Small Business Grants in Washington
The Washington export voucher halt is over. Commerce reopened STEP applications, and a company can now qualify for three vouchers worth up to $10,000 in the federal award year running to September 29, 2027.
The Washington export voucher halt is over. Commerce reopened STEP applications, and a company can now qualify for three vouchers worth up to $10,000 in the federal award year running to September 29, 2027. Clean Energy Grants closed in November 2025 and no new round is posted.
Which Washington grants fit your business?
Answer 7 quick questions and we sort the 13 programs on this page into likely fits and long shots. Nothing personal is asked or stored, and final eligibility is always decided by the granting agency.
Washington Small Business Grant Programs
State-administered funding programs available to Washington small businesses. Verify deadlines directly with the granting agency before applying.
Paid Family and Medical Leave Small Business Grants
Washington Employment Security Department
$1,000 to $3,000 depending on headcount
Open, apply within 12 months of the leave start dateThe only Washington state grant most small employers can actually apply for, and it comes with a bill attached. Under 50 employees, up to $3,000. Between 50 and 150, up to $3,000 if you hired a replacement or up to $1,000 for other wage related costs. Here is the catch, an employer with fewer than 50 staff who takes a grant must then pay the employer share of the Paid Leave premium for all employees for twelve quarters, three years. Run that number against the grant before you apply. Up to ten grants a year, one per employee on leave, and you must apply within twelve months of that employee's leave start date. Employers on an active Voluntary Plan, or behind on wage reports or premiums, are not eligible.
Apply / Learn MoreGreen Jobs Grant Program
Washington State Department of Commerce
No award range published
Rolling, open until all funding is obligatedOpen on paper, and the paper is eighteen months old. Commerce says this is an open continuous application until all funding has been obligated, and the state funding portal still marks it Active, but the programme page has not been touched since April 2025 and no awards have been announced. Businesses are eligible alongside local government, nonprofits, state agencies and tribes. No award range is published anywhere, so treat any figure you see elsewhere as invented. It funds planning, predevelopment, design, engineering and construction of clean technology projects, so it is capital money rather than general small business money. Ask whether funds remain before you spend a week on it.
STEP Export Voucher Program
Washington State Department of Commerce
Up to $10,000 per award year, three vouchers
Rolling through the federal award year ending Sep 29, 2027Cash back for a Washington exporter, and the part to plan for is the quarter you carry yourself. A voucher cannot cover more than 75 percent of your expenses, so a 25 percent unreimbursed cash match is built in. Companies can qualify for three vouchers per federal award year, that year running June 30, 2026 to September 29, 2027 in Commerce's own words, up to $10,000. You must be an SBA defined small business and you need a Washington Statewide Vendor Number before the state can pay you. One warning about the agency's own site, the small business loans hub still says these vouchers offset costs up to $5,000, and the programme page is the current one.
Apply / Learn MoreCommunity Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) Grants
Washington State Department of Commerce
Low interest loans and grants, city or tribe applies
Board cycle, application dates published per meetingA business cannot apply for this. CERB funds local governments and federally recognised tribes for public infrastructure, and a private company can only sit behind a public applicant as the committed private partner. The funding is a mix of low interest loans and grants rather than grants alone, with planning awards typically grants and infrastructure awards largely loans. Awards continue through 2026 on a board meeting cycle with published application dates. Our previous link pointed at a general small business loans hub that mentions CERB in a paragraph, which is not a source a reader can act on.
Clean Buildings Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive
Washington State Department of Commerce
Paid by your utility, $150M allocated statewide
Deadline Jun 1, 2030If you own the building you trade from, this is the most patient money on this page. The Tier 2 Early Adopter Incentive launched on July 1, 2025 for buildings between 20,000 and 50,001 square feet, including multifamily over 20,000 square feet, with $150 million allocated statewide. Commerce approves the compliance and incentive application through the Clean Buildings Portal and your utility pays the incentive, first come first served, so the incentive depends on your utility taking part. Utilities with more than 25,000 customers must participate and smaller ones may opt in. You will need to give your utility a completed W9 to be paid.
Apply / Learn MoreClean Energy Grants Program
Washington State Department of Commerce
$50,000 - $2,500,000
Deadline Nov 5, 2025Closed, and the contradiction on the state's own page is finally settled. Commerce's programme page still carries an Apply now card advertising approximately $32 million, and that card links to the 2025 solicitation whose applications were due at 4pm on November 5, 2025. There is one round, not two, and Commerce simply never took the card down. Awards ran $50,000 to $2,500,000 and for profit entities were eligible alongside utilities, local government, nonprofits and tribes. Commerce has run this annually since 2024 with autumn openings, so a 2026 round is plausible and worth checking in October.
