Federal grant programs / Small Business Administration

Women's Business Ownership Assistance (59.043)

Also known as Women’s Business Center (WBO)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$111 million
• Grant awards683
• Typical award$150,000
• Awarded in FY 2025$17.6 million
• Size rank779 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceProject grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $27.0 million in fiscal 2021 to $17.6 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 779th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 37% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 51 states and territories.

What the program funds

Women's Business Centers (WBCs) are a part a national network of entrepreneurship centers throughout the United States and its territories, which are designed to assist women in starting and growing small businesses.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Applicants must be a private non-profit organization certified under § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and have experience providing technical services to women, and other entrepreneurs. To the extent that they satisfy all eligibility criteria the same as all other applicant organizations, Faith based Organizations are entitled to compete for Federal financial assistance (grants and/or cooperative agreements) used to support government programs. Generally, such organizations are not required to alter their religious character to participate in a government program, nor to cease engaging in explicitly religious activities outside the program, nor effectively to relinquish their Federal statutory protections for religious hiring decisions.

What the money can and cannot pay for

To establish women's business centers (WBCs) for the benefit of small business concerns owned and controlled by women. The services provided by the women's business centers must include financial, management, procurement and marketing assistance to start-up or established concerns, as well as mentoring and Internet services. Program participants that successfully complete the initial 5-year grant may apply for a 3-year renewal grant. Successful participants may renew the grant every 3 years.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. For the initial phase WBC awards, the non-Federal entities are required to match awarded funds on a 1:2 ratio for the first 2 years of the grant and a 1:1 ratio for the subsequent 3 years. For Renewal grants, the non-Federal entities are required to match awarded funds on a 1:1 ratio for each of the 3 years of the grant.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

$150,000 is the maximum grant amount.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Nonprofits received 92% of the money, colleges and universities 6.9% and state and local governments 0.2%.

By state

37 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.