LADIES, LET’S GET PAID - March Funding Opportunities

MARCH FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES AND GRANTS PROVIDED BY THE BANK OF AMERICA INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Below, you will find links to funding, accelerators, and general resources.   PLEASE NOTE: Cornell has no affiliation with these organizations, so any specific questions should be directed to them. 

STATE-SPECIFIC OPPORTUNITIES

There are more than 90 opportunities within 38 US states and Washington, DC which are not mentioned in this post (due to lack of space) but are listed here - https://bofainstitute.cornell.edu/more/repost-spreadsheet-with-funding-and-resource-links-for-2024/

OPPORTUNITIES ONLY WITHIN THE UNITED STATES

Amazon's Black Business Accelerator - Dedicated to helping build sustainable equity and growth for Black entrepreneurs by enabling their success as sellers. Grow your business with access to financial support, strategic business guidance and mentorship, and marketing and promotional support. - https://sell.amazon.com/programs/black-business-accelerator

American Dream Grant - The American Dream Awards celebrate small businesses embodying the modern American Dream. Open to all US for-profit businesses, recipients get $1,000, a business accelerator, media exposure, and more. Apply by 4/30/2023 - https://helloalice.com/funding/grants

Bank of America's Business Education Center for Entrepreneurs - Visit Bank of America's Small Business Education site for access to free webinars on Accessing Capital, Building Business Credit, and more -https://go.bofa.com/BusinessEducationCenter

Barclays Small Business Big Wins Grant - What’s your small business story? Explain how your business is adjusting to the current economy. Demonstrate your perseverance, creativity, and passion for your business. How do your business products or services impact others and/or the community? Funding up to $60,000. Apply by 3/4/2024 - https://www.barclayssmallbizbigwins.com/

Botox Real Impact Grant (with IFundWomen) - Providing 20 groundbreaking women entrepreneurs, each with a $25k grant, coaching, and mentorship, helping to close the Confidence Gap. Honorees will also become a part of the award-winning IFundWomen Method Crowdfunding Accelerator, designed to fuel ambitions, increase confidence, and drive long-term impact for future women founders. Apply by 3/19/2024 - https://www.botoxcosmetic.com/realimpact

Duality Quantum Accelerator - Duality is the first accelerator program in the U.S. exclusively focused on supporting innovative quantum startups. At least one founder must commit to residing in Chicago for 12 weeks through the main programming (July – October) and additional programming as required (approximately 4 weeks throughout the rest of the year). Funding of $50,000. Apply by 3/15/2024 - https://www.dualityaccelerator.com/about-the-program/

Emerging Young Entrepreneurs Accelerator Program - The EYE program is uniquely designed to provide the next generation of minority entrepreneur participants ages 19-35 with support to enhance their growing business. Business owners will receive guidance from corporate sponsors, MBEs, and additional stakeholders.  Apply by 3/8/2024 - https://nmsdc.org/programs/emerging-young-entrepreneurs-program/

Fast Break for Small Business (LegalZoom) - LegalZoom, the NBA, WNBA, and NBA G League are committed to helping small business owners. The grant program is focused on reaching entrepreneurs of color, women, low- to moderate-income small business owners, immigrants, and others who have historically had limited access to financing for their businesses. Grants for $10,000. Apply by 9/13/2024 - https://www.legalzoom.com/fastbreakforsmallbusiness

Genius NY Accelerator - GENIUS NY is a startup accelerator sponsored by Empire State Development that invests $3M annually into seed-stage startups focused on uncrewed aerial systems, automation and AI. Must be willing to commit to living on a full-time basis in Central New York for the period of the program. Applications open for Cohort 8. Winners receive a large investment; one grand prize winner receives $1 million, followed by four $500,000 investments to the remaining teams. ​Winners also receive funding in the form of a monthly stipend in Phase I, free office space and amenities, workshops and events, business training, a dedicated group of executive advisors, industry mentors, and recruiting, marketing, and fundraising support. Funding up to $1,000,000. Apply by 5/15/2024 - https://geniusny.com/

