May Funding Opportunities

By Alyssa Goslee Business Growth, Funding and Finances, Microenterprises

As May blossoms with promise, so do the funding opportunities for aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike. Find current grants, loans and other funding opportunities for your business to help your business flourish.

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

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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Amazon Small Business Grants

Application Deadline: May 24, 2024

Amazon Business is awarding over $250,000 in monetary grants and prizes to support the growth of 15 small businesses. Amazon Business small business customers based in the US with annual revenues of $1,000,000 or less can apply for a grant from May 1–May 24, 2024.

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Fund Her Future Grant

Application Deadline: May 26, 2024

Fund Her Future, H&R Block’s Business Grant for Women, provides funds and services to empower women-owned businesses—particularly those focused on making a difference in their communities—to reach their full potential.

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2024 AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024 or first 5,000 applicants

The AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund, made possible by the Grubhub Community Fund, is designed to benefit Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander-owned restaurants across the country. With the industry facing ongoing economic challenges, the AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund is available to help under-resourced restaurants respond to supply chain disruptions, increased inventory costs, workforce development, and safety for their employees.

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Amber Grant for Women

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024

WomensNet founded the “Amber Grant” in 1998. The grant was set up with one goal in mind: to honor the memory of a very special young woman, Amber Wigdahl, who died at just 19 years old — before realizing her business dreams.

Today, WomensNet carries on that tradition, proudly giving away at least $30,000 every month in Amber Grant money.

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WomensNet Startup Grant

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024

Are you in the “idea phase” of your business? We have an additional grant opportunity for you: Our WomensNet Startup Grant. We define a “startup” as a business in the “idea phase,” or one that has only had minimal sales (less than $10,000). Even though startups are eligible for our monthly Amber Grants, we’ve created an additional grant especially for this underserved sector. The $10,000 Amber Grant winner each month qualifies for the year-end grant of $25,000.

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WomensNet Mental & Emotional Support Businesses Grant

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024

So applicants who fall under this specific business category is eligible (once per year) for the monthly $10,000 Business Category Grant

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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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Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Grant

Application Deadline: June 28, 2024

In partnership with Next Street and LISC, Verizon is again providing $10K grants and online resources to give small businesses the tools they need to thrive in today’s digital economy. Here’s how this program works:

Must first register on the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready portal
Must complete at least two of the following in the Digital Ready program, in any combination: courses, live coaching or community events
Complete the above and submit your application by June 28, 2024

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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

America’s Seed Fund – SBIR/STTR Overview

Date: May 21-23, 2024

Get an introduction into these federal funding opportunities. You will learn about the programs, their purpose, and why they are a significant benefit to small businesses across the nation. If you have heard of the programs, but need more information, or have never heard of these programs, but want to find out more, this session will be your key resource into finding out if SBIR/STTR funding is a good pathway towards commercializing your innovative idea.

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Other

Patsy T. Mink Leadership Alliance

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024

Personal contact information
Company/Organization information
Updated resume (upload attachment) to include:
- Last seven years of employment (positions held, time frame and responsibilities)
- Detailed education/certifications, accolades, etc.
- Current and past community service
Professional Letter of Recommendation (upload attachment)
Personal Letter of Recommendation (upload attachment)
Professional Headshot (upload image)
Professional Bio (upload attachment)
Personal application responses
Sponsor commitment
Attendance commitment
Tuition commitment

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WE by Rising Tide Cohort

Application Deadline: May 31, 2024

You are the women entrepreneurs who shape the future, and we see you. Invest in yourself and grow your business! WE by Rising Tide is a women entrepreneurs program sponsored by Central Pacific Bank and aio Foundation, in partnership with the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership and Rising Tide Hawaii

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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.

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Grants