Veteran business grants and funding
Nobody has to be paid to help you start a business. Free counseling, free training and free mentoring already exist. But most of what gets sold as a "veteran grant" is not a grant at all. Here is the difference.
The truth about "veteran grants"
This is the part that costs people the most time and money.
- There is no federal program that hands you a grant simply because you are a veteran. Not one.
- The Small Business Administration (SBA — the federal agency for small business) says it plainly: "SBA does not provide grants for starting and expanding a business."
- SBA's grants go to nonprofits, Resource Partners and educational organizations — the groups that then counsel you for free. Not to you personally.
- VA does not run a business loan program. VA backs home loans. It does not lend you money to open a shop. Anyone telling you otherwise is wrong or working you.
Do not count yourself out of Grants.gov
I have seen this told wrong both directions. Here is how Grants.gov words it itself.
- Grants.gov is the official database of federal funding opportunities. It is the only place that lists all available federal grants.
- Most opportunities are aimed at organizations — and a veteran-owned small business is an eligible entity type on many of them. Grants.gov lists eligible entity types including for-profit organizations and small businesses meeting SBA size standards.
- Grants.gov also states: "Individual people may submit applications for a funding opportunity on their own behalf (i.e., not on behalf of a company, organization, institution, or government)."
- And the honest limit, in their words: "Although there are many funding opportunities on Grants.gov, few are available to individuals, and none provide personal financial assistance."
Veterans Business Outreach Centers
31 centers nationwide. This is the front door for a veteran business.
Who they serve, in SBA's list: service members, veterans, National Guard and Reserve members, military spouses, and Family members interested in starting or growing a small business. If you are the spouse, you are in. If you drill one weekend a month, you are in.
What SBA says they actually do: workshops, training, counseling and mentorship; business plan development; concept assessment; on-site visits; monthly financial statement review; and training in manufacturing, international trade, franchising, internet marketing and accounting.
SCORE, SBDCs and Women's Business Centers
A VBOC may not be the closest office to you. These three often are.
- SCORE — SBA describes it as mentors who "offer area-specific advice at no cost (financing, human resources, business planning)." This is the one partner SBA itself calls no-cost outright. score.org
- Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) — the same free or low-cost counseling, on campuses and in economic development offices in most states.
- Women's Business Centers (WBC) — SBA's wording is "free, to low-cost counseling and training." Open to women veterans and women military spouses like anyone else.
Boots to Business — know which track is yours
Two different courses. Show up for the wrong one and you get turned away.
- Still serving? Boots to Business is SBA's entrepreneurship training delivered through the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program. SBA: it is "available free of charge at participating installations to service members and military spouses," and it is open to service members including National Guard and Reserve members.
- Already separated, any era? You take Boots to Business Reboot, which SBA describes as extending the same training "to veterans of all eras in their communities." Do not drive to an installation gate for the core course.
- Finished either one? The follow-on is Boots to Business Revenue Readiness — six weeks, online. You must complete B2B or Reboot first.
VetCert — federal contracting
This is the biggest dollar item on this whole page, and the flyers leave it off.
- Certification as a veteran-owned small business (VOSB) or a service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) lets your business compete for federal contracts that are set aside for veterans, and for sole-source awards.
- SBA's own words: "The federal government aims to award at least 5% of all federal contracting dollars to SDVOSBs each year." That is SBA's stated aim — I am not telling you the law guarantees you a share.
- Certification moved from VA to SBA on 1 January 2023. SBA runs it now.
Two paths that run through VA
VA does not lend you money for a business. It does do these two things.
VA Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). If you want to sell to VA specifically, this is the office. Business readiness training, technical assistance, and direct access to VA small business liaisons. va.gov/osdbu · vetbiz@va.gov · 1-866-584-2344, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern.
Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Self-Employment track. If you have a service-connected disability that, in VA's words, "makes it hard for you to prepare for, obtain, and maintain suitable employment," and you are enrolled in VR&E, VA will work your business plan with you. VA provides coordination services and help developing a proposed business plan, analysis of your business concept, training in small-business operations, marketing and finances, and guidance obtaining the resources to execute it. VA reviews the plan and evaluates whether self-employment is viable for you.
How to spot the grant scam in ten seconds
Somebody is going to message you about a veteran grant. Use these tests.
- No government agency will ask you to pay with cash, a gift card, a cash reload card, a wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. Ever.
- FTC: the only place to find a list of all available federal grants is grants.gov, and that list is free.
- SBA only communicates from email addresses ending in @sba.gov. If the sender's address is anything else, suspect it and report it.
- Nobody needs a fee to help you apply. Legitimate organizations provide education, mentoring and assistance at no cost.