5 Advantages of Small Business Grants for Women

The number of women who own a small business continues to increase. Financially, women face a different set of responsibilities compared to men. Plus, each has a different mindset when it comes to the business world.

Nonetheless, women can obtain financing to fund their entrepreneurial dreams. Grants remain among their options.

Grants differ from loans obtained from financial institutions.

We outline five advantages of small business grants for women.

1. No Need to Repay the Funds

The number one selling point of grants is that they don’t require repayment.

Fill out your application thoroughly. Then, ensure that it arrives at the correct address by the deadline.

If you have a contact at the organization, it helps to follow up. Double-check that they received your application. Some grants have a slow-moving application process. Therefore, practice patience. Others make the recipients of their awards public. When they pick you, you’ll receive a notification and an invitation to the award ceremony.

Since a grant is not a loan that requires repayment, the application process is competitive in many cases. When you meet the eligibility requirements for an award, apply. It increases your chances of receiving at least one grant.

2. Offered by Myriad Organizations

Several organization types provide grants such as:

• Private individuals
• Private companies
• Enterprises
• Industry associations
• Education organizations

Each grant has a set of application requirements, parameters, and eligibility conditions. Private individuals sometimes seek to mentor up-and-coming entrepreneurs who meet a set of criteria. They offer financing that has no strings attached after receiving the award.

Their goal is to pay their success forward.

Several organizations offer small business grants for women including the federal government. View a list of some federal grants on Now Corp.

If you apply for a grant from the federal government, eligibility is far more stringent. In other cases, there is little to no competition. The trick is to find them. Then fill out and submit as many applications as possible.

3. Available in Several Amounts

Since several organizations award grants, the amounts vary greatly too. Small organizations that want to do their part and help entrepreneurs offer increments of $500.

Private individuals and enterprise organizations may offer awards that reach thousands of dollars. All awards obtained become a nice infusion of capital that benefits a company.

When you find a list of grant-giving organizations, take note of the amount that is available. Small amounts help keep the lights on. Of course, large amounts act as bridging finance or the infusion of capital you need to prepare for the Holiday shopping season.

If you win a small grant, you gain money and a new business connection that you can parlay into a worthy networking opportunity.

4. Fund Several Purposes

Grants are similar to scholarships. If you remember applying for scholarships as you prepared for college, you remember that the awards had different purposes. It’s the same logic for grants.

Many components make up a company. Common business expenses include:

• Rent
• Property taxes
• Payroll
• Marketing
• Software
• Insurance

You’ll come across awards that you can spend on business expenses. Others have no stipulations. They only require that a female head the company and that she plans to add jobs to the economy that help other women.

5. Levels the Playing Field

Banks will issue loans to women. However, banks remain conservative in their lending practices. Since females have different responsibilities, they bring more inherent risk to the table.

Organizations and individuals who provide grants to women already know the risks. They make the grants available knowing them. Thus, grants level the playing field for female entrepreneurs.

Grants also level the field for female entrepreneurs who need funds for a specific purpose. Obtaining financing for a new business concept or company that doesn’t exist yet faces an uphill battle. You’ll find some awards reserved for women who seek to do something completely different.

Conclusion

A grant is a great way to fund a company, even one that has existed for some time already. Grants double as free money. If you meet the award’s requirements, you can apply. Since there are so many awards available, plenty of opportunities to apply to exist. It takes up to six months to receive an answer. Practice patience and apply to several.