April Funding Opportunities

By Alyssa Goslee Business Growth, Funding and Finances, Microenterprises

Spring is a time for fresh starts and exciting opportunities! Whether you’re starting a new business or growing an existing one, there are financial resources available to support you. From Hawaiʻi business grants to loans and financial training programs, April offers a range of opportunities to help your business succeed. Explore these options and give your business the boost it needs to thrive!

Private companies and nonprofits are offering a number of grants for small businesses.

Please keep in mind these are offered by private organizations, not the City and County of Honolulu, and have their own eligibility rules and ways to apply. Read grant applications carefully – some organizations charge a fee to apply.

Grants

Kitty Fund Mompreneur Business Grant

Open Dates: March 2024 (Pre-Registration Open)

The Kitty Fund makes small micro investments in Moms who are running employer-based small businesses with two or more employees.

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Backing Small Businesses Grant

Open Dates: March 14, 2024-April 7, 2024

In partnership with American Express, the Backing Small Businesses grant program supports economically vulnerable and under-resourced small businesses with community reach and/or cultural significance. This year, eligible small business owners can apply for $10,000 grants for projects that grow or improve their businesses by building community, supporting their economic viability, or bolstering meaningful change.

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Value-Added Producer Grants

Open Dates: January 2, 2024-April 11, 2024

The Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program helps agricultural producers enter value-added activities to generate new products, create and expand marketing opportunities, and increase producer income.

You may receive priority if you are:

Beginning farmer or rancher.
Socially-disadvantaged farmer or rancher.
Small or medium-sized farm.
Ranch structured as a family farm.
Farmer or rancher cooperative.
Proposing a mid-tier value chain.

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Hello Alice American Dream

Open Dates: October 2023-April 30, 2024

The American Dream Awards are open to all for-profit U.S. based businesses.

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The Halstead Grant

Application Deadline: May 1, 2024

TAKE YOUR JEWELRY BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

The Halstead Grant is an annual award for emerging silver jewelry artists. Applicants submit answers to 15 business questions in addition to their design portfolios. The experience is designed to help jewelry entrepreneurs create a strategy to kick-start their careers. The grand prize is a $7,500 cash grant plus other benefits.

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Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos Edition

Application Deadline: May 6, 2024

The Greenhouse Accelerator Program Juntos Crecemos Edition is a five-month, mentor-guided program to support the acceleration of emerging Hispanic food and beverages innovations that are transforming the way consumers live their lives.

Guaranteed $20,000 USD grant for each finalist. Winner awarded an additional $100,000 USD

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Jobber Grants

Application Deadline: June 12, 2024

$10,000 grants for excellence in home service

It only takes 5 minutes to apply! We want to spotlight your work through our $150,000 grant program built to recognize excellence in home services businesses.

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Fast Break for Small Business Grant

Application Deadline: September 13, 2024

Small businesses that have been in operation for at least three months are eligible for a $10,000 small business grant and/or up to $500 in LegalZoom products and services. Entrepreneurs who have yet to launch their business are eligible for up to $500 in LegalZoom products and services.

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Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund

Open Dates: Ongoing

To help restaurants recover in times of critical need, DoorDash has partnered with Hello Alice to create the Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund. The fund supports restaurants impacted by natural disasters like fires, floods, and hurricanes, and provides relief through $10,000 grants.

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America's Seed Fund

Open Dates: Ongoing

“We focus on transforming scientific and engineering discoveries into products and services with commercial and societal impact. The deep technologies we fund show promise but their success hasn’t yet been validated. And, each year, we award $200+ million in research and development (R&D) funding to about 400 startups across the United States.”

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Binc Foundation Emergency Financial Assistance.

Open Dates: Ongoing

Binc helps bookstore owners, booksellers, and comic store employees and owners with unforeseen emergency financial needs. The Foundation assesses each request to determine how best to provide relief. If approved, grants are typically paid to third-party vendors.

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HerRise MicroGrant

Open Dates: Ongoing

The HerRise Micro-Grant provides financial assistance, with the help of our corporate sponsors and donors, to women of color creating innovative solutions that impact their community and that are often unable to secure funding for their small business.

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IFundWomen Universal Grant Application

Open Dates: Ongoing

Universal Grant Application Database is where they look first for qualified grant applicants. Here’s how it works: when IFundWomen partners with a brand, we match the partner’s grant criteria to businesses in the database. If you’re a match for one of their sponsored grants, you will be notified.

