venture when providing capital. Be sure to understand the requirements and if you can meet the commitments. Programs can from run from a few months to a yearlong with potential in person attendance requirements.
Of the grants we could find, actually only two grants (!) are specifically for mom-owned businesses. However, when we expanded our criteria, we uncovered a much longer list of potential grants that a mom could potentially apply to depending on her personal situation.
We break down the grant into multiple sub-categories as follows:
Most lists on grants are highly segmented. However, as people increasingly become more diverse both culturally and identity-wise, those subsets of characteristics are not mutually exclusive. For example, a mom who identifies as a woman of color and LGBTQ+ and is starting her own business in clean-tech would be able to apply to grants in every sub-category listed. We ourselves identify as two to three of those above subsets, and we expect others will too. Therefore, we went ahead and covered the spectrum as comprehensively as possible in one very long listicle of 80+ grants.
We’ve highlighted some ofour top five picks based on grant size, frequency, and alignment to our mission. The rest are listed out -- if you work with the grant and have more information you'd like listed, reach out to us and we will gladly update this article.
And the list goes on…
6. BMO Celebrating Women Grant Program
7. Boundless Future’s EmpowHER Grants
8. Boundless Future’s Her Village Grant
9. Block Advisors’ Fund Her Future
10. Ladies Who Launch’s Launch Program
11. Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition
12. AT&T’s She's Connected (by AT&T)
13. Giving Joy’s Grant Program
14. McBridge Sisters She Can Fund Grant
15. Hello Alice’s Stacy's Rise Project
16. Papaya’s The Papaya Grant
17. Bank United’s Small Business, Big Dreams: Women in Business Challenge
18. Dell Technologies’ DWEN US Dream Tech Contest
19. Tory Burch Foundation’s Fellowship Program
20. Enthuse Foundation’s Annual Pitch Competition
21. Digital Undivided’s Breakthrough by JPMorgan Chase
22. Her Suite Spot’s HerRise Microgrants
23. Corporate Counsel CCWC Women of Color Entrepreneur Grant.
24. Fifteen Percent Pledge’s Dream Makers Founders Grant
25. Galaxy of Stars’ the Galaxy Grant
26. Publish Her’s Business Impact Grant (BIG) Program for Women of Color Business Owners
27. Tory Burch Foundation’s Women of Color Grant Program (in partnership with the Fearless Fund)
28. Hawai’i FoundHer’s Funding and Accelerator Program
29. Waves of Change Grant Program
30. Beyond Open’s Small Business Grant
31. Comcast Rise Grant
32. Amazon Business Small Business Grant Contest
33. Bizee Fresh Start Business Grant
34. US Chamber’s America's Top Small Business Award
35. FedEx Small Business Grant
36. Mainstreet’s Backing Small Businesses
37. National Association for the Self-Employed Growth Grants
38. Fearless Fund’s Strivers Grant
39. The Freed Fellowship Grant
40. Fast Break for Small Businesses
41. Get Jobber Grants
42. eBay Up & Running Grant (with Hello Alice)
43. The Halstead Grant
44. Venmo’s Small Business Grant
45. Lenovo’s Evolve Small
46. Verizon’s Digital Ready Grants
47. NGLCC Community Impact Programs
48. Audacy’s 1010 Wins
49. UPS 2024 Challenge
50. Progressive Driving Small Business Forward (with Hello Alice)
51. SubSummit Pitch Competition
52. AAPI Strong’s Restaurant Fund
53. Asian Community Fund Grant
54. The Equality Fund Grant
55. Latino Equity Fund Grant
56. NAACP Backing the B.A.R. Grant
57. Wish Local Empowerment Program
58. Cadence Cash’ Thrive Grant
59. Shea Moisture’s Grant with Purpose
60. Founders First CDC Pride Grant
61. Founders First CDC Stephen L. Tadlock Grant for Veterans
62. Energy Communities’ State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) (with US government)
63. The Transform Grant
64. The Black Ambition Prize Competition
65. Greenhouse Accelerator’s Juntos Crecemos
66. Black Girl Ventures’ BGV Pitch
67. National Black MBA Organization Scale Up Pitch Challenge
68. REI’s Path Ahead Venture Navigate
69. US Chamber Foundation Coalition to Back Black Businesses
70. Support Latino Business Support Small Biz Grant
71. NAACP’s Powershift Entrepreneur Grant
72. Siete Food’s Siete Juntos Fund
73. Wear Pepper’s Start-up Grant For Black Women
74. Famous Amos and the National Black Chamber of Commerce Ingredients for Success Initiative
75. NBA Celtics’ Power Forward Small Business Grants
76. Merchant Maverick Grant Native American Businesses
77. America’s Seed Fund NSF Project Pitch
78. Massachusett Clean Energy’s Innovate Mass
79. Grow NY 2024
80.. MIT’s $100K Entrepreneurship
81. Harvard’s President Innovation Funds
82. Visa’s Everywhere Initiative
83. SBA’s Funding Program Grants
With over 30 million small businesses in the US, America is built on small businesses. Yet starting a business is hard and can be expensive. But even micro-grants of a few hundred dollars can be go miles in helping a business get off the ground.
Getting into debt to start a business or living lean to pursue a dream is not uncommon. As founders ourselves, we know the pains of starting up. We hope one of these grants can help you get your venture off the ground!
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