Women's Business Grant Calendar 2026: Every Verified Deadline

How the November 2026 – April 2027 window actually looks

Quick answerOnly 5 women-eligible programs on this list carry a fixed date in the whole window — four closings and one opening. The calendar is carried instead by five grants that close every month and by 41 programs that never close at all — which is why “apply before the deadline” is the wrong plan for most women-owned businesses and “apply this month, then again next month” is the right one.

Methodology. Computed from the GrantCompass catalog on October 9, 2026 (fixed dates re-checked November 1, 2026), n=80 programs flagged women-eligible or women-specific. “No deadline” counts programs whose record states applications are accepted year-round or on a rolling basis with no fixed cutoff (31 of them are CDFI or state loan programs). “Fixed date” counts windows whose date is recorded in our catalog for this cycle — rows carry a “verified” mark where we also read the official program page; annual cycles whose month is known from prior years but unannounced for this one are counted separately as “expected” and never presented as fact. Median award is the median of amountMax across the 38 programs classified as a grant or award that publish a figure; loans, tax credits and in-kind programs are excluded because their ceilings are not comparable to a grant cheque.

The shape matters more than the individual dates. A women-owned business that treats grant funding as a once-a-year event will find, in most months, that nothing is open — and conclude the category is empty. The same business that treats it as a monthly habit has five live applications a month, every month, for a combined ceiling of $22,500 per cycle before any annual programme is counted. 38 of the 80 programs are limited to specific states, together covering all 50 states and DC, so the practical size of your own calendar depends heavily on where you operate.

What's open in November 2026

Quick answerAs of November 1, 2026, three dated women's grant windows close this month — the Sephora Beauty Grant on November 6, the Entreprenista Evolve Grant on November 11 and the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows application on November 17 — and the five monthly grants close November 30. The Galaxy Grant and Women Founders Grant rounds closed October 31 with no new dates posted. 41 deadline-free programs stay open all month.

October’s two fixed dates have passed. The Galaxy Grant for women and minority business owners, run by Hidden Star, closed its $2,500 round on October 31, 2026; Galaxy of Stars posts new rounds through the year, and the next one has not been announced. It is free to apply and its own page describes the form as a roughly 30-second submission, so it is worth watching for. The stated award was $2,500, not the $4,250 figure that circulates on aggregator sites, which appears to be a past winner's payout rather than the advertised amount.

The Women Founders Grant reviews applications on a rolling basis but posts fixed cutoffs: the latest, October 31, 2026, was for a $5,000 award with a $25 non-refundable application fee, and no new deadline is posted yet.

November’s first item is an opening, not a closing. The Boundless Futures EmpowHer Grant publishes its cycle plan on its submission portal: the fall 2026 application opens November 1, 2026, with grants awarded in spring 2027. Check the portal before you plan around it; when we last read it, on August 18, 2026, it had no open call.

The Sephora Beauty Grant ($100,000) closes its 2027 round on November 6, 2026, with the grantee announced the following February. The Entreprenista Evolve Grant, presented with IT Cosmetics, closes its fall 2026 cycle on November 11, 2026. It awards $5,000 a cycle to US businesses that are woman-owned or woman-led, have operated for at least a year and bring in $100,000 or more in annual revenue — a growth-stage grant, not a starter one.

The Tory Burch Foundation Fellows programme’s 2027-cohort window closes November 17, 2026, with fellows announced in May 2027. The practical response to a corporate window is a deadline alert, not a wait: star it in the database and the reminder fires before the close.

SourcesGalaxy of Stars (Hidden Star) — Galaxy Grants ⎮ Funding for Women & Minority Business OwnersChecked 5 September 2026.

What closes in December 2026

Quick answerNo women-specific annual grant cycle in our catalog closes in December 2026; only the five monthly grants close on December 31. December is when the year-end awards are decided from applications already submitted — three $75,000 Amber Grants and the $2,500 Freed year-end grant.

December is the clearest illustration of why this calendar is built around monthly habits. WomensNet selects its three $75,000 year-end Amber Grants from the pool of that year's monthly winners, and the Freed Fellowship's $2,500 year-end grant is drawn from its monthly fellows. Neither is a separate application. A founder who applied in March is in the December pool; a founder who waited for a December deadline is not, because there isn't one.

The other December reality is that 41 deadline-free programs — community lenders, state loan funds, and support programs — are as open on December 24 as on any other day. If your funding need is working capital rather than a competition prize, December is not a dead month at all.

What closes in January 2027

Quick answerOne fixed women's grant date: the Her Agenda Breakthrough Grant ($5,000) closes January 19, 2027, with the winner announced in March 2027. The five monthly grants close January 31.

The Her Agenda Breakthrough Grant is a community-funded $5,000 award, now on its fourth volume. It is open to women entrepreneurs with a US-based or US-serving for-profit business that has operated for at least a year — idea-stage and pre-launch businesses are not eligible — and applicants must subscribe to the free Her Agenda newsletter. The application fee is $25, or $12.50 for Her Agenda INSIDER members. We confirmed the January 19, 2027 deadline on its official page on October 1, 2026.

