Let’s talk about a couple of upcoming funding opportunities!

Setting aside my deep personal feelings about how there isn’t nearly enough funding for small businesses.

Setting aside that I think many of us should be able to get grants that aren’t onerous to apply for.

Setting aside that I recognize that we don’t have nearly enough grants for small and micro business owners.

I wanted to share with you a couple of possible funding opportunities. One is a scholarship available across the country, and one is a grant for folks in California. I will update this list with new and ongoing alternative funding sources as I come across them. Feel free to drop a suggested grant or scholarship in the comments below!

Grants and Scholarships

First the California one

Center for Cultural Innovation has a monthly ongoing micro grant called a Quick Grant. 

Fun fact – I was a recipient of a Quick Grant last year that partially offset my expenses to attend the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference. Having any amount of that cost taken care of lifted a huge weight for me. And if you’ve missed the current window for the Quick Grant, there is always next month!

Sometimes grants are even more specific to a location, so it is worth looking for grants nearest to you. For Instance, this San Francisco Women’s grant is for San Francisco women business owners, and there are criteria you would need to meet, but if you meet them, that’s an amazing way to get grant funding for your small business.

And now for National Scholarships and Grants

The Women’s Jewelry Association – WJA has a ton of scholarships available! Check out the open dates and due dates – some are due by the end of this month. Others don’t open until September.

Halstead Bead has had a grant program since 2006! Awarded to emerging silver jewelry designers each year, the deadline usually falls around May 1st.

LISC has an annual grant where you can take some free eCourses and then complete an application. Sign up for their email list to get notifications for their next grant openings and offerings.

Just give people money

When we talk about ideas like universal basic income (UBI), an idea, by the way, that is consistently proven to work every time it’s implemented, I often think about how lovely it would be if accessing capital would be easier for small and micro businesses. And how extremely amazing it would be to live in a society where small and micro business owners could just…be given money. 

Another fun fact, I was once interviewed on a podcast where we talked about conceiving new ideas for how to fund businesses where more small and micro businesses are just given money with no strings attached.

In the US, we already subsidize agriculture and energy production, but don’t reap the benefits as much. What if we extended subsidies to grocery stores? Or your neighborhood café where all the retirees hang out? Or that one restaurant that’s open late. Maybe just giving businesses money would help us all.

Apply even if you don’t think you’re right for it.

Anyway, in light of these thoughts and feelings, please check out these scholarship and grant opportunities and apply apply apply!

Studies show that lots of people don’t think of themselves as qualified for grants and funding when the people who get them are less likely to meet 100% of the expectations. So apply anyway!

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