Access to flexible, unrestricted capital is imperative for small businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. In historically excluded communities, and for people living on low incomes, longstanding inequities have barred them from developing strong banking relationships.
While LISC primarily invests in small businesses through loans, sometimes direct grants are the most effective way of addressing this lack of capital access. LISC has responded to this challenge through a range of small business grant programs, typically paired with technical assistance and supportive programming to help entrepreneurs move to the next stage and plan for the ones after that.
We’re not new to this work: when the pandemic hit in 2020, small businesses desperately needed emergency assistance to bridge revenue gaps and stay afloat. Over the past few years, LISC and its partners stepped in, delivering $270 million in relief grants to some 26,000 small businesses, the vast majority of them owned or run by historically excluded entrepreneurs. These grants helped cover payroll, debt to vendors, upgrade tech, and provided emergency cash assistance.
Grant opportunities
LISC’s small business grant program accepts new applications as funding becomes available. Eligibility and availability may be limited. Sign up for email alerts to be notified of future grant opportunities and other resources that could benefit your small business.
Join Us
You can support small business owners by connecting them to the capital they need to succeed.
Contact Sarah Adams, Senior Program Officer, Economic Development.
News & Impact
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready
Find out more about the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Platform to access online courses, coaching, networking community, and grants to help people level up and grow their businesses.
Kevin Hart’s Gran Coramino Tequila and LISC Disburse $1M to Seed Growth for Under-resourced Small Businesses
With our partners Gran Coramino® Tequila and Kevin Hart, LISC has awarded $1 million in grants to more than 100 Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, helping close wealth and opportunity gaps that limit their ability to grow.
The $2.1B Ripple Effect of a Partnership to Support Small Business
An article highlights Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund, through which LISC received $36M to provide grants, loans and expertise to small businesses serving low-income communities and communities of color during the pandemic. Those investments have leveraged a massive $2.1 billion in impact for business owners, and local economies, nationwide, according to a new study.