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Ladies Who Launch Grant Database

Open Dates: Ongoing

Ladies Who Launch focuses on four pillars: Inspiration, Education, Funding, and Community to help give women and non-binary entrepreneurs the motivation, resources, and connections to scale and sustain the businesses of their dreams.

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Loans

USDA Business & Industry Loan Guarantees

Open Dates: Ongoing

This program offers loan guarantees to lenders for their loans to rural businesses.

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Mālama Business Loans-Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Open Dates: Ongoing

This is the most popular loan OHA offers that supports Native Hawaiian business owners. Loan amounts are $2,500-$149,999 with 4.00% APR and up to 7-year term.

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Hua Kanu Business Loan-Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Open Dates: Ongoing

The Hua Kanu Business Loan Program is available to Native Hawaiians who own established business. Created on July 17, 2013, the low-cost loans are intended to help these small-businesses expand. It is meant to provide them access to credit and capital that allow them to grow as well as remain financially viable. Loan amounts $150,000-$1,000,000

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Training

Hui Pūkoʻa: a Personal Finance Peer Discussion Group by INPEACE Ho’oulu Waiwai

Date: April 25 6-8:30PM

Join us in our monthly personal finance peer discussion group that is focused on building connections and taking control of your finances.

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Personal Finance for Business Owners

Date: April 18 10AM-11:30AM

Business Owners are in business for a lot of reasons. Primary among them being to make money, but they need a way to get money out of their business and to manage their personal finances as well as their business’ finances. In this webinar, you’ll leave with a clear plan on how to get your personal finances organized so you can crush your money goals.

Cost: $15

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Part 1: Analyzing Financial Statement To Improve Your Business Performance– Focus on the Balance Sheet

Date: April 24 10AM-11AM

his is part one of a two- part webinar series which will cover the Balance Sheet on Day 1: – How to analyze and understand the Balance Sheet – Determine short-term working capital requirements for future growth – Sources and uses to Balance Sheet

Cost: $15

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Other

HUUB Scholarship

Application Deadline: April 7, 2024

We’re offering scholarships up to $500 through the Ecosystem Builder Empowerment Fund! This includes offset costs for programs, trainings, conferences or invest in initiatives that transform communities.

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Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP)

Open Dates: March 7, 2024-April 9, 2024

If you’re a small brand or up-and-coming supplier looking to work with us, LEAP is for you. The initiative, which launched in 2022, advances Whole Foods Market’s core value of seeking win-win partnerships with local suppliers. With this program, we aim to grow local and emerging producers through education and mentorship.

Participants benefit from the mentorship of Whole Foods Market experts, tailored educational programs and the potential for direct financial support. Each participant’s products are also considered for placement on the shelves of Whole Foods Market stores in their home city or region at the conclusion of the six-month program.

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Lau Maiʻa Scholarship

Open Dates: February 12, 2024-April 12, 2024

The Lau Maiʻa Scholarship program to support culturally-grounded tech makers and problem solvers in pursuit of their post-secondary academic goals. In the same way that lau maiʻa were used as lāʻau lapaʻau to encase the body and offer an extra layer of healing and protection, we hope that the $2,500 Lau Maiʻa Scholarship can help ease the burden of tuition and empower students to stand tall in their growth.

If you are (or know of) a graduating high school senior who will be attending a 4-year college and will be majoring in Computer Science, Engineering, Business or Entrepreneurship and committed to ʻāina, kaiāulu, lāhui and got the receipts, then we encourage you to apply.

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Blue Startups Accelerator Program

Application Deadline: April 16, 2024

🌊 Blue Startups is currently accepting applications for their upcoming Cohort 16, due April 30th. In this 13-week program, you’ll have the opportunity to receive up to $250,000 in funding. You can also expect to gain access to an extensive international network, receive expert mentorship, and access invaluable resources tailored to your startup’s needs.

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Cyber awareness training for companies

Dates: Ongoing

Cyber awareness training for companies to offer their employees, technical assessments of IT systems to identify vulnerabilities, and penetration testing to validate security, and recovery services if applicable.

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ON DEMAND

Learning

Watch Access to Funding: A Small Business Lifeline for an overview of the kinds of funding available to small businesses.

For more on demand learning, visit our Talk Story page.

Watch Now

Grants