Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (Hiring Our Heroes), with support from FedEx
$10,000 (four winners) or $25,000 (grand prize)
Four $10,000 grants and one $25,000 grand prize for small businesses owned by veterans, Guard/Reserve members or military spouses (3–20 people, under $5M). Six written answers, no fee; closes December 15, 2026.
The Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant awards five businesses owned by veterans, current Guard or Reserve members, or current military spouses: four $10,000 grants and one $25,000 grand prize. It is run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring Our Heroes program with support from FedEx. The 2027 cycle is open until 11:59 pm EDT on December 15, 2026. The owner must hold at least 51% of a for-profit US business with 3 to 20 people (counting the owner, staff and 1099 contractors) and under $5 million in revenue, located in an economically distressed zip code or able to show financial need from a hardship. A panel scores six written answers, of up to 2,000 characters each, on community leadership, local economic impact and the business's path to success. There is no entry fee.
If your business is outside the employee range here, the Tadlock veteran grant from Founders First takes employer businesses across a wider size range.
- Funding type
- Grant
- Level
- Foundation
- Amount range
- $10,000 – $25,000
- Realistic amount
- $10,000 for four of the five winners; one grand prize of $25,000. Every other applicant receives nothing.
- Deadline
- December 15, 2026 at 11:59 pm EDT (2027 cycle)
- Status
- active
- States
- Nationwide
Who qualifies
- At least 51% owned by an honorably discharged veteran, a current National Guard or Reserve member, or a current military spouse
- The owner is a legal resident of, and lives in, the contiguous 48 states, Alaska or Hawaii
- For-profit business based in the United States
- 3 to 20 people, counting the owner, full- and part-time employees and independent (1099) contractors
- Under $5 million in annual revenue
- Located in an economically vulnerable community (a Distressed Communities Index stress score of 40 or more for the zip code), or able to show financial need from a hardship beyond the owner's control
Who is not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Franchise brands with more than 25 corporate-owned stores (or more than 50 stores in total)
- Other excluded business types listed in the official rules (e.g. gas stations, direct sellers, cannabis, tobacco, firearms, gambling)
Is the Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant legit?
Yes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation runs it through Hiring Our Heroes, funded by the FedEx Founder's Fund. In 2026 it gave four $10,000 grants and a $25,000 grand prize from more than 1,240 applicants.
- Who runs it: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (Hiring Our Heroes), with FedEx support
- Funded by: The FedEx Founder's Fund
- Track record: Third year in 2026; 15 businesses awarded so far
- 2026 awards: Four $10,000 grants and one $25,000 grand prize, from 1,240+ applicants
Sources: hiringourheroes.org · page 2 · page 3. Last checked at the funder on October 18, 2026.
Past Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant winners
The 2026 winners:
- Donny and Kim Legans, Rail Haus, Dover, DE · 2026 awards ceremony, April 29, 2026
- Gabriela “Gabi” Q. Bell, Organized Q, Alexandria, VA · 2026 awards ceremony, April 29, 2026
- Dr. Theresa Roman, Balanced Wellness, Ridgeland, SC · 2026 awards ceremony, April 29, 2026
- Hyacinth Tucker, The Laundry Basket, Hyattsville, MD · 2026 awards ceremony, April 29, 2026
- Elijah Langhorne, Langhorne Electrical & Contracting, Leesville, LA · 2026 awards ceremony, April 29, 2026
Names as published by Hiring Our Heroes (source). GrantCompass is not affiliated with Hiring Our Heroes.
New grants like this every week: see this week's list or get it by email on Mondays.
What the Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant application asks
The Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant application asks six written questions, alongside your contact and business details. There is no entry fee. The deadline is December 15, 2026, 11:59pm EDT, and you submit on the funder’s own form at hiringourheroes.org. These are the questions as they appear on the form:
-
1
Tell us all about your business.
Form limit: 2000 characters
-
2
Describe your business' path to success.
Form limit: 2000 characters
-
3
Describe your business' contribution to your local economy.
Form limit: 2000 characters
-
4
Describe how your business has displayed an exemplary level of leadership and community engagement.
Form limit: 2000 characters
-
5
Share one or two of your business' top best practices for hiring, training, and retaining employees.
Form limit: 2000 characters
-
6
How would you use this $10,000 grant?
Form limit: 2000 characters
What the judges look for
- Leadership and impact in your local community (33.3%)
- Contribution to local economic growth: jobs, skills, services, tax base (33.3%)
- An effective path to business success (33.3%)
GrantCompass drafts the Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant application from your own answers. You answer four short questions about your business and we write all six answers around what the judges look for, to fit the form. We use only what you tell us: nothing is invented, and anything a stronger answer needs is left as a marked blank for you to fill. The preview is free with no card. The full draft is $9, refunded in full within 7 days if it doesn’t make your application stronger. You review it and submit it yourself; GrantCompass is independent and not affiliated with U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Start a free draft on this page (grantcompass.co/grants/hiring-our-heroes-small-business-grant), or read how the drafting works.
How to answer the Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant application questions (with examples)
The written part of the Hiring Our Heroes application form is six required boxes on its last page, after eight yes/no eligibility questions and your business details. Each box stops at 2,000 characters, and the form asks for an “approximately 250 word maximum response per question.” The official rules score three things equally, and questions 2, 3 and 4 match them one to one.
- 6required written answers
- 2,000characters per box, about 250 words
- 3criteria, each a third of the score
All six examples come from one made-up business and run 169 to 205 words, close to the length of a strong answer. Swap in details only you have.
Question 1: “Tell us all about your business.”
The prompt asks for your history and years in business, what you sell and what makes it unique, any awards, and what you credit for your success.
