FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
American Express is Pledging $10 Million to Black-Owned Businesses!
For more information, Click Here.
LISC Rural Relief Small Business Grants
LISC is offering grants for small business owners in rural locations. For information on the grants, click here.
To apply for a grant, click here.
Amber Grant
This grant isn’t for a very large amount of money, but it is easy to qualify and apply for. Named after a young woman named Amber died before being able to fulfill her entrepreneurial dreams, the Amber Grant awards $10,000 to a woman-owned business every month. At the end of the year, one of the 12 monthly qualification winners wins another grant for $25,000.
Open to all female entrepreneurs age 18 and up living in the United States or Canada and who pay a $15 application fee.
For more information, visit ambergrantsforwomen.com
Cartier Women’s Initiative
The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards is one of the largest and most prestigious women-owned business grants, but the competition is steep. Cartier offers two different grants for women-owned businesses: The Cartier Women’s Initiative Regional Awards provides seven laureates (one from each of seven global regions) $100,000 each, and 14 finalists (2nd and 3rd runner-up businesses from each region) $30,000 each. Cartier’s Science & Technology Pioneer Award provides one $100,000 grant to the winner and two $30,000 grants to the runners up.
For more information, visit cartierwomensinitiative.com
Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program
Each spring, up to 50 finalists of this women-owned business grant competition are selected for a $5,000 grant to be used for business education. The finalists also receive a one-year Tory Burch Fellowship and a free 5-day trip to Tory Burch Offices in NYC over the summer.
The free trip includes a workshop, networking opportunities, and a Pitch Day event where a select group of finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their business to industry influencers (pending CDC travel and event guidelines during COVID). Note that the $5,000 grant cannot be used for purposes other than business education.
For more information, see toryburchfoundation.org
Women Founders Network Fast Pitch Competition
The Women Founders Network is an organization that provides both capital and mentorship to women business owners. WFN is an excellent grant opportunity if you have an innovative company that you want to take to the next level. The organization’s Fast Pitch competition selects five finalists to receive free grant money and free professional services each year. Through two rounds of voting, judges select the five top female founders, who then pitch their companies in a “Shark Tank”-style competition to compete for more than $30,000 in cash prizes and over $50,000 in professional services.
For more information, see womenfoundersnetwork.com
37 Angels
Angel investment isn’t a grant, per se, as the investors that fund you will have an interest in your company. But angel investing can be a good option for women-owned startups who could benefit from some direction and industry expertise in growing their company, as well as the funds to do so. NYC-based 37 Angels is an angel investment group designed to close the gender gap in angel investing. The grant is open to both women and men-led companies (but the group’s portfolio favors woman founders).
There’s a simple online application to apply for funding, and if you’re selected as a finalist, you’ll pitch your company to a group of investors in New York. You should receive a decision within 4-weeks of pitching, and most angels receive $50,000 to $100,000 in seed funding, along with professional help growing their company.
For more information, visit 37angels.com
Halstead Grant
Halstead Grants are annual grants given to emerging metal jewelry designers. While this grant is not strictly for women, I’m including it on our list, as the jewelry industry is mostly female-dominated, and most (but not all) of the past winners of this grant have been women. The grant consists of $7,500 in startup capital and $1,000 in Halstead merchandise. Note that as part of the application, you must submit a jewelry collection.
For more information, see grant.halsteadbead.com
Women Who Tech
Women Who Tech is the largest network of women-led startups, investors, and allies working to increase diversity and funding in the technology sector. The organization awards equity-free grants to women-led tech startups on a rolling basis throughout the year. For each grant period, there is a different theme. For the first grant period of 2021, the theme is Emerging Tech; applicants should be focused on emerging technologies to solve systemic global problems.
The first place prize for the Women Who Tech Emerging Tech grant is $15,000, and the second-place awardee will receive $5,000.
Visit womenwhotech.com for more information.