WSMA Microenterprise Grants
Washington State Microenterprise Association
$10,000
Deadline Jan 7, 2026Closed, and it was never a grant a founder could apply for. The Washington State Microenterprise Association was funding nonprofit organisations that deliver business training, technical assistance and access to financing for Washington small businesses, at $10,000 per grant across a statewide and an urban track. Proposals were due at 5pm on January 7, 2026 and both tracks are now labelled closed. If a business support organisation you use was funded here, that is where the help you receive comes from.
SkillSource Small Business Investment Grants
SkillSource
Up to $5,000 per business, $80,000 total pool
Deadline Sep 22, 2025Closed twice over. Applications ran from September 4 to September 22, 2025, and the grant period itself ended on June 30, 2026. Awards were up to $5,000 per business out of an $80,000 pool, so the $80,000 figure some listings carry is the whole programme rather than an award. Eligibility was narrow, an owner who is Latine, Tribal, Black, Asian, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, doing business in Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Adams or Okanogan counties. SkillSource says another opportunity may open if funds went unawarded, and nothing is posted.
Anaerobic Digester Development (Dairy Digester) Grants
Washington State Department of Commerce
Awards ran $650,000 to $4.65 million
Deadline Dec 10, 2025Closed and awarded. Full applications were due at 5pm on December 10, 2025, and in April 2026 Commerce awarded more than $13.8 million to seven projects. Awards ran from $650,000 to $4,650,000 and six of the seven recipients were companies rather than public bodies, with a 15 percent applicant match required. The scope is narrow, the project has to sit at or next to an existing Washington dairy and the applicant must be licensed to do business in the state. Commerce still lists the request for applications as a current opportunity on two of its own pages, which is stale, and the 2025 round opened in October, so October is when to look.
View program pageFederal Grant Programs
These federal programs are available to small businesses in every state.
SBA 7(a) Loan Program
The SBA's primary lending program guarantees loans through participating lenders. This is a loan, not a grant. But the terms favor small businesses that may not qualify for conventional financing.
Learn moreSBA Microloan Program
Loans up to $50,000, not grants. You borrow from a nonprofit lender near you, not from the SBA itself. The money can cover working capital, inventory, supplies or equipment. Most people get far less than the cap. The average microloan is about $13,000.
Learn moreSBIR/STTR Grants
Competitive federal grants for small businesses doing research and development with commercial potential. Eleven federal agencies take part. Phase I funds proof of concept. Phase II funds full development.
Learn moreMinority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Programs
Help for minority owned businesses that need capital, contracts or new markets. MBDA runs business centers around the country. They give advice, help with bids, and point you toward lenders.
Learn moreThe gap is the story. Washington's big grant money went out the door in late 2025 and has not come back. So the one program still open is also the smallest on this page, by a factor of a thousand. The scale below is logarithmic. On a normal scale that gold bar would vanish.
Get Grant-Ready
Before you apply, most Washington grant programs expect these basics to be in place.
Form your business entity
Most Washington grant programs require applicants to be a registered LLC, corporation, or nonprofit. If you haven't formed yet, that's the first step.
$39 + state fee. Includes registered agent, business address, and more.
Get your EIN
An Employer Identification Number is free from the IRS and required on nearly every grant application. You can apply online and receive it immediately.
Open a business bank account
Grant funds need to go into a dedicated business account, not your personal checking. Most agencies will ask for your banking details on the application.
Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided through Choice Financial Group and Column N.A., Members FDIC.
Grants by Business Type
Targeted programs for specific business owners in Washington.
Women-owned Business Grants
Washington's Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises certifies women-owned firms for state and local contracting. That also opens the Linked Deposit Program and the small works roster. No women-only state grant is open. The $10,000 award you see in search results is the Amber Grant, a private national program with no tie to Washington.
Minority-owned Business Grants
OMWBE runs the certifications for minority-owned firms too. That is the route to set-aside contracts. Two programs often listed as BIPOC grants are shut. SkillSource closed in September 2025, and the WSMA grants closed in January 2026 and paid nonprofit trainers rather than business owners.
Veteran-owned Business Grants
The Department of Veterans Affairs certifies veteran-owned businesses here. State agencies are told to buy from certified firms through WEBS. You get contract access. There is no veteran grant behind it.
