WSMA Statewide Grant Opportunity - Portal Now Open & Register for Next Week’s Info Session and Portal Walkthrough Webinars

New statewide grant opportunity!

The Washington State Microenterprise Association (WSMA) is dedicated to strengthening business technical assistance providers, also known as Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs), as they engage with and assist the smallest businesses to grow sustainably, equitably, and financially throughout Washington state.

Thanks to the Washington State Department of Commerce, this cycle will fund collaborative projects that engage 2-5 strategic partners capable of innovating, reaching new entrepreneurs, leveraging expertise, and adapting existing resources to deliver comprehensive business services to Washington-based microenterprises. WSMA is dedicated to strengthening business technical assistance providers as they collaborate with economic development partners to support Washington's smallest businesses in achieving sustainable, equitable, and financial growth.WSMA will award 15 grants of $10,000 for collaborative projects across the state, with an approximate six-month grant period. This is a small grant program this year. If your organization wants to build your professional network, expand the reach of your services, and/or develop a pilot that could lead to future grant opportunities from other grantors, this grant may be worth exploring.

The WSMA grant portal is now open for submitting statewide grant applications. Learn more about applying for these small grants on our website.

We have included several attachments to support your application process: Statewide Grant Program Guidelines (PDF), Statewide Grant Application Instructions (Word and PDF), and the required Statewide Grant Fund Request Form (Excel).

We have included a Word version of the application questions in the Statewide Grant Application Instructions attachment because we strongly encourage applicants to create and edit their answers to copy and paste into the grant portal. We advise applicants to click “Save Draft” frequently while completing their draft application on the grant portal to avoid losing their work.

REMINDER:
•    WSMA 2026-27 Statewide Grant Information Session: Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 1 p.m. Register HERE
•    WSMA Grant Portal Walkthrough: Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at 1 p.m. Register HERE

The Information Session and Portal Walkthrough will be recorded and made available on the WSMA YouTube Channel. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) will be posted on the WSMA website after the Information Session.

To Start Your Application: If your organization already has a grant portal account, create a draft application by selecting “Funding Opportunities” on your dashboard. After saving a draft, continue to access your application by selecting “In Progress” under “Applications” on your dashboard. Do NOT try to access your active draft application by opening a new application under the Funding Opportunities, as this will create a duplicate application.

If you are a first-time applicant, you must first register your organization with the grant portal. If your organization has an existing portal account but has staffing changes, reach out to catherine@wamicrobiz.org, and she will assist in creating a new user account. Make sure you save your work often.

For programmatic and/or technical support with applying, please email lisa@wamicrobiz.org and catherine@microbiz.org. Reach out to Catherine if you have questions about accessing the portal. We wish you success in completing your applications