January is also when two older programs used to reopen, and neither will. FedEx says its US Small Business Grant Contest ran from 2012 to 2024 and is retired, and the Eileen Fisher women-owned business grant has had no verified cycle since 2022. What does tend to move in early 2027 is Sephora Accelerate, which expects to reopen its intake around January or February, and the Texas Woman’s University Veteran Entrepreneur Grant, whose next window is expected in January or February; neither has published dates yet.

The five grants that close every month

Quick answerAmber ($15,000 × 3 monthly, $15 fee), Hey Helen ($10,000 monthly, $15 fee), HerRise ($1,000 monthly, $15 fee), YippityDoo’s Big Idea Grant ($1,000 monthly, $15 fee) and Freed ($500 monthly, $19 fee) all close on the last day of every calendar month — a combined ceiling of $22,500 per cycle, twelve times a year.

These five are the reason a women's grant calendar is worth keeping at all. Every other program on this page is annual, occasional or deadline-free; these are the ones that reward a repeating workflow. Amber, HerRise and Freed were confirmed against their official pages on August 18, 2026, and Hey Helen’s 11:59 PM Eastern close on October 1, 2026.

The Amber Grant (WomensNet) awards three $15,000 grants each month — a general award, a startup award, and a rotating business-category award — and its published rules run the cycle from the first of the month to 11:59 PM Eastern on the last day of the same month, with winners announced by the 21st of the following month. A single $15 application covers all three tracks; the business-category entry stays active for twelve months, and WomensNet will not take a second application from the same email within three months; WomensNet publishes a fee waiver available on request. Monthly winners roll into the pool for three $75,000 year-end grants.

The Hey Helen Grant, from Visionaries, awards one $10,000 unrestricted grant a month to a US business that is at least 50% women-owned and brings in under $1 million a year; pre-revenue applications are welcome. Rounds close at 11:59 PM Eastern on the last day of the month, one application is kept on file for twelve monthly rounds, and there is a $15 administrative fee.

The HerRise MicroGrant, from the Yva Jourdan Foundation and HerSuiteSpot, awards $1,000 a month and states that applications must be in by 11:59 PM on the last day of the month to count for that month. It carries a $15 administrative fee and explicitly prioritises women of colour.

The YippityDoo Big Idea Grant awards $1,000 a month, no strings attached, to a US for-profit business at least 50% owned and run by a woman — idea-stage businesses included. Applications close at 11:59 PM Pacific on the last day of the month, winners are notified around the 15th of the following month, and there is a $15 non-refundable fee.

The Freed Fellowship Grant awards $500 monthly plus a $2,500 year-end grant, closing at midnight Eastern on the last day of the month, and charges a $19 application fee. Monthly fellows are automatically eligible for the year-end award.

The workflow this implies is unglamorous and effective: write the application once, submit it to all five in the same sitting, and re-enter each one on its own schedule rather than treating a rejection as a verdict (the entry rules differ by grant). The Hustle Grant ($1,000 a month for women-owned businesses) works the same way without a fixed cutoff — one application is considered for its ongoing monthly rounds. IFundWomen's Universal Application — now operating as IFW after Honeycomb Credit acquired the company in April 2025 — is not monthly but works on the same principle: one evergreen profile that sponsor-funded grant cycles are matched against as they open. We could not reach ifundwomen.com on August 18, 2026 (the site returned HTTP 403 to our check), so we publish no current award figure for it.

SourcesWomensNet — official program page·HerSuiteSpot / Yva Jourdan Foundation — HerRise MicroGrant·Freed Fellowship — Freed Fellowship Grant - Apply for $2500 Small Business FundingChecked 5 September 2026.

How often each women's grant lets you enter

Quick answerA monthly deadline is not a monthly entry. The Amber Grant will not take a second application from the same email within three months. The Hey Helen Grant keeps one entry on file for twelve monthly rounds. HerRise and Freed pick from the entries received that month, so you enter again each month you want to be considered (neither funder says an entry carries into later months). Tory Burch Foundation Fellows and the Cartier Women's Initiative take one application a year.

Getting the rules wrong costs money one way and chances the other. Re-entering Hey Helen every month pays a $15 fee for rounds the first entry already covers; Visionaries says there is no need to resubmit unless something has changed. Re-entering Amber every month is blocked by WomensNet's own system, and its FAQ asks applicants to reapply only after a significant change in the business. Entering Freed once and waiting does the opposite: Freed considers an application for the month it arrives in, by midnight Eastern on the last day of that month.

YippityDoo's Big Idea Grant also picks a winner every month; its page does not say whether an entry carries into later months, so treat it like HerRise and Freed. Rules are taken from each funder's FAQ or program page and can change between cycles.

The practical rule: enter Hey Helen and Amber once and put the re-entry month in your calendar; budget for HerRise and Freed as a monthly line, and drop one if the fees outrun what it gives you back. Freed sends every applicant written feedback, which is the case for keeping it. For how other kinds of deadline behave, from quarterly grants to federal releases, see how small business grant deadlines work, by type of funder.

