The Top Small Business Grants in 2019
Small Business Innovation Research Program
Small Business Technology Transfer Program
Rural Business Enterprise Grant
FedEx Small Business Grant
Eileen Fisher Grant for Women
Girlboss Foundation Grant
Visa Everywhere Initiative
LendingTree’s Small Business Grant Contest
Wells Fargo Community Investment Program
InnovateHER Women Business Challenge
There are two caveats, though. First, small business grants are generally pretty specific about what you can spend the money on, whereas small business loans tend to be very flexible. For example, if you score a grant for developing a new kind of environmentally-friendly lemonade stand, then you’ll likely have to spend the money on equipment or research, not on buying lemons and sugar.
Second, and maybe most importantly, small business grants are hard to qualify for—and even harder to find. There’s a lot of misinformation, dead old websites, confusing databases, complicated government restrictions, discontinued contests, and more out there.
To help out, we’ve compiled a list of 107 verified startup grants and small business grants for you to check out. We’ve categorized them in seven different ways so you can figure out which grants are the best option for you to pursue for your business. Learn about eligibility requirements, timelines, and the application process for each grant.
Small Business Grants: Federal
Although there are plenty of federal small business grants, they are primarily open to companies in the science, technology, or health fields. If your business is involved in research and development or in scientific initiatives—including environmental and climate initiatives—then federal grant programs might be able to cover some of your expenses.
Sometimes, grant winners receive the funding directly from the federal government. However, in most cases, the federal government just determines eligibility but doles out grant money to state and local governments. States and localities then distribute the funds to small businesses.
Here are the top federal small business grants:
- Small Business Innovation Research Program
The SBIR encourages small businesses engaged in research and development that has commercial potential. The SBIR aims to stimulate technological innovation and scientific entrepreneurship. Eleven government agencies participate in the program, and each creates their own eligibility guidelines, research and development topics, and reviews applications. Grants start at $150,000, but if your business shows promise, then you can receive additional grants of up to $1 million.
- Small Business Technology Transfer Program
The STTR has similar goals, but requires its small business applicants to collaborate with a research institution. Five federal agencies currently participate in in this program, setting aside a bit of their budget to work with small businesses. As with the SBIR grants, these grants start at $150,000 and then go up to $1 million. That’s where this small business grant comes into play. Let’s take a quick look at the five main federal agencies that participate in the SBIR and STTR programs.
- National Science Foundation
The NSF accepts proposals in the areas of engineering, science, or medicine, though specific topics change from year to year. They even have a YouTube channel to help you get your application in order.
- NASA
What’s cooler than collaborating with NASA? Getting paid to collaborate with NASA. Plenty of technology sectors are important to develop for NASA, but they’re especially interested in energy efficiency or alternative and renewable energy or efficient ways of building spacecrafts. 3, 2, 1, lift-off.
- National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, a subset of the Department of Health & Human Services, offers small business grants to companies researching and developing commercially innovative biomedical technologies. Sound like you? Save some money while you’re saving lives.
- Department of Energy
The Energy Department’s Office of Science also participates in these two small business grants. Topics include environmental science, clean energy, and material science. Check out their hour-long program overview webinar for more details.
- Department of Defense
Whether your technology research and development is meant for the Army, Navy, Air Force, or DARPA’s advanced initiatives, the Department of Defense will help you fund and commercialize your products.
There are also a few governmental agencies that offer small business grants for the Small Business Innovation Research program only. The STTR mandates collaboration between a research institution and your small business, but the SBIR does not—which could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on what you’re looking for. Let’s take a look.
- National Institute of Food & Agriculture
This branch of the Department of Agriculture supports research and development in the agricultural field specifically. Topics include forestry, food science and nutrition, aquacultural, biofuel products, animal protection, and more.
- National Institute of Standards & Technology
A division of the Department of Commerce, NIST gives small business grants to companies developing technology under topics like cybersecurity, manufacturing, software, and trade. Note that it also deals with energy, healthcare, and others—you’re free to apply to some or all of these departments if you qualify for the SBIR!
- Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA rewards businesses looking to advance green technology and sustainable scientific developments.
- Department of Transportation
The Department of Transportation’s transportation systems center, Volpe, accepts solicitations for aid in developing technology regarding aviation, railroads, and highways, but make sure to check their updated topic listings before you apply.
- Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security provides grants to small businesses that work in the areas of border and maritime security, chemical and biological defense, cyber security, explosives, or first responder group technology.
- Department of Education
The Department of Education’s SBIR grant topics are listed under the National Center for Education Research branch, and range from pre-reading and pre-writing technology developments to research that deals with STEM skills, language learning, and behavioral learning patterns.
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
The Technology Partnerships Office of NOAA offers small business grants for developments and research in coastline communities and economies, healthy ocean monitoring, climate adaptation and mitigation, and much more.
Beyond SBIR and STTR, the two major federal research and development grant programs, some Federal government agencies also offer some specific grants to small businesses. We trawled through a few databases of Federal small business grants—of which the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is the authoritative source—and pulled the most important. Still, make sure to search yourself, especially if your small business is involved in agriculture, public health, or sustainable development! These offerings update regularly.
- Rural Energy for America Program
This grant program, run by the Department of Agriculture, centers on small businesses in eligible rural areas looking to purchase, construct, or install renewable energy systems or energy efficiency improvement technologies. You can partner it with a USDA loan guaranty as well, and together they’ll back up to 75% of your eligible project costs.
- Value Added Producer Grant
If you’re an agricultural producer, the VAPG program could help with you with working capital expenses, ranging from processing, to marketing and advertising, to inventory and salary expenses.
- Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant
The Department of Agriculture offers this grant program for small businesses and agricultural producers that are modernizing education and health in rural communities. Specifically, these grants are an option if your company provides education or health services through telecommunications. Awards range from $50,000 to $500,000
- 3D Elevation Grant
The Department of the Interior is offering a grant to small businesses that can creatively leverage lidar and map data to come up with natural 3D imaging of the nation’s topographical boundaries. This is a great grant for design and technology firms.
- CyberTipline Grant
This grant program, run by the Department of Homeland Security, offers money to small businesses that provide services and programs that help prevent sex trafficking and exploitation of children.
- Recovery Challenge Grant
The Fish and Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior, makes the Recovery Challenge grant to researchers and small businesses that are taking actionable steps to help prevent endangerment and reintroduce endangered species into their natural habitats. Awards go up to $3 million.
Small Business Grants: State
State-level small business grants are generally geared towards that particular state’s social or economic concerns. They’re meant to work in tandem with Federal or other State grants, so you’ll usually get less funding. That said, they’re much more accessible due to lower competition. Also, many are matching grants: instead of just providing the funds for you to use for a certain purpose, some will require that you match the money they give as well.
You can search for grants your own state and industry by looking at your state’s department of commerce website or grants portal. Grants.gov is primarily for federal grant search. Below, we list some popular states.
Also, an important note: while we’re listing state-specific small business grants, many of these run across multiple states, so don’t give up if the grant looks right but your states don’t match!
Here are the top state small business grants:
- Arizona Commerce Authority
The Arizona Commerce Authority is a great resource for small business owners in AZ. Check back throughout the year for new competitions and grant options. The Arizona Step Grant is a popular program, which offers money to small businesses that are exporting products or expanding into international markets.
- Arkansas Technology Transfer Assistance Grant Program
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission offers several grants, rebates, and incentives to businesses that create jobs or expand in Arkansas. For example, the Infrastructure Grant is for businesses that create full-time jobs in Arkansas.
- Colorado Export Development Grant
Colorado regularly ranks as one of the best states for startups and entrepreneurship, and the state government is helping to make sure that innovation continues in this state. Colorado offers grants for many types of small and medium sized businesses, especially businesses that are interested in international development or that are involved in advanced industries like robotics.
- DC Small and Local Business Grant
The DC Department of Small and Local Business has multiple open grant opportunities for businesses in particular “wards” of the city. You can keep track of the ongoing grant opportunities on their Current Solicitations & Opportunities site. They tend to offer the most grants to retail businesses that are revitalizing downtown neighborhoods.
