Women's Business Center Initial Grant

- Private, 501(c)- certified nonprofit organizations.

- Organized and incorporated in the United States, and remains in good standing in the state or territory of incorporation.

- Provides technical assistance to small business concerns owned and controlled by women.

- Is responsible for hiring, supervising, and employing staff sufficient to ensure that the women’s business center is open to the public a minimum of 40 hours a week (to include evening and weekend hours) and to fully provide the services required under this program announcement, the notice of award, and the applicant’s proposal. Staff must include a full-time, (40 hours per week) program director whose time is dedicated 100% to managing the day-to-day operation of the WBC project, its staff and volunteers as well as overseeing all financial aspects of the project.

An organization that previously operated an SBA-funded women’s business center within the past five years of the application, and previously operated an SBA-funded women’s business center within 50 miles of the proposed territory of the application may be eligible to apply, but if awarded, would be awarded as a Renewal Phase Project.

Applicants responding to this program announcement may not apply for a new WBC Project within 50 miles of an existing WBC Project without including in its written narrative the number of socially and economically disadvantaged persons within the proposed service area, census data, population, etc.

Match requirement:

- For the Initial Phase award, the non-Federal entity is required to match awarded funds on a 1:2 ratio ($1 of non-Federal funds for every $2 of Federal funds) for the first two years and 1:1 in the three subsequent years.

- For the Renewal Phase award (if any), the non-Federal entity is required to match awarded funds on 1:1 ratio ($1 of non-Federal funds for every $1 of Federal funds) for each year of the three (3) year project.

In order to submit an application via grants.gov, an organization is first required to have a DUNS number, be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM), and have a grants.gov username and password. The process for meeting these three pre-submission requirements may take several days to complete.

Once an application is submitted, it undergoes a validation process through which it will be accepted or rejected by the grants.gov system. The validation process may take 24 to 48 hours to complete.

Applicants should not wait until the closing date to begin the submission process in order to avoid unexpected delays that could result in the rejection of an application.

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