Flagstaff, Arizona will put up to $30,000 into one local business this year. The catch: you have to put up the same amount in cash, and the city's whole pot is only $45,000. One strong application could take most of it.
That's the trickiest grant on today's list. The fastest one to close is in Huber Heights, Ohio, where applications for $150,000 in city grants end this Friday, October 16. The most open one is Skip's $10,000 grant, which takes any U.S. entrepreneur 18 or older until December 17.
Grants are competitive, and most of these are local. Read who qualifies first, then the deadline. We opened every official page on October 12. If a detail below doesn't match when you click, trust the page. They're listed by deadline, soonest first.
1. Economic Development Grant Program (Huber Heights, Ohio)
- Amount: $150,000 in total for 2026, split into pots: $25,000 for small businesses, $25,000 for veteran-owned businesses, $25,000 for women- and minority-owned businesses, $25,000 for nonprofits, and $50,000 for projects that already won a county or State of Ohio grant. Those are pot sizes, not award sizes. The 2025 awards listed on the page ran from $10,000 to $15,000.
- Who qualifies: businesses located in, expanding within, or moving to Huber Heights, in good standing on zoning, licensing and taxes. "Small" means fewer than 50 employees and under $5 million in revenue. Veteran-, women- and minority-owned means at least 51% owned. You can apply under more than one category.
- The catch: you upload two years of tax returns or profit and loss statements, and costs you pay before approval generally aren't reimbursed.
- Deadline: October 16, 2026. It's rolling until then, or until the money runs out.
- Official link: https://hhoh.org/669/Business-Grants
2. Business Retention & Expansion Incentive (Flagstaff, Arizona)
- Amount: $2,500 to $30,000, paid as a reimbursement against receipts. The city set aside $45,000 for this fiscal year, so it may fund one business or a few.
- Who qualifies: businesses with 1 to 150 employees, physically inside Flagstaff city limits. Any small business can apply. Research, health care, clean energy, biosciences, software, medical devices, forestry and food processing get priority.
- The catch: you must match your request with your own cash, dollar for dollar. Scoring gives 40 points to community benefit, 25 to wages, 25 to environmental impact and 10 to the match. Winners meet with city staff every quarter and send updates for two years.
- Deadline: October 31, 2026. Email the application to the address on the page with the subject line "BR&E Grant Application."
- Official link: https://www.chooseflagstaff.com/business-retention-expansion-incentive/
3. Ready, Steady, Open! Construction Grants (Tucson, Arizona)
- Amount: up to $500, up to $10,000, or up to $5,000, depending on your corridor. The pilot has $345,000 in total.
- Who qualifies: independent local businesses next to the work zone on one of the selected city construction corridors, located there at least 6 months before construction began, with a current Tucson business license, fewer than 25 full-time-equivalent employees and under $2 million in yearly revenue. Liquor stores, smoke shops, lenders and a few other categories are out.
- The catch: your corridor decides your grant type. "Ready" helps before construction, "Steady" covers rent, payroll and utilities during it, and "Open" helps you get back on track after it ends. Check the corridor map first. Applications go only through the city's ZoomGrants portal. Help webinars run October 14 at 10 a.m. and October 20 at 1 p.m., Tucson time. Awards are expected mid-to-late November.
- Deadline: November 1, 2026.
- Official link: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Departments/Transportation-Mobility/Ready-Steady-Open
4. VETCON Business Plan Competition (veteran founders)
- Amount: $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third.
- Who qualifies: aspiring or recently formed veteran businesses, either pre-startup or three years old or less. At least one presenting team member must be a veteran, and the veteran ownership has to be real, substantial and in control of daily decisions.
- The catch: three finalists pitch live to judges, and at least one team member must be available to present at VETCON 2026. You email your DD Form 214 plus an executive summary of up to four pages covering your pitch, team, market, growth plan and a three-year forecast.
- Deadline: November 20, 2026, by email.
- Official link: https://www.vetconny.com/business-plan-competition/
5. Skip $10,000 Growth Grant (nationwide)
- Amount: one $10,000 grant.
- Who qualifies: U.S.-based entrepreneurs and small business owners, age 18 or older. Skip's official terms cover people starting a venture, not just people already running one.
- The catch: there's one winner for the whole country, so the odds are long. You apply on Skip's site, which requires creating an account, and every written question is required.
- Deadline: December 17, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
- Official link: https://helloskip.com/funding-details/10k-grants-fall-2026
Before you apply
A real grant never asks for a processing fee, a gift card, or your bank login to release the money. None of the five above lists an application fee on its official page. If someone calls about a grant you never applied for, hang up.
If #1 fits your business, you have until Friday. Start tonight, not Thursday.
Verified on each official page: October 12, 2026.