Halstead Grant - Halstead Grant is an annual award for emerging silver jewelry artists. Applicants submit answers to 15 business questions in addition to their design portfolios. The experience is designed to help jewelry entrepreneurs create a strategy to kick-start their careers. Grants of $7,500. Apply by 5/1/2024 - https://grant.halsteadbead.com/

Henry Society Corporate Sister Challenge ($7 application fee) - Businesses with less than $2MM in revenue that fall within one of these categories: food & beverage, lifestyle, home, fashion & beauty, wellness, finance or tech can apply. $7500 of in-kind services. Apply by 3/4/2024 - https://www.henrysocietyjournal.com/corporatesisterchallenge

HerRise Micro-Grant ($10 fee to apply) - Each month a $500 micro-grant will be awarded to a for-profit small business owned by women of color. Past recipients used their growth grants for computers, equipment, marketing materials, software purchase, website creation and more. - https://www.hersuitespot.com/herrise/

Idea Cafe Small Business Grant - Idea Cafe, an online resource center for women-owned businesses, has been awarding Idea Cafe Small Business Grants of $1,000 to women entrepreneurs who either own a business currently or want to start their own business. Applications are now being taken for women who would like to apply for the grant money. (no fee, but must sign up to be part of Idea Cafe) - https://www.businessownersideacafe.com/business_grants/index.php

IMPACT grants - Primary goal of grant is to fuel the endeavors of businesses and nonprofits that are actively making a significant IMPACT within their communities and beyond. Open to US and Canada-based organizations. Funding of $1,000 -https://impactfundingsolutions.com/impact-grant-application-for-businesses/

Josephine Collective - The Josephine Collective looks at deals on a rolling basis, and founders can apply to be considered at any time. Goal is to have the entire process take no more than 3 weeks from presentation to wire. They invest anywhere from $10K to $100K depending on the Collective’s interest.  JC prefers early-stage tech-enabled businesses.  Companies must be for-profit, US-domiciled, and have an expectation of becoming large-scale businesses.  "Lifestyle" businesses, single location businesses with no current plans to scale, and non-profits will not be considered.  - https://joinjosephine.com/

Juntos Crecemos Hispanic Digital & Delivery Program (PepsiCo) - PepsiCo is inviting Latina entrepreneurs who work in food service to apply for eight weeks of personalized expert consultation, including best practices across operations, technology, marketing and digital presence. https://pepsicojuntoscrecemos.com/jefaowned/

Kitty Fund - Helping Mompreneurs - Founder identifies as a mother. Business annual revenue does not exceed $5M. Business must be located in the United States. Grant for $500. Apps open in March 2024 - https://foundersfirstcdc.org/kitty-fund

Military Entrepreneur Challenge - The Military Entrepreneur Challenge is a nationwide grant program that gives veteran, military spouse, and Gold Star Family entrepreneurs the opportunity to network, learn, and compete for capital to grow their small business. - https://secondservicefoundation.org/mec/

Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship - Must be a women-owned or led business that ss a social enterprise that is intentional about supporting women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or the intersection of both and have at least $50K in income. Apply by 3/15/2024 - https://www.millersocent.org/programs/our-accelerators/

Minority Business Circle - Supportive network for diverse entrepreneurs in various industries, offering opportunities like grants, loans, significant discounts on essential business products, and a comprehensive step-by-step guide with customized tools to track progress and foster growth. See link for info - https://minoritybusinesscircle.com/

Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award - The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private, or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good. Funding up to $100,000. Apply by 7/1/2024 - https://mutualofamerica.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dnjXsBWU8lmdJGu

Novae Grants Database - Novae Grants database are intended for small businesses with 6-100 employees, though some are also intended for larger businesses and sole proprietor startups - https://grants.novaegrants.com/