A year of entries: a worked 12-month plan for one founder

Quick answerA women-owned business that qualifies for all of the monthly grants can stay in the running all year with 28 entries and about $453 in fees: one Hey Helen entry, two Amber entries, twelve each for HerRise and Freed, and one Tory Burch Foundation Fellows application when its fall window opens. The writing happens once; after that, each month takes two short re-entries.

Fees are the funders' published entry fees: $15 each for Amber, Hey Helen and HerRise, $19 for Freed. The Tory Burch application is not counted. Month names are an example; start in any month and the pattern is the same.

Three things in Dana's plan matter more than the month names. The writing happens once, in January, and every later entry reuses it. Each re-entry is triggered by a rule or a real change, never by habit alone. And the one annual window on her list gets six or more weeks of preparation, because missing it costs a full year. To plan backward from a dated close like Tory Burch's, use the back-planner on the small business grant deadlines page, and check what 11:59 pm means for each funder's time zone before a month-end entry.

Not sure which of these your business clears? See which grants you qualify for.

Closed until next year — and two that aren't coming back

Quick answer25 of the 80 programs on this page were not taking applications on a normal cycle as of November 1, 2026. Some reopen on a date you can plan around; one has been dormant since 2022, and two are permanently closed.

An honest closed list is more useful than a padded open one, because it tells you what to schedule rather than what to waste an afternoon on. The Galaxy Grant and the Women Founders Grant joined the list when their rounds closed October 31, 2026; neither has posted a next date. The Cartier Women's Initiative ran its 2027 edition from April 16 to June 16, 2026 and has published no 2028 dates; applicants hear back by December 2026. Giving Joy, which gives microgrants of up to $500 to women, runs two cycles a year; its fall 2026 cycle closed September 30 and the next has not been announced. The Enthuse Foundation pitch competition for women-owned consumer brands closed its 2026 applications on September 23, and the Women Founders Network Fast Pitch and Hawaiʻi FoundHer have closed their 2026 rounds with 2027 dates still to come.

Some well-known names have simply gone quiet. Visa She's Next has historically opened in the fall, but our catalog has no confirmed cycle for it since 2024; the same is true of Stacy's Rise Project since a cycle that closed in October 2023, and of Tarte's Shape Your Future awards for Black women-owned businesses since a window that closed in August 2024. DivInc's Austin Women in Tech accelerator has no dated cohort in our catalog; the most recent Women in Tech window we can confirm closed November 30, 2025.

Three programs on this list are not seasonal, and every listicle still treats them as though they were. The FedEx Small Business Grant Contest ran twelve annual US cycles from 2012 through 2024, and FedEx now says the program is retired; the “Small Business Grant Contest” FedEx has publicised since is a separate Asia-Pacific programme run with Forbes Asia. Eileen Fisher's women-owned business grant has had no verified cycle since 2022, and the company's current giving runs through a different programme; the pages still quoting its old $12,500 award are recycling old copy. The FedEx Entrepreneur Fund and Boost Camp, run with Hello Alice, last had a confirmed cycle in October–November 2025, and both fedex.com and helloalice.com blocked our verification attempt on August 18, 2026 — so we mark it unconfirmed rather than guessing a window for you.

And then there is the Fearless Fund grant, permanently terminated in September 2024 through a legal settlement. It still appears on grant listicles. It is not a deadline you missed; it is a program that no longer exists, and leaving it on an “apply now” list is the single most common failure of the aggregator pages that rank for these queries.

Two more are active but publish no application dates at all, which is a different thing from being closed. The digitalundivided BREAKTHROUGH grant listed Northern California and Nashville cohorts with no public application window when we checked in August 2026. The Anonymous Was A Woman Award gives $50,000 each to fifteen women, gender non-conforming and trans artists over 40 every year — by nomination only, with no route for an artist to apply directly.

How to use this calendar with the free weekly new-grants email

Quick answerUse this calendar for the deadlines that repeat and the weekly email for the ones that appear. The calendar holds the month-end grants and the annual windows we know about. The free new-grants email arrives every Monday with each grant GrantCompass added or saw reopen in the previous seven days, checked on the funder's own site, so a new women's grant or a reopened annual window reaches you within a week.

The two cover different gaps. An annual window such as the Tory Burch fellowship comes round once a year, and the reopening is exactly the kind of change the weekly list picks up. A brand-new program has no history to put on a calendar at all. The email lists grants only, with no loans or tax credits, so the community lenders on this page's no-deadline list stay here.

A ten-minute weekly routine

1. Monday: read the list.The new-grants page groups each week's grants by who they are for, including a group for women-owned businesses. Open the program page of anything you clear and note whether it repeats or has one dated window.
2. Star what fits.Star it in the GrantCompass database so the deadline alert fires before it closes. A dated window goes into your plan the same day, worked backward from its close.
3. Last week of the month: the month-end entries.Re-enter HerRise and Freed, and check whether an Amber or Hey Helen re-entry is due under its rule.
4. Once a quarter: re-read your answers.Fold in what changed and what Freed's feedback said, so the next entry, and the next annual window, starts from a stronger draft.

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