Access to flexible, unrestricted capital is imperative for small businesses to grow, innovate and thrive. Historically, entrepreneurs have tapped social and professional networks for that capital. But in communities of color, and for people living on low incomes, those networks are rarely as robust or well capitalized, and longstanding racial and gender discrimination has barred them from developing strong banking relationships.
In addition to a variety of flexible, affordable financing products, and technical assistant to match the needs of small businesses of all shapes and stages of develoment, LISC and its funding partners have provided a range of outright grants to help entrepreneurs move to the next stage and plan for the ones after that.
We’re not new to this work: during the initial onslaught of the pandemic, small businesses desperately needed emergency assistance to bridge revenue gaps and stay afloat until the crisis eased. LISC and its partners provided $240 million in relief grants to some 16,000 enterprises, the vast majority of them owned or run by people of color and women—the very entrepreneurs most deeply impacted by the economic fallout of Covid. These grants helped cover payroll, debt to vendors, upgrade tech infrastructure and provide emergency cash assistance.
Grant opportunities
There are no current National grant opportunities open at this time. Stay connected to hear about future grant opportunities by signing up for email alerts.
Our impact
Helping Small Businesses Build Resiliency
A blog by William Taft, who heads LISC's economic development work, explores how a partnership with Synchrony and Synchrony Foundation is helping more business owners recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build resiliency.
An Extraordinary Small Business Relief Effort for Extraordinary Times
The unprecedented effort to help buoy entrepreneurs who are vital to their communities and the economy as a whole has demand LISC create new systems that center racial and economic equity at the heart of our investments.