Small Business Grants for Women (2022)
In celebration of Women's History Month, we're publishing some top grant opportunities for women-owned (and non-women-owned) businesses!
Small businesses receive millions of dollars in grants each year from the federal government and private grant programs. Some of these grants are intended for women-owned and operated enterprises. If you’re a woman who runs a small business or has a business idea, it might be worth your time and effort to look for and apply for these grants.
This tutorial explains how to begin your grant search, includes a list of popular small business grants for women entrepreneurs, and offers advice on how to apply for a grant after you’ve found one.
Where to look for grants
Whether you’re looking for public or private funding sources, these are some good places to start your search for grant opportunities:
CDSS’s Minor Renovation and Repairs Grant
Minor Renovation and Repairs Grant - $100 million appropriated in grants for minor renovations repairs, modernization, or retrofitting of existing child care facilities to increase or recover capacity due to a declared disaster, mitigate future disasters, address needs related to health and safety, licensing, or the COVID-19 pandemic, and for other existing facilities for use as child care facilities. Funds shall be used to preserve, enhance, or expand existing child care spaces.
Grants are available to preserve, enhance, or expand spaces for children ages birth to 5 by addressing needs related to health and safety, licensing, disasters, or the COVID-19 pandemic. Grants can also be used for other existing facilities for use as child care facilities.
Examples of allowable uses of grant funds include:
- Classroom upgrades/refresh such as new painting
- Fixed equipment (washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, etc.)
- Non-fixed equipment (portable dishwashers/sanitizers, air purifiers)
- Plumbing and water filtration systems
- Ventilation systems and window replacement
- Kitchen upgrades and equipment
This is the biggest database of U.S. government grants on the internet. (Last we checked, there were over 2,300 active grants available to apply for on the site.) If you intend on applying for a federal grant, start your search here.
Keep in mind that to apply for the grants on grants.gov, you’ll have to obtain a D-U-N-S Number, supply your EIN or SSN and register for an account on the System for Award Management (SAM) here.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
The SBA is an agency of the U.S. federal government whose purpose is to help entrepreneurs and small business owners in the United States succeed. One of the primary ways that the SBA helps small businesses is by improving their access to funding—including low-interest small business loans and grants.
Be sure to check out the SBA’s grants page for information about any grants your business might be eligible for.
Your local Women’s Business Center
One specific way that the SBA supports women small business owners is through its support of a national center of women’s business centers, which offer businesses mentoring and networking opportunities, business development training, business plan development, and access to funding.
Use the SBA’s lookup tool to find an SBA-supported Women’s Business Center (WBC) near you.