The Women’s Business Development Council is offering grants of up to $10,000 to qualified women-owned small businesses in Connecticut
The Equity Match Grant Program is designed to help women-owned businesses grow! Grants between $2,500 and $10,000 will be awarded for clearly defined projects that will have a measurable impact on the business, its growth and profitability.
The grant funds cannot be used towards operating expenses (e.g. inventory, on-going marketing expenses, salaries), real estate improvements (e.g. construction costs), reimbursement for past purchases or debt repayment.
Applicants are required to provide a minimum 25% match (see below for more details).
THE GRANT APPLICATION WILL OPEN ON MAY 23, 2022
The deadline to apply is July 3, 2022
This is a competitive process and WBDC may not be able to fund all applicants. We encourage you to participate in one of our information sessions and schedule an appointment with a WBDC business advisor for additional assistance.
Learn About the Equity Match Grant
Eligibility
To be eligible, the business must:
- Be 51% or more woman-owned
- Be headquartered in CT, registered in the state of CT and owned by a CT resident
- Have been in business for at least two years before July 3, 2022 (business must have been established by July 3, 2020) with a record of sales
- Have a record of annual sales/revenue in last twelve months greater than $25,000 and less than $2,000,000
- In good standing with the CT Department of Revenue Services (DRS)
- Have an established business bank account
- Currently utilize a formal, digital bookkeeping/financial system (e.g. QuickBooks, Sage, FreshBooks, Wave Accounting)
- Be a for profit business, or a non-profit that derives 75% or more of the organization’s revenue from a social enterprise
- Be owned by a woman at least 18 years old
Additionally, the following businesses are not eligible
Child care businesses are not eligible for the Equity Match Grant. If your business is in the child care industry, WBDC has other programs for you. We encourage you to visit our Child Care Business Funding page to learn more, or reach out to us at childcarebusiness@ctwbdc.org.
If you or your business have already received a grant from WBDC in the last two years you are not eligible.
Medical marijuana; liquor stores and alcohol distributors; adult businesses such as strip clubs; vape retailers; tobacco shops and smoking lounges; businesses having to do with gambling; gun stores and ranges; cash advance, check cashing, or pawn shops; bail bonds; collection agencies or services; and auction or bankruptcy or fire or “lost-our-lease” or “going-out-of-business” or similar sale
Match Requirement
Applicants are required to provide a minimum 25% match
- For example, if the business receives a $10,000 grant for the purchase of new software, the business must have invested $2,500 in their business over the past 12 months OR be able to invest an incremental $2,500 of their own funds in that purchase
- Grants cannot be used to reimburse past purchases or investments in the business.
Businesses in distressed economic communities (as defined by DECD) do not need to provide the 25% match.
Sign up for an information session
One-hour informational webinars will be held in May and June to enable applicants to prepare their applications in advance of the submission period. Sign up for the webinar that best meets your schedule using the links below. The content will be the same for all webinars. You only need to attend one session, though you are welcome to attend as many as you would like.
Click to register for an upcoming information session below!
Thursday, May 26th @ 10am-11am
Thursday, June 2nd @ 5:30pm – 6:30 pm
Monday, June 6th @ 5:30pm – 6:30 pm
Wednesday, June 8th @ 10am – 11am
Tuesday, June 14th @12pm – 1pm
Thursday, June 16th @ 10am – 11am
Wednesday, June 22nd @ 12pm – 1pm
Monday, June 27th @5:30 – 6:30pm
Meet with an advisor
WBDC Business Advisors are available to help answer your questions after you have attended a live or on-demand information session. Please email info@ctwbdc.org to schedule an appointment.
*Applications will be reviewed by an independent panel of experts from the community. WBDC Business Advisors will not be making the decisions on who receives grants.
How to Prepare
Application Questions
There are four sections to the application:
Section A: How you would use the grant
Section B: Narrative of your business
Section C: Upload supporting documents
Section D: Compliance and consent
What the review committee is looking for
- Thoughtful, complete, and well-developed picture of your business that shows a path to growth.
- Exceptionally clear use of funds, with a direct link to growth, focused, strong supporting detail.
- Financial Projections are robust and reflects seasonality of business in projections where all numbers make sense.
- Display the business’ long-term potential, with strong growth and potential for continued growth
- Job creation potential, with the business being on track to adding more jobs
- Return on investment, that the funds will unlock growth
- Grant will have a meaningful impact on the business and help the business grow and scale
*Applications will be reviewed by an independent panel of experts from the community. WBDC Business Advisors will not be making the decisions on who receives grants.
Financial Template
Click here to download the projected profit and loss template.
This template is provided as a guide by the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC). Applicants are welcome to use this template or their own format if they prefer.
How to obtain a letter of good standing
Please request your letter from the CT DRS myconneCT online center: 𝗺𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗖𝗧 (ct.gov)
Here is a tutorial to on how to request the status letter: Requesting a Status Letter (of Good Standing) (ct.gov)
Click here to see an example of what your status letter should like. Please note that if it does not look like this – it is the wrong document.
Testimonials
Learn about the impact of the Equity Match Grant and how it has helped some of our amazing recipients from the last two rounds of funding!
Meet Some of Our Equity Match Grant Recipients!
Anchor & Compass
Deep River, CT
Read Sage’s story
Creative ME, LLC
New Haven, CT
Read Mechele’s story
Balanced Bee-ing
Stamford, CT
Read Aimee’s story
The Family Pizza Truck
Southington, CT
Read Angela’s story
Trailing Twine Photography
Pomfret, CT
Read Ling’s story
Nala's Kitchen
Wallingford, CT
Read Rebeca’s story
Illumina Skin Care Massage
Guilford, CT
Read Lillian’s story
Ivy's Simply Homemade
Waterford, CT
Read Ivy’s story
Trade Labels
Mystic, CT
Read Lynns’s story
Koko Floral Design
Guilford, CT
Read Koko’s story
Unbakeables
Weston, CT
Read Corey’s story
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