Women are becoming more and more prominent in the business world. Women entrepreneurs are a valuable resource that society needs. They have the drive and ability to start businesses and invent new products, which can help advance our economy.
This means women entrepreneurs, who want to launch their own businesses, play a very important role for the economy and the startup ecosystem.
However, it can be challenging for a woman to fund and grow her business due to a lack of startup capital. There aren’t as many grants for women entrepreneurs as there are for male entrepreneurs.
That is why we have compiled a comprehensive list of grants specifically designed for female entrepreneurs. These grants can help you get the capital you need to launch your business or expand your current one.
You no longer have to worry about not being able to secure funding or investing your time into soliciting investors or venture capitalists. Let’s take a look at some grants for women entrepreneurs so you can find out more information about them!
1. The Amber Grant for Women
The Amber Grant Foundation was created in 1998 to award grants to women entrepreneurs. Since then, the foundation awards $10,000 grants each month to one women-owned business.
One of the initial twelve winners receives an additional $25,000 and you can vote on their website to select your favorite company for the final round. Through this opportunity, you can gain money to grow your firm and become a successful women entrepreneur and leader.
Here are the things they will want to know about you and your business if you plan to apply:
- Full name
- Email address
- Business name (optional)
- Web or facebook page (optional)
- A brief explanation of the business and what drives you
- What you would do with the money if awarded
Once you fill the form and pay the application fee ($15), you can submit the application.
The deadline is at the end of each month to be considered in the subsequent month.
2. The Red Backpack Fund
The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation has many grants for women entrepreneurs throughout the years by providing funding opportunities for businesswomen. Due to the difficulty that many women entrepreneurs experience during COVID-19, the Red Backpack Fund has been created in partnership with GlobalGiving to help businesswomen during this difficult time.
A $5,000 grant will be awarded to 1,000 women entrepreneurs nationwide throughout different months. This opportunity includes free access to 80+ MasterClasses including Sara Blakeley’s entrepreneurship class. You can learn more about Sara Blakely here.
In order to qualify for this grant, the majority of the founding team should be women, the revenue should not be above $5M and you should have at least one paid employee but not more than 50 employees.
3. Cartier Women’s Initiative
The Cartier Women’s Initiative was created in 2006 to help female entrepreneurs. It is open to any women-run or women-owned business in any country and sector that focuses on sustainability or the environment.
The Cartier, McKinsey & Company, and INSEAD business school joint partnership is designed to provide grants for women entrepreneurs who have developed their ideas and made them profitable.
Awards are divided for 10 regions and the first place award is $100,000, the second place award is $60,000, and the third place award is $30,000. Winners also receive one-on-one expert coaching, business workshops, and media coverage.
The main criteria to apply for this program are to have female leadership (C-level) and ownership, to have a established business model and growth phase (1-5 years old business), the founder should still own the majority of the shares and should not have more than $2 million dollars in “dilutive” funding.
4. Tory Burch Foundation
In 2009, American fashion designer Tory Burch created the Tory Burch Foundation to help women in business overcome common challenges. Mentorship and networking, entrepreneurial education, and access to capital are all provided by the Tory Burch Foundation.
The Tory Burch Foundation’s Fellows program for 50 top female entrepreneurs is made of a one-year fellowship, including a $5,000 grant for education, networking and collaboration, and a trip to the Tory Burch Manhattan headquarters.
The main criteria to qualify is to be U.S.-based, for-profit, early-stage (1-5 years), and generating $75,000 in revenues. Applications for the program open in the fall and there is no application fee.
The main documents required are the business plan and a resume and there are a few questions about the future vision and your social responsibility.
5. Visa Global She’s Next Grant Program
The Visa Global She’s Next Grant Program is a collaboration between Visa and IFundWomen to provide small business financing and education to women entrepreneurs worldwide. The grant programs are active throughout the year, many of which provide monetary grants, coaching, and membership.
Through 149 business and 159 coaching grants, the program has so far awarded $1.6M to female entrepreneurs.
They have been granting monetary and coaching membership benefits to women entrepreneurs in more than 10 countries through global programs that is launched in 2022.
To qualify for this grant, you must be a black woman with a business that has been in operation for at least two years, have a minimum revenue of $24,000, and locations restrictions apply.
6. Ms. Foundation for Women
The Ms. Foundation provides several different grants for women entrepreneurs who work to advance the equality of women and girls. Recipients of the award had businesses that worked to prevent domestic violence, provide affordable childcare, and more.
Grantees receive mentorship and networking assistance, as well as training and support from the foundation. This grant is particularly suitable to you if you see yourself as an activist entrepreneur who is on a bigger mission to change the world.
This is stated in their website: “We provide strategic assistance that builds leadership, strengthens organizations and seeds long term solutions. When we strengthen organizations on the ground, we are supporting vibrant movements that have real impact on the lives of women and communities far into the future.”
7. Women Founders’ Network Fast Pitch Competition
Each Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition is open to early-stage, woman-owned businesses with high potential. Judges select the five top finalists who pitch their companies in a way that appeals to Angel and VC investors for the chance to win over $55,000 in cash prizes and over $100,000 in professional services.
You can choose two categories based on your products or services: 1) Tech/Tech enabled: A B2C or B2B company that relies on significant technological development to deliver the product or service; 2) Consumer and other non-tech: A product that is sold to consumers as physical units or consumer-focused media/content, e-commerce sites, or services provided to consumers.
The main criteria is that the company must have a founder/co-founder/CEO who is a woman or the business must be majority-owned by a woman. The business may not have more than $750,000 of outside funding, including personal cash.
