Small business grants for women have been given to women for many purposes, from starting, owning and operating small businesses to enhancing or expanding an existing business. The government, as well as individual funding sources, realize the need for small business grants for women. According to the Women's Finance organization, over 9 million businesses are owned by women. However, traditional financial resources like banks, loan companies and venture capitalists are the lesser of the entities typically providing the financing for those businesses. This could be because historically, women generally own smaller kinds of businesses that generally do not require financial assistance in amounts upwards of $250,000. Therefore, the funding options for those smaller entities can be somewhat limited. Below outlines some of the types of grants offered to women.

General Business Grants

The Amber Grant amounts to between $500 and $1000, awarded to women for essential start-up business costs.

The Women's Financial Fund program provides money to both new and existing businesses that are owned by women. New businesses may receive from $100 to $500 for their start-up costs, while existing businesses may receive from $1,000 to $5,000.

Government Grants

The United States government is required to provide and gives away money to its citizens and residents each year for business purposes. According to the US Gov Grants organization, over $50 billion dollars is provided annually in the form of grants to individuals and businesses.

The government is driven to provide money to help accelerate the economy for entrepreneurs to start small businesses, pay off bills, or other costs that may be necessary in order to look toward starting a new business.

The goal of the U.S. government is to provide small business money beyond what is offered by the Small Business Administration and other kinds of government funding. The goal is to provide ways to empower citizens by regularly increasing the monies available for small businesses, with particular attention to starting a business.

The government has special programs for women set aside to enable them to start small businesses and start-ups to aid in overall business development and revitalization.

Eligibility

Generally, as long as you reside in the United States as a citizen or resident, you will be eligible to receive a free government grant. The money often comes from the tax money collected annually. Statistics estimate that only around 15% of the funding available for small businesses is actually applied for. This makes the odds in obtaining grant funding higher than one would expect.

Grant Service Firms

Nominal charges are usually required by grant facilitators who charge between $35 and $150 for "administrative costs" when they assist people in finding appropriate grant funding opportunities. In addition, there are some software companies offering free trials for small shipping costs to receive grant application packages. Some of these programs can be useful in applying for government grants as they simplify the process. Others provide ways to apply for some grants quickly, for amounts ranging from $50,000 to $1,500,000 or more.

There are also a number of educational grant funds available to consider, which can lead to future business ownership.