Most time lost in business funding is spent on the wrong instrument. Grants, loans, tax credits, contracts and equity have different eligibility, different costs and different odds — and only one of them is free money that is rarely available.
Open programs in the OpenGrants database whose listings mention small businesses. Refreshed on every site build.
People arrive at business funding looking for “grants” and spend months discovering that the thing they need is not a grant. Five instruments get conflated under that word, and they have entirely different eligibility, costs and odds.
Naming the transaction correctly eliminates most of the field in about ten minutes:
If you have no research and development question, the federal grant route is closed. The SBA states it does not provide grants for starting or expanding a business, and federal grants otherwise go overwhelmingly to non-commercial organizations. For a for-profit, “federal grant” in practice means SBIR or STTR. No technical risk, no route.
If you owe no tax, a tax credit is not funding. This is the most common misunderstanding in the category. California Competes allocated $922.7 million in FY2025-26 — a genuinely large programme — but a credit against income tax is worth nothing this year to a company with no income tax liability, unless it is refundable or carries forward. Check that before you build a plan on it.
If your business will never sell, equity is the wrong instrument. Investors require an exit. A profitable business with no exit path taking venture money has created a structural conflict it cannot resolve.
Governments buy far more than they grant. If you sell something a public agency purchases — services, supplies, software, construction, consulting — contracting is a revenue relationship rather than a competition for subsidy.
It also comes with structural advantages that grants do not offer. Set-asides exist for small businesses, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses and HUBZone firms. Those are genuine competitive restrictions in your favour, not preferences at the margin.
The registration is the same SAM.gov account you would need for grants anyway.
Individuals seeking personal financial help. This is business funding. Personal hardship runs through a different system entirely — see the individuals guide.
Anyone who has been contacted about a grant they did not apply for. That is a scam, in every case, without exception.
Businesses in immediate distress. Grant cycles run in months and quarters. A cash crisis this month needs a lender, a payment plan, or an SBDC advisor today — not an application.
No legitimate government funding programme charges you to apply. SAM.gov registration is free, grants.gov is free, and no federal or state agency takes a processing fee.
Anyone charging for access to a grant list is selling public information. Anyone requesting payment by gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency is running a scam. That single test removes most of what you will find searching for business grants.
A grant funds a public purpose. A loan funds anything and is repaid. A tax credit rewards behaviour you already had tax liability from. A contract buys a deliverable. Equity buys ownership. Naming the transaction eliminates most options immediately.
For a for-profit, federal grants essentially mean R&D. If you have no technical risk to resolve, the federal grant route closes here and you have saved weeks.
Credits are worthless this year to a company with no tax liability, unless they are refundable or can carry forward. This single question disqualifies a large share of the businesses that pursue them.
Government purchasing is far larger than government grantmaking, and set-asides give small and certified businesses a genuine structural advantage. Most owners never look.
SBDC and SCORE advisors do this triage daily and cost nothing. They also know which state and local programs are actually open where you are.