- Veteran Owned Business certification
- ›WEBS vendor registration at des.wa.gov
Rural Business Grants
Associate Development Organizations cover the state, county by county. They are the first call for a rural business, because they know the local pots. CERB money is not one of them. Only cities, counties, ports and tribes can apply, and the infrastructure they build is what reaches your business.
- Commerce funding opportunities
- ›Your county's Associate Development Organization
Technology/Innovation Business Grants
Clean Energy Grants and the Green Jobs program funded exactly this work. Neither is taking applications. The live route is federal. SBIR and STTR Phase I runs up to $275,000, and Washington's aerospace and software depth makes local firms competitive.
Tips for Applying in Washington
Increase your chances of approval with these state-specific tips.
- 1Apply within twelve months. The clock starts the day your employee's leave started, not the day you paid the cost. Miss it and the money is gone, even when your receipts are perfect.
- 2Read the catch first. If you have fewer than 50 staff, taking the grant means you owe the employer share of the Paid Leave premium for twelve quarters. Run that number against the grant.
- 3Watch the Commerce funding page, not the program pages. New rounds land there with short windows. A program page can sit for a year with last season's dates still on it.
- 4Book time with a Washington SBDC adviser. It is free. They read grant applications for a living, and they will tell you when a program is not worth your afternoon.
- 5Register on WEBS at des.wa.gov. Then get OMWBE certified if you qualify. Neither one is a grant. Both are how Washington really moves money to small firms, through contracts rather than awards.
State Economic Development Agency
Washington State Department of Commerce
The Department of Commerce strengthens key industries, expands international trade, helps small businesses grow, and supports local economic development partners across all 39 Washington counties.
Funding While You Wait
Grant applications in Washington can take weeks or months to process. These options can bridge the gap.
Grants in Other States
All state grant guidesFrequently Asked Questions
Three, and one of them has a bill attached. The Paid Family and Medical Leave small business grant pays $1,000 to $3,000. STEP export vouchers pay up to $10,000 a year across three vouchers, reimbursing 75 percent of your costs. The Clean Buildings Early Adopter incentive runs to June 2030 for commercial building owners. The Green Jobs grant is technically open too, though its page has not moved since April 2025. Everything else on this page is closed, or pays a city, a tribe or a nonprofit rather than you.
Twelve quarters of premiums. If you have fewer than 50 employees, accepting a grant obliges you to pay the employer share of the Paid Leave premium for all employees for three years afterwards. Employers with 50 to 150 staff already pay it, so for them there is no extra cost. Do that arithmetic against a maximum of $3,000 before you apply. You also have to apply within twelve months of the employee's leave start date, and you cannot be on a Voluntary Plan or behind on wage reports or premiums.
Closed, and Commerce's own page is the reason people think otherwise. The programme page carries an Apply now card advertising approximately $32 million, and that card links to the 2025 solicitation whose applications were due at 4pm on November 5, 2025. It is one round, not two, and the card was never taken down. Awards ran $50,000 to $2,500,000 and for profit entities were eligible. Commerce has opened this in the autumn each year since 2024, so October is when to look again.
As cash reimbursements, and never for the whole cost. A voucher cannot cover more than 75 percent of your expenses, so a quarter of the bill stays with you. A company can qualify for three vouchers per federal award year, which Commerce states as June 30, 2026 to September 29, 2027, up to $10,000. You need to be an SBA defined small business and to hold a Washington Statewide Vendor Number before the state can pay you. Ignore the $5,000 figure on the Commerce loans hub, the programme page is current.
Because most of the state's grant money is aimed at somebody else. CERB funds local governments and tribes for public infrastructure, and a company can only sit behind a public applicant. The Washington State Microenterprise Association funded nonprofits that train small businesses, not the businesses. Equitable Access to Credit pays lending institutions. We list them because people search for them by name, and we say who applies so nobody spends a week on the wrong form.
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Grant programs change frequently. Deadlines, eligibility requirements, and funding amounts listed here may be outdated. Always verify information directly with the granting agency before applying. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or legal advice.
Sources & References
- Washington State Department of Commerce
- Commerce funding opportunities
- STEP Export Voucher Program
- Clean Energy Grants
- Green Jobs Grant Program
- Dairy Digester Program
- Commerce Access to Capital and SSBCI
- Paid Family and Medical Leave, small businesses
- Washington State Microenterprise Association grants
- Small Business Flex Fund
- Washington Small Business Development Center
- OMWBE certification
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