- Idaho State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Grant
Many states actually have a STEP program, Idaho included. However, they each have individual application processes and qualification criteria, so make sure you double-check what you need to do to apply! In Idaho, these grants are primarily for businesses that want to enter international markets.
- Illinois Recycling Expansion and Modernization Program
Sustainability-driven small businesses in Illinois (and other states) should consider the REM program, which offers grants of up to $250,000. Note that this is a matching grant program, so you’ll have to put up your own cash to receive the government’s—budget well in advance if you’re aiming for this opportunity.
- Iowa Business Development Grant Recycling
Iowa provides a wide range of business development grants. The state’s focus is on businesses that create manufacturing jobs and enhance Iowa’s other industries. There are also grants for retail businesses which are rehabilitating downtown buildings. You can see the latest opportunities on Iowa’s grants portal.
- Kansas Job Creation Fund
Kansas’s Job Creation Fund gives grants to businesses looking for help establishing themselves in Kansas. The fund typically disburses the grant money to recipients over three years as their company reaches certain investment and employment benchmarks.
- Louisiana Community Development Block Grant
The Office of Community Development aims to improve the living environments and economic opportunities for Louisiana’s low income residents. While small businesses can’t apply directly, contact the state or local government branches most relevant to your business’s function and see if you can receive that funding to do community work. There are also disaster recovery grants to businesses that are were affected by hurricanes.
- Maryland Child Care Quality Incentive Grant Program
The Maryland Division of Early Childhood Development recently reopened its CCQIG program for local childcare facilities. The grant is awarded quarterly.
- ExportMD Program
For those especially enterprising small businesses: if you’re looking to market internationally, then this program could help you cut down on costs.
- Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority & Fund
Although we happen to be listing a lot of Maryland initiatives, many states carry the same or similar programs in their own boundaries as well. In this case, the MEDAAF is an unusually broad small business grant and loan opportunity for Maryland small business owners, so don’t miss it. Priority funding areas and industries vary with each grant cycle, so keep an eye out for updates.
- Minnesota Dairy Business Planning Grant
On the other side of the spectrum, this program covers a narrow sliver of Minnesota’s small businesses—but that means low competition. If you manage a dairy farm or are developing environmental technologies related to dairy farming, look into the DBPG.
- Minnesota REETAIN
REETAIN, or Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now, offers small grants to child care professionals in Minnesota. If you’re a child care professional in Minnesota, this could be that extra cash you need to help defray costs.
- Minnesota Crop Research Grant Program
Again, most state’s agriculture departments have small business grants that are some variation on the CRGP. If your business researches agricultural product quality, quantity, or value, this grant could work well for you.
- Minnesota Innovation Voucher Award Program
If your business needs cash to purchase technical assistance or to commercialize your products, you can score a substantial amount of capital with this grant. This is a matching grant, so you’ll need to put up half of the cash.
- Minnesota Job Creation Fund
The Minnesota Job Creation Fund is for new and expanding businesses that meet targets for job creation and capital investment. Eligible companies can receive up to $1 million for creating or retaining high-salaried jobs and for rehabilitating facilities.
- Nebraska Child Care Grant
For child care homes and centers, this program offers a number of smaller grants for you to apply to.
- New York City Commute Enhancement Grant
Up to $10,000, the NYCCE grant can apply to a number of initiatives related to city commuting. If you’re a New York small business with a toe in transportation, applying here is a must.
- North Carolina Recycling Business Development Grants
The Recycling Business Assistance Center aims to encourage sustainability and reduce waste with this yearly grant program.
- North Carolina IDEA
Looking for startup grants? NC IDEA gives out grants of up to $50,000 and has sponsored nearly 100 high-tech companies with growth potential. This is actually a private foundation, but their grants are open only to North Carolina businesses. There are different grants for different types of companies—such as women-owned businesses or seed-stage businesses.
- Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development
With small business grants for companies that are expanding, offering training initiatives, or improving public infrastructure, the Tennessee DoECD isn’t one to skip if you’re located in the right place.
- Texas Young Farmer Grant
For residents between 18 and 46 years of age, this grant funds projects that support Texas’ agricultural production and community.
Small Business Grants: Local
In addition to statewide grants, cities, towns, and nonprofits finance their own small business grant programs. Continuing the trend, these usually carry smaller payloads but less competition. For local small business grants, you’ve got a substantial upper hand if you service your community in a tangible and demonstrable way.
Plus, is your small business aimed at promoting health, environmental consciousness, or similar initiatives? If so, you’ll be looking at even more local grants to apply for—and get funding from. Because local small business grants are so geographically specific, we’ve pulled just a few to show you what kinds of opportunities may exist in your nearby city or town. Again, make sure to look for similar programs in your own locality.
Here are the top Local small business grants:
- Cleveland Department of Economic Development
Many cities—including Cleveland, which we’ll use as an example for this section—have a number of small business grants and initiatives to foster entrepreneurship.
- Job Creation Tax Abatements
Your small business might be in an Enterprise Zone (as Ohio terms it), or a similar type of area, and accordingly be offered tax incentives for projects or operations that create jobs. These aren’t technically small business grants, but they put additional money in your business’s pocket that you can use to grow.
- Technology Business Grant Program
Small businesses in the tech space that create 5 or more jobs in the city of Cleveland can apply for this grant that covers up to 0.5% of new payroll for up to five years.
- Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Big Idea Contest
Continuing the trend of encouraging research and development, this contest presented a challenge to companies in Central and Northern Pennsylvania and awarded a sizeable grant—alongside $50,000 in cash, a $100,000 low-interest loan, special service access and consultation.
- Ben Franklin Innovation Partnership
The Ben Franklin Technology Partnership partially funds the Innovation Partnership, which is a local grant program centered around helping Pennsylvanian small businesses afford those SBIR and STTR Federal research and development grant programs we looked at way back when. Though this is statewide, we’re including it under the local category because it’s actually a consolidation of microloan programs throughout the region.
- Chicago IncentOvate
In past years, this project has awarded $400,000 to cultural projects in the city of Chicago. While it’s unclear whether this grant will be repeated in future years, it’s a reflection of grants you should be looking for in your own city! You don’t need to be running a research and development business or a green technology-oriented farm to get small business grants, after all.
- Chicago Small Business Improvement Fund
The SBIF supports small businesses repairing or remodeling their location, whether by updating windows and floors, replacing signage, or purchasing nearby property to expand into. Note that you’d receive this matching grant after completing and paying for your remodeling, so be cautious—plenty of other businesses are likely competing for small business grants like these.
- Miami Mom & Pop Small Business Grant
If you’re in Miami and have been in business for at least a year, make sure to apply to this program meant to “bridge the gap between local government and small owned and operated businesses.”
- New York City Fashion Manufacturing Initiative
The FMI offers grants to New York City fashion companies who need to purchase equipment, make upgrades, or train their employees.
- New York City Job Creation and Retention Program
Is your small business new to Lower Manhattan, and can you commit to creating at least 75 new jobs in the area? If so, look to the JCRP grant.
- Seed Chicago
Seed Chicago is a crowdfunding platform specifically for Chicago-based businesses. This is technically not a small business grant, but crowdfunding is money which comes from many different community backers. In most cases, you don’t have to pay back the money.
- Lumpkin Foundation Grant
The Lumpkin Foundation is a private foundation, but they provide grants to organizations in East Central Illinois. Grants are available to businesses that focus on food service, the local agriculture economy, and sustainable practices.
- Orlando Downtown Facade & Building Stabilization Program
This program provides grants between $5,000 and $40,000 to small businesses that own their buildings in downtown Orlando and improve their stability or appearance. Part infrastructural, part city beautification, this program incentivizes the small business owning residents of Orlando to contribute to their city’s well-being in a few different ways.
This post was as updated by Priyanka Prakash, JD of FUNDERA and is highlighted here for education/awareness purpose only
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