Dedicated Funding Opportunities for Woman-Owned Businesses

In nearly every funding channel, women founders receive disproportionately lower investment compared to men. (While inequities exist for many under-represented founders, today we’re focusing on women.)

  • Venture capital: Women receive 2% to 3% of all venture capital funding, compared to the 97% to 98% that flows to men. When you consider that roughly 1% of all businesses receive VC to begin with, that brings this number even lower.
  • Business Loans: Historical lending data shows that women consistently receive smaller business loan amounts at higher interest rates.
  • Grants: With a lack of reliable figures around gender and business grants, some inferences can be drawn from a long-term analysis (published in 2023) on academic research grants. Men and women were neck and neck in receiving grants, with men in the lead by 1%. However, men received over twice the dollar amount on average. Men tended to receive the amount they requested, while amounts to women were regularly reduced from their request.

While gender isn’t the only animating factor in the funding statistics, the gender bias is real. Did you know as recently as 1988, a woman could not get a business loan without a male relative as a co-signer? The merits or profitability of her business had no bearing. It took an act of Congress, with the Women’s Business Ownership Act (1988), to formally recognize this “inequality of access to commercial credit” and remove the restriction.

The number of women-led businesses exploded after this. The march toward equality of opportunity has been less brisk. Women-specific funding options are crucial tools to help level the playing field to opportunity and access in entrepreneurship.

Gnara Apparel, Founders Charlotte and Georgia
Charlotte & Georgia Grace, Founders of Gnara

Today, there is an overwhelming amount of information on the internet about resources for women founders. Accordingly, this page is not intended to be a comprehensive list of women-focused grants and loans. Here we’re providing tips and tools to kickstart a funding journey, or to refine that process for greater success.

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How to Find Grants and Loans for Women-Owned Businesses

Let’s not sugarcoat it, finding and researching opportunities is time-consuming. This is one of those rare exceptions when saying, “search online,” isn’t a cop-out!

In combination with the other discovery pathways below, a quarterly online search is a smart tactic. First, media outlets and other organizations regularly do some of the work for you by keeping updated lists of grants and low-interest loans. Second, grant cycles and loan options vary, so different times of the year may present different options.

Discovery Tips

  1. Do a quarterly, online search for collected lists as grants cycles and interest rates change; try different narrowing your grant search by gender, industry, and specific demographic characteristics
  2. Search the SUCO funding database.
  3. Bookmark relevant options below
  4. Network with rural Colorado business development offices, business accelerators, and trade organizations so they will share new opportunities.
  5. Sign up to receive newsletters from potential grantors. Some good examples are:
    1. Women’s Foundation of Colorado
    2. Tory Burch Foundation
    3. Colorado SBDC
  6. Several organizations maintain databases specifically for grants for women-owned businesses. A few excellent options:
      1. Ladies Who Launch
      2. Hello Alice (login required)
      3. iFundWomen
Ann Salviazul, Founder of Blue Sage Art

Exploring Grants

Grants are a high-value option for founders because they don’t require repayment and the dollar amounts can be significant. They do typically come with responsibilities and the applications can be time-consuming. So be thorough in your vetting before jumping in. Below is a brief overview of the types of grants you’re likely to find, with select examples.

Tip: Don’t immediately dismiss a grant opportunity that’s in a closed cycle. Many grantors skip a year (or more) or slide timeframes for opening applications. If you meet all the eligibility requirements for a worthy opportunity, sign up on their mailing list to be alerted when the new cycle opens.

Government Grants

Federal and state-level grants specifically for women-owned businesses are limited. Considering they’re typically associated with a designated initiative or funding effort, like the pandemic relief programs or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021, expect variability over time.

Federal Sampling:

Grants.gov: On the national level, grants.gov is the official grant database for the U.S. government. The grant database page has filters for eligibility (i.e type of organization) and industry/category, and allows a keyword option to further refine the search by “women,” for example. While it may be worthwhile to check in at grants.gov occasionally, most women-specific offerings are for highly niche business types.

U.S. Small Business Association (SBA): The SBA has resources specifically for women-owned businesses, including funding opportunities. At present, these don’t include grants, but they may again in the future. The SBA is an excellent resource for loans (see below) and for helping women-owned businesses qualify and compete for government contracts.

U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF): For entrepreneurs in tech, advanced industries or traditional sciences, NSF maintains a database of grants and other funding. Note that it’s not women-specific.

Colorado State Sampling:

OEDIT: The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) maintains a Programs and Funding database, with filters for women-owned businesses and grants. Currently, there are no grants exclusively for women, but we encourage all entrepreneurs to review all grant options. With a mandate and aggressive goals to support economic development in rural Colorado, however, OEDIT and the database are excellent resources for funding opportunities and business incentives for rural businesses. It’s also worth following OEDIT’s Minority Business Office. Its dedicated services help minority entrepreneurs navigate challenges, making it a valuable asset for fostering inclusive economic development in the state.

Tip: Don’t overlook the tax incentives and rural development programs on OEDIT’s Programs and Funding page. These aren’t grants, but the financial value can really add up.

Meg Mothershed - Mothershed Design
Meg Mothershed, Cofounder Mothershed Design

Private Grants

Currently, grants from private entities, organizations, and foundations provide the biggest wealth of options for women entrepreneurs.

While the selection of grants below is not limited to rural Colorado founders, women across rural Colorado have been selected for several of them. The grants represented here are intended to provide a glimpse of what’s out there.

A Sampling of Grants for Women Founders:

COLORADO ONLY: Women & Girls of Color Fund: Provided by the Women’s Foundation of Colorado (WFCO), this $10,000 to $20,000 award is a values-driven grant for organizations committed to building economic power and working toward gender, racial, and/or economic equity. Most grantees are not-for-profit organizations, but for-profit businesses can inquire about eligibility. There is a designated cycle for Rural Colorado applicants from January to April. While there will not be an open funding cycle in 2024, applicants can contact Camisha Lashbrook, donor relations manager, (CamishaL@wfco.org) for updates.

Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellowship: Available annually, this fellowship provides coaching, executive training, one-on-one business consulting, global networking opportunities, and up to a $100,000 grant. Julia Taylor,