• Women who own businesses may be able to access federal grant money."financial blues" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: psyberartist under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Identification

• The Small Business Administration does not offer grants for women businesses, but the SBA does have a database listing the various federal and government grants that may be available to women business owners. Women who want to get the names and requirements for federal and government grants should contact their local Small Business Administration office to get a listing of those grants, as well as grants that are not available online.
  
  

Types Of Grants

• There are different types of grants a woman can apply to outside of federal and government grants. Those grants include private, corporate and memoriam grants. These grants are available through the websites and committees of the corporations that offer them, such as Kellogg's, Microsoft and Verizon. Private and memoriam grants are typically awarded through a board the donor has chosen to administer them.
  
  

Misconceptions

• It is a misconception that the grants awarded to women who own small businesses do not have to be paid back, or come with no strings attached. Some grants do require the business to pay the grant back. Corporations and private donors that give out grants often require an interest in the small business they have donated to. For instance, if a corporation such as Toyota donates money to a small business, the corporation may require the small business to give it stock options, or allow Toyota to have representation on the board of the directors for the small business. If a small business accepts the grant, then the small business must honor the terms of the grant, if there are any.
  
  

Significance

• Some of the grants award to a women-owned small businesses are not large enough to make major impacts to the business itself, but every amount can help. For instance, the Women's Financial Fund awards grants ranging from $100 to $5,000. This may not seem like a significant amount, but it can come in very handy to the small business. Grants of this size might allow the small business owner to upgrade equipment, manage websites or test out new products and services for her business.
  
  

Grant Research Help

• Researching grants can be very time consuming and costly. Many women business owners spend a great deal of time researching the market for their product or services, and cannot afford to pay someone to research the grants for them. These women can consider acquiring help from companies, businesses and organizations that help women who own small businesses locate grants for their businesses. One service, Business Owned, is a free business network that helps women locate grants and other financial resources to operate their businesses. Find a link in Resources.