There are many grants available in the US for small business owners. If you’re starting a small business and want to find a small business grant, we’ve put together information about the most common grants available, with links to help you apply.
I want to make it easier for you to obtain a free small business grant. I will list and explain step-by-step what you need to know and do to obtain your free small business grant.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR): The SBIR is a longstanding funding program for research-based businesses with commercialization potential. They award grants through 12 main federal agencies:
Department of Agriculture
National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Transportation
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Science Foundation
Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR): The STTR program is similar to the SBIR program. It also focuses on businesses involved with research, but is only available to businesses that work a formal research institution. It’s also more restrictive by industry, as only 5 federal agencies award STTR grants currently:
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
NASA
National Science Foundation.
State Trade Expansion Program (STEP): This program awards grants to small businesses involved in exporting. Not too much information about this grant is available online, you’ll need to contact the SBA’s Office of International Trade to see if you qualify.
SAM.gov Grants (formerly the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance): This is another great federal grant database with a modern re-design. While there is some overlap with Grants.gov, you’ll find a few unique ones as well that makes it worth your time to check. You can use the advanced search filters to only see grant results, or also see other funding sources like loans.
Challenge.gov: This technically isn’t a site that offers grants, but they do offer significant amounts of prize money for solving challenges facing a variety of industries. Many are technology-oriented, but there are non-tech challenges as well. If your business is doing something innovative, monitor Challenge.gov for relevant challenges that might be easy for your small business to win.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grants: If you have an agriculture or food service business, you may have a good shot at a grant from the USDA. They have multiple grant programs:
- Community Connect Grants
- Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants
- Rural Business Development Grants
- Rural Energy for America Program Renewable Energy Systems & Energy Efficiency Improvement Loans & Grants
- Socially-Disadvantaged Groups Grant
- Value-Added Producer Grants
Some are focused on rural businesses, but not all of them are. Check the eligibility requirements for each program you’re interested in to see if you qualify.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Grants: This is where the NIST lists their grants. They are intended for small businesses involved with science or technology in some way. You can either find the currently active grants here, or through Grants.gov.
Department of Education Grants: The Department of Education maintains an active list of several grants they offer to small businesses in the education industry. The award ceiling for many grants is up to millions of dollars, so if you run an education-based small business, you should actively monitor these grants.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Grants: The EPA offers dozens of grants to small businesses that are trying to improve the environment, particularly in innovative ways. There are grants targeted towards air quality, environment quality, water quality, pollution prevention, and more.
Economic Development Administration (EDA): The EDA offers grants to small businesses aiming to improve infrastructure of communities. The only issue is that there’s no easy directory of grants to monitor, you’ll have to check this page often for new announcements. You can see previous opportunities to check for relevance on this page.
Coronavirus small-business grants
Shuttered Venue Operators Grant: The SVO Grant program offers $15 billion in business grants to live performing arts institutions, movie theater operators and other eligible shuttered venues. Applications for the SVO grant opened on April 8. Businesses must have been in operation as of Feb. 29, 2020, to qualify.
Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance: The SBA provides Targeted EIDL Advances of up to $10,000 for small businesses in low-income communities experiencing a loss of revenue due to the coronavirus crisis. The advance works more like a grant than a loan, as it does not need to be repaid. The SBA will reach out to eligible businesses.
Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Restaurants and other food establishments that lost revenue due to the pandemic were able to receive up to $10 million in funding from the RRF. Applications for this program closed on May 24.
Federal small-business grants
Government agencies are among the biggest distributors of business grants, supporting a range of enterprises from environmental conservation to child care services. Applying may seem intimidating, but federal grants are great opportunities for small-business owners looking to grow.
Grants.gov: Grants.gov is a comprehensive database of grants administered by various government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs: The SBIR and the STTR grant programs focus on research and development for technology innovation and scientific research. The programs help connect small businesses with federal grants and contracts from 12 government agencies.To qualify, you must operate a for-profit business, have no more than 500 employees and meet other eligibility requirements.
Specialty small-business grants
To help spread entrepreneurial success across demographics, many organizations focus their funding efforts on specific communities.We’ve put together lists of:
- Small-business grants for women.
- Small-business grants for veterans.
- Small-business grants for minorities.
Arkansas Infrastructure 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 government 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.
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 you’ll want to make sure you double-check what you need to do to apply. In Idaho, these government grants are primarily for small businesses that want to enter international markets.
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 that are rehabilitating downtown buildings. You can see the latest opportunities on Iowa’s grants portal.
Kansas Job Creation Fund
The Kansas Job Creation Fund gives grants to businesses looking for help establishing themselves in Kansas. The fund typically disburses the grant money to recipients over five 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. Although small businesses can’t apply directly, you can contact the state or local government branches that are most relevant to your business’s function and see if you can receive funding to do community work. There are also disaster recovery grants that are issued to businesses affected by hurricanes.
Maryland Child Care Quality Incentive Grant Program
The Maryland Division of Early Childhood Development plans to reopen its CCQIG program for local child care facilities in the 2022 fiscal year. This small business grant is awarded quarterly.
ExportMD Program
For those especially enterprising small businesses: If you’re looking to market internationally, then this Maryland program could help you cut down on costs.
Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and 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. Priority funding areas and industries vary with each grant cycle, so you’ll want to 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 the 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 government 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 for small business startups, 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.
Conclusion
If you want to be successful as a small business, then you need to track your income and expenses. Whether you do accounting yourself or you hire an accountant to do it for you doesn’t really matter. It’s crucial that you understand how your business is performing and what expenses and costs are required for your business’s success.