Restaurant Disaster Relief Grant - The Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund, a partnership between DoorDash and Hello Alice, provides $10,000 grants to selected restaurants across the United States, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada that have been affected by natural disasters such as fires, floods, and hurricanes. The fund is available to for-profit restaurants with a brick-and-mortar location, no more than three total locations, 50 or fewer employees per location, and revenues of $3 million or less per location.  Apply by 3/29/2024 - https://helloalice.com/grants/doordash/

Rev’s Prototyping Hardware Accelerator - Over 10 weeks, Rev’s Prototyping Hardware Accelerator offers four tracks – Classic, AgTech, ClimateTech, and MedTech – to guide product teams to determine if their ideas are commercially desirable, technologically feasible, and economically viable. Upon program completion, participants can recruit team members, bring on partners, initiate work with contract manufacturers, and pitch to investors. Teams will receive a stipend of up to $2,000 to advance their prototype. Apply by 3/25/24 - https://www.revithaca.com/prototyping-hardware-accelerator/

SPUR (Shared Purpose, Unlimited Reach) Pathways - Through an integrated and collaborative approach, Macy’s, Inc. and Momentus will provide access to a range of capital options from microloans to growth capital to equity investments. This represents a commitment to underrepresented businesses and aims to galvanize the retail industry to invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs - https://www.macysinc.com/purpose/spurpathways

Start Small Think Big is a nonprofit that helps small businesses with high potential and limited access to the resources needed to create thriving businesses. They partner with small business owners, providing personalized business support and building connections with local communities.  If you are interested in being considered as a “client” for free services, you can fill out this form https://partner.startsmallthinkbig.org/bofainstitute (check toggle on side for English/Spanish).  They also offer free webinars (in Eng and Span) with upcoming events listed here - https://www.startsmallthinkbig.org/events-for-small-businesses

Truist NonProfit Grant - The Truist Foundation supports nonprofits with grants that target leadership development, economic mobility, thriving communities and educational equity. Quarterly deadlines - https://www.truist.com/purpose/truist-foundation/grant-application

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Resources and Grants - Verizon announced that new grant funding opportunities for small businesses are available for Verizon Small Business Digital Ready users in Houston, Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles areas. Small business owners who register on the platform receive free, personalized access to over 40 online courses – some of which are available in Spanish -- coaching opportunities with industry experts, peer networking events, and incentives such as the opportunity to apply for grant funding. Grants for $10,000. Apply by 4/8/2024 - https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-announces-city-specific-small-business-digital-ready-grant-opportunities

Veterans Business Outreach Center - The Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) program offers resources to veterans who are interested in starting or growing a small business. There are 22 locations (soon expanding to 35) and they offer workshops, training, counseling, and mentorship opportunities. - https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/veterans-business-outreach-center-vboc-program

Warrior Rising Grant - Warrior Rising strives to accept and assist veterans at any point in the process of starting their own business, whether it is only a concept or if they have actual operations. Funding of $20,000 - https://www.warriorrising.org/apply/

Wish Local Empowerment Program - You must be a Black-owned business with a brick-and-mortar shop within the United States and less than 20 employees. If selected for the program, you must join Wish Local (which is free). Grants for up to $2000 - https://www.wish.com/local/empowerment

Women and Minority Business Owner Down Payment Grant (Bank of America) -  Non-repayable grant is for up to $25,000 on SBA owner occupied commercial estate loans for business locations within select opportunity zones (Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles) Program may expand based on pilot. - https://promotions.bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness/downpaymentgrant

Women Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program - Non-profit organizations and private sector firms are now eligible to compete for funding of up to $300,000 to deliver entrepreneurship training to women veterans. Apply by 3/21/2024 - https://www.sba.gov/article/2024/02/20/sba-announces-funding-competition-organizations-providing-entrepreneurship-training-women-veterans