8. The Girlboss Foundation
The Girlboss Foundation was created in 2014 to provide support and empowerment grants for women entrepreneurs. The organization provides $15,000 annually for projects in the following areas: arts, music, fashion, and design.
To be part of the Girlboss online community, winners must be creative, innovative, and knowledgeable about business. In addition to exposure, the Girlboss online community is populated with like-minded women in the creative sectors.
To be eligible for the grants for women entrepreneurs, you should be a US-based and in the creative industries. In the application process, major documents such as the business plan is not need but they ask a few questions about your future vision, description of the project and any additional information you would like Girlboss to know.
9. Digitalundivided Breakthrough Program
Digitalundivided is committed to creating economic growth in Latina and Black women entrepreneurs’ communities by developing innovative programs and initiatives.
Through their Breakthrough Program, together with JP Morgan, they “provides founders with a deeper understanding of their customers, startup funding, growth marketing strategies and networking opportunities to scale their ventures.”
This means winning startups receive $5000 grants, business mentorship, professional networks and sessions with relevant industry leaders.
The main criteria is to be identified as black or Latina woman founder, to have a technology component such as an app or a website and to Generate a minimum of $50,000 annual business revenue. The application has no particular deadline and it is rolling basis.
10. Dream Big Awards
The Dream Big Awards recognise and honour the best American small businesses. The Dream Big Small Business of The Year receives a $25,000 cash prize, a one-year Chamber of Commerce membership, a promotional video about their business played at the awards ceremony, and a featured article in CO magazines.
There are also eight other recognitions, including Minority-Owned Business Achievement Award, LGBTQ-Owned Business Achievement Award, Woman-Owned Business Achievement Award, Community Support and Leadership Award.
To be eligible, applicants must be for-profit businesses that have been in operation for at least one year, primarily in the United States, and have gross revenues of less than $20 million for each of the two previous years.
11. Fearless Fund
The Fearless Fund provides grants for women entrepreneurs of color-led businesses that are seeking pre-seed, seed level or series A financing. Their mission is to provide venture capital funding for women of color founders who are building competitive, growing companies. Fearless Fund is built by women of color for women of color. The fund provides the following programs:
Fearless Strivers Grant Contest: $10,000 grants and digital tools are given to Black women entrepreneurs in partnership with Mastercard to help them start and sustain their businesses online. This grant is open to any small business in America that uses technology or has a social or environmental cause.
Women of Color Grant Program: In cooperation with the Tory Burch Foundation, Goldman Sachs’s investment initiative One Million Black Women, 150 small businesses received $10,000-$20,000. The 2022 application period is now closed.
12. FedEx Small Business Grant Contest
FedEx has shown that it is fair with its distribution of funds, equally to men and women entrepreneurs, by allowing the public to vote for their favorite company in its previous grant competitions.
FedEx Small Business Grants can award up to $50,000 to several winners. There are gold, silver, and bronze recipients, as well as various FedEx business products to supplement their prize winnings. Entry into the contest allows companies to connect with new audiences, grow their networks, and really focus on what matters to their businesses.
In order to qualify for the grant, a business plan, business description, and photos and video (if desired) of your intended business goals must be submitted for the grant money. To read about previous FedEx Small Business Grants, visit here.
13. Halstead Grant
Since 2006, The Halstead Grant has provided annually $7,500 in startup capital, $1,000 in merchandise, and additional industry recognition to a winning startup or creative artist in the jewelry industry.
Up to 5 semi-finalists and finalists may receive $250 or $500 and help promote their businesses. The most valuable grants for women entrepreneurs are a personal feedback report compiled with all of the judges’ notes.
In order to be qualified for this grant you should be a women entrepreneur or artist active in the jewelry industry. You can check their application page for more info.
14. Eileen Fisher Award
Eileen Fisher, a women’s apparel company established more than three decades ago, distributes $200,000 grants for women entrepreneurs. Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $40,000 per winning startups.
The industries that are targeted by this award are services or solutions targeting climate change challenges, involvement of women in a sustainable and inclusive society and startups through which women are assisted in taking part in the decision-making.
Below you can see the exact criteria for the application:
- Be an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
- Provide direct services
- Address one or more of the above key points
- Program’s mission focuses primarily on individuals who identify as female
- Executive leadership reflects the demographics of the program’s beneficiaries
- Program has been generated by and/or co-designed with the communities it serves
- Able to provide financial statements for one full year of operations
- Able to complete an application and participate in an interview in English
15. SoGal Startup Grant
The SoGal Startup Grant focuses on a burning societal issue: Helping black women entrepreneurs to get growth-oriented funding for their startup. The recorded data suggest that Black women founders receive less than 0.5 percent of venture capital funding while growing at the fastest rate in the category of entrepreneurs.
In addition to receiving $5,000 or $10,000 in startup capital, the SoGal Startup Grant winners will also receive expert guidance on how to successfully fundraise. This helps them to have access to much needed resources and entrepreneurial networks to learn and develop their capabilities.
To qualify, the founder should be identified as a black woman or Black non-binary entrepreneur, have registered a business formally, have growth ambitions, and have a scalable, high-impact solution or idea. There is no particular deadline for this grant as it is rolling-basis.
Final words: grants for women entrepreneurs are easier than you think!
The main reason why women require grants and scholarships is that they are still facing critical funding disadvantages today despite their business and professional accomplishments.
Female business owners primarily need grants because of the challenges and difficulties they face in building a business. Grants for women, in particular, provide them with the advantage to fight back and succeed in spite of the long-standing unfair and unjust system. With the help of this kind of aid, they can overcome a longstanding old and new system.
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