4 Grants for Black-Owned Businesses You Can Apply for ASAP

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One of the biggest reasons why small businesses fail is because there is a lack of funding or capital. However Black-owned businesses, which account for more than 2 million businesses, sometimes have difficulty accessing capital from traditional institutions. However, it’s totally possible to get external funding for your Black-owned business. One excellent way to do that is by applying for grants.  

Shanté recently discussed some new time-sensitive grants that Black-owned businesses can benefit from. You can watch the video here. 

If you prefer to read about these grants for Black-owned businesses, continue scrolling. 

1. Facebook Invoice Fast Track Program

If you have unpaid invoices, Facebook would like to pay them for you. Minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses can submit invoices that have a $1000 minimum. The aim is to put money in the pockets of business owners who would have otherwise been waiting on payment for a while. 

Allowing Facebook to pay your outstanding invoices will free up cash flow and give your business available cash to scale and grow. 

You may be wondering what the catch is. Well, Facebook takes 1% of the invoice and your business has to be certified by an approved entity.

Visit the official website to check for full eligibility requirements and sign up to get your invoices paid. 

2. Comcast Rise 

Businesses owned by people of color in particular cities can apply for a monetary grant of $10,000 between October 1-14, 2021. In addition to being a majority minority-owned, your business has to be operating for at least 3 years and have 25 or fewer employees. 

The eligible locations are:

• Houston, TX (Harris and Fort Bend Counties)
• Miami, FL (Miami-Dade and Broward Counties)
• Minneapolis, St. Paul- MN (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington Counties)
• Oakland, CA (City of Oakland)
• Seattle, WA (King and Pierce Counties)
• Washington, D.C. (Wards 1-8)

100 grants will be given out for each of the cities listed by December 2021. For more information and the chance to apply visit the Comcast Rise website. 

3. NGLCC & Grubhub Community Impact Grant

Grubhub partnered with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) for the NGLCC Community Impact Grant. This grant is for LGBTQ+owned and ally restaurants impacted by COVID-19 and are still struggling. 

There will be several grants and they’re expected to range from $5,000 to $100,000. Thirty percent of the money will go to people of color and transgender/gender non-conforming owned businesses. 

In order to qualify for this grant, you have to be:

• Able to show a loss in business due to COVID-19
• An LGBTQ+-owned or LGBTQ+ ally-owned restaurant, bar or café that serves food
• Able to prove that your restaurant is LGBTQ+-owned or LGBTQ+-allied establishment

The deadline is Tuesday, October 12, 2021. You can apply here. 

4. Black Girl Ventures Pitch Competition

Black Girl Ventures has a grant for businesses owned by Black or brown women. However, it’s a little different from other grants because the money comes from crowdfunding. 

This is how it works. Each founder has 3 minutes to pitch and a 3 minute Q&A from the audience. The person with the most votes will win $10,000. There are also cash and other prizes for the other entrepreneurs. 

You can apply to pitch here. 

Next Steps 

You can check out another grant list we have: 6 Small Business Grants You Probably Didn’t Know About for access to other grants.

Even if you don’t qualify for these grants for Black-owned businesses, there will be plenty more in the future. The problem is, other people will be applying for these grants too and you’ll need to stand out to get the money your business deserves.

To prepare for these grants, we suggest grabbing our Win Grants With Ease Masterclass Bundle.  We’ve helped many entrepreneurs get grants for their business with our proven technique and we think we can help you too. Learn how to win grants with ease so that your business can scale, grow and achieve its goals.