YippityDoo Big Idea Grant ($15 application fee) - Each month, one $1000 grant is awarded to a woman, age 18 or over, in the US to invest in their Business or Idea. It can be used as a start up grant, marketing grant, operational grant or whatever you need to help you to the next level with your idea or business. - https://programs.yippitydoo.com/thebigideagrantforwomen

ZenBusiness Free LLC Formation for Moms - To help mothers take the first step toward entrepreneurship, ZenBusiness is covering business formation costs and will help entrepreneurs form an LCC, track expenses, secure a business name, and more.  -https://www.zenbusiness.com/moms/

ZenBusiness Small Business Grants - The ZenBusiness 2024 Small Business Grant Program offers $5,000 to small businesses who form a legal business entity (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp). In order to qualify for this grant, you must have used their formation services in the last 3-6 months. Apply by 12/31/2024 - https://www.zenbusiness.com/grants

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES (unless specified in the description)

Amazon App Store Small Business Accelerator - The Small Business Accelerator Program allows developers that earn less than 1 million USD in total annual revenue in the previous calendar year to access additional benefits up to or equivalent to 20% of Appstore revenue. If eligible, you’ll receive a 10% increased royalty payment and AWS credits equivalent to 10% of your app revenue. - https://developer.amazon.com/apps-and-games/small-business-program

Antler Global Startup Program - Antler is a global early-stage VC that runs multiple programs for business startups around the world. See the website for more info about the program and application dates. - https://www.antler.co/platform/#apply-now

Awesome Foundation - Foundation distributes $1,000 grants, no strings attached, to projects and their creators. At each fully autonomous chapter, the money is pooled together from the coffers of ten or so self-organizing “micro-trustees”.  Awarded monthly - https://www.awesomefoundation.org/en

AWS Startup Loft Accelerator - AWS Startup Loft Accelerator equips your technical team with tech resources, guidance and a community of peers. From technical deep dives to round tables on day-to-day CTO challenges, including: recruiting, managing an engineering team, building a minimum viable product, and design principles for cloud architecture.  Provides $25,000 in AWS credits - https://aws-startup-lofts.com/emea/program/accelerator

Bayer Foundation Women Accelerator Program - The award seeks to support women entrepreneurs driving impactful solutions in the Global South region, specifically Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. To qualify, applicants must center their solutions around health, nutrition, and their intersection with climate-related challenges. Additionally, the solutions should emphasize social or community impact. Award of 25,000 Euros.  Apply by 3/27/2024 - https://bayerfoundation-wea.com/

Canva Pro For Nonprofits - If you are a nonprofit, you can register now to get Canva’s premium features for free. - https://www.canva.com/canva-for-nonprofits/

Echo360 e3 Tech Grants - Echo360 e3 Tech Grants will award up to 20 recipients with cash or software grants US $2,000 in cash or up to $5,000 in software in two categories: EchoImpact and EchoInnovation – Apply by 3/22/2024 - https://echo360.com/company/grants/

Emergent Ventures Grant/Fellowship Application (through Mercatus Center at George Mason University) - Emergent Ventures, a fellowship and grant program from the Mercatus Center, seeks to support entrepreneurs with highly scalable, “zero to one” ideas for meaningfully improving society. Projects will either be fellowships or grants: fellowships involve time in residence at the Mercatus Center in Northern Virginia; grants are one-time or slightly staggered payments to support a project. - https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures

Entrepreneurship World Cup - The competition offers over $1 million in cash prizes to top entrepreneurs and provides a supportive community, global exposure, and access to mentorship and resources to help grow their businesses.  Apply by 7/31/2024 - https://www.genglobal.org/ewc

Etsy Disaster Relief Fund - Sellers will be eligible for a grant if they experienced a federally declared natural disaster within the past year, have been an active seller on Etsy for at least one year, and their Etsy account is in good standing. Grants for $2,500 - https://advocacy.etsy.com/etsy-emergency-relief-fund-at-cerf/

F6S List of Accelerators and Pitch Competitions - Provides a list of accelerators, contests and pitch competitions around the world. https://www.f6s.com/

48 in 48 - Website Build Event - 48in48 provides free websites to empower nonprofits. They recruit teams of talented designers, developers, project managers and content writers come together and create amazing websites over just one weekend. Non-profits with less than $3MM in revenue are welcome to apply. Their next event focuses on women-led nonprofits. The build event will be in early April, and the deadline to apply is 3/18/24 - https://48in48.org/events/

Global Good Fund Fellowship - The Global Good Fund Fellowship is a 12-month program supporting the leadership development of social enterprise leaders across the globe. The Global Good Fund develops each innovator by pairing them with professional executive coach and c-suite business executive who serves as a mentor, and by providing leadership assessment resources, a network of peers, sector expertise, and targeted financial capital. Funding of $10,000.  Applications open in May 2024 and are due 6/30/24 (can register for more info now) - https://globalgoodfund.org/fellowship-program/

Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab - The Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab (MSIVL) is an intensive five-month in-house accelerator program designed to help further develop and showcase disruptive startups, with a mission to create a more inclusive investment landscape for underrepresented founders. The lab provides capital, content, connections, and community for underrepresented founders in both the Americas and EMEA. It offers a unique opportunity for disruptive startups to access capital, accelerate their business, and increase their visibility. The program culminates in a showcase presentation and Demo Day to the investor community, where participants can raise their profiles with potential business partners and customers. The lab also provides office space for the duration of the program in exchange for an equity stake of 5.00% and a cash contribution of $250,000 to each company participating in the New York-based program. Apply by 3/15/2024 - https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/diversity/inclusive-ventures-lab

NGO Whisperer Global Fellowship Programme - The NGO Whisperer Global Fellowship Programme is an accredited six-month rigorous virtual leadership programme for exceptional leaders and founders of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social enterprises worldwide, especially those from low and middle-income countries. Apply by 3/31/2024 - https://ngowhisperer.com/fellowship/

Pollination Project - Grants to global non-profits. Annual budget for your group or organization must be less than $50,000. The total cost for the immediate project for which you are requesting funding must be less than $40,000 - https://thepollinationproject.org/apply/

Roddenberry Catalyst Fund - The Catalyst Fund is offering grants to Nonprofits & Social Enterprises to fund ideas or early-stage projects that have a high potential for large-scale impact and sustainable change.  You can be a seasoned social entrepreneur or a first-time changemaker. Eligible candidates for the Catalyst Fund may be individuals, teams of individuals, non-profit organizations, or social enterprises. Funding up to $15,000 - https://roddenberryfoundation.org/our-work/catalyst-fund/

Savvy Fellowship - Savvy is a 12-week virtual Fellowship program for young professionals seeking to be part of the new generation of impact entrepreneurs. Applicants should be 40 or younger - https://savvyfellows.com/team/

SheTrades Accelerator - SheTrades Accelerator Programme for women entrepreneurs and business support organizations in the Apparel, Accessories and Home Décor sectors is targeting women-led businesses (WLBs) and Business Support Organizations (BSO) in the Apparel, Accessories, and Home Decor sector from Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, and South Africa. - https://shetrades-accelerator.converve.io/

Techstars Accelerators - Techstars accelerators have one goal: to help entrepreneurs succeed. During each three-month program, they surround companies (companies should be based in North American time zones) with the best mentors and an unrivaled network of corporate partners, investors, and alumni.  Companies can receive $20K for 6% of company.  Various locations and due dates - https://www.techstars.com/accelerators/

We Make Change - Global initiative that matches small businesses (mainly not for profits) with volunteers who are professional individuals or are from companies (including blue chip) that have an interest in supporting not for profits. Helps impact startups build a remote volunteer team for free - https://www.wemakechange.org/