- 1
Open with who you are and why the business exists. State your military connection once, plainly.
- 2
Give the size in numbers, then one thing that sets you apart.
“I started this mobile dog-grooming business in 2021, after my husband’s Army orders brought us here, our third move in six years. Every move had cost me my job, so I built work I could take with me. I am an Army spouse and I own the business outright.
We bring a full grooming salon to the customer’s driveway: baths, haircuts, nail trims and de-shedding, in vans fitted with a tub and a grooming table. One used van became two, and a team of seven, counting me. Four of us are military spouses. We groom for about 1,100 regular clients, most of them every six to eight weeks.
What sets us apart is who we can serve. Older owners who can no longer lift a dog into a car, people with disabilities, and dogs that panic in a busy shop all get a quiet, one-on-one groom at home. In 2024 our county chamber of commerce named us its small business of the year.
I credit our growth to planning routes by neighborhood, which keeps prices fair, and to training our own groomers. I am proudest that they earn a steady wage in a town where spouse jobs are hard to keep.”
Why it works: it answers the prompt in its own order, and every claim has a number.
Question 2: “Describe your business’ path to success.”
Scored as “an effective path to business success.” The prompt asks how you overcame obstacles and adapted to pressures like COVID, inflation or hiring.
- 1
Name one or two real setbacks and what you did about each.
- 2
End on a measured result. Revenue, customers or jobs, then and now.
Show the made-up example 204 words
“Our hardest year was 2022. A blown engine took our only van off the road for five weeks, and I refunded 160 appointments. I called every one of those clients myself, booked them first when we reopened, and kept nearly all of them. That fall I bought a second used van so one breakdown could never stop us again.
2023 brought two more tests. Fuel and supply costs rose about 20%, and many of our clients live on fixed incomes. Instead of a big price rise, I grouped bookings by neighborhood, which cut our driving by a third, and raised prices only $5. Then two of our groomers got military orders in the same spring. Experienced groomers are scarce here, and I could not find replacements for months, so we started training our own. That paid apprenticeship has now certified five groomers.
Each of those fixes is still working for us. A second van means a breakdown costs us a day, not a month. Neighborhood routes fit more grooms into each day. And because we train our own, a move no longer leaves us short of staff.
Revenue grew from $96,000 in 2022 to $171,000 in 2023, $224,000 in 2024 and $268,000 in 2025.”
Why it works: each setback has a decision and a number attached, and the answer ends on four years of revenue.
Question 3: “Describe your business’ contribution to your local economy.”
Scored as “contributions toward local economic growth, such as job creation or skill building, providing access to services, and/or increased tax base.”
- 1
Count the jobs, the wages and who holds them.
- 2
Add where your money goes, the service you bring and the tax you pay.
Show the made-up example 205 words
“All seven of our jobs are local, and we paid $151,000 in wages in 2025. Our three full-time groomers average $20 an hour before tips, and three part-time staff handle bathing and scheduling. Three of the six jobs besides mine went to military spouses, who often lose work with each move.
We build skills as well as jobs. Our paid apprenticeship has certified five groomers since 2023. Two now groom full time for us, two took the trade with them to new duty stations, and one opened her own salon two counties over.
We keep our spending close to home. We buy about $14,000 a year of shampoo, supplies and treats from a family-owned feed store, and a local garage did $9,000 of work on our two vans in 2025.
We also bring a service the area lacked. Because we come to the customer, about 300 of our regular clients are seniors or people with disabilities who could not easily get a dog to a shop. No other mobile groomer works within 40 miles of us.
And we add to the tax base. In 2025 we collected and paid $19,500 in state and local sales tax, on top of payroll taxes for our six employees.”
Why it works: it takes the rules’ examples one by one (jobs, skills, services, tax) and gives each a figure.
Question 4: “Describe how your business has displayed an exemplary level of leadership and community engagement.”
Scored as “demonstrated leadership and impact in the local community.” The prompt says to focus “especially on efforts in the past year to assist the needs of your employees, customers, and/or the greater community.”
- 1
Stay inside the past year.
- 2
List actions with counts, for more than one group. Your team, your customers, the town.
Show the made-up example 203 words
“This year we focused on families going through deployment. When a brigade from the post deployed in the spring, we gave the spouses at home one free grooming Saturday a month. We have groomed 142 dogs that way so far, and the post’s family readiness group now sends families to us. Two of our own groomers were among those spouses, so we also covered their evening clients whenever childcare fell through.
When an ice storm closed the roads for six days in January, I paid every employee their normal hours, about $3,500 in all, though no van left the yard. I also moved two groomers to schedules that fit their children’s school hours, so neither had to cut back.
We froze prices this year for our clients over 70, about 180 people, and added free nail trims between grooms for dogs whose owners can no longer manage them.
Every other Monday our team bathes adoptable dogs at the county shelter, which says 61 of them have found homes. We gave $1,500 in grooming gift cards to the elementary school’s spring fundraiser. And through our chamber of commerce I mentor two military spouses who are starting businesses, meeting each of them once a month.”
Why it works: every action has a count or a named group, it reaches the team, the customers and the town, and it never claims a value without showing it.
Question 5: “Share one or two of your business’ top best practices for hiring, training, and retaining employees.”
The prompt adds: “Offer insight into how those strategies have generated results.” Hiring is this funder’s mission.
- 1
Pick one or two practices and say how each works.
- 2
Give the result. People trained, promoted or kept.
Show the made-up example 185 words
“First, we grow our own groomers. Any bather can join a paid 10-week apprenticeship at $15 an hour, working beside our senior groomer, and we pay for the certification exam at the end. Six people have started it since 2023 and five have finished. Two of them are now among our three full-time groomers. Since 2023 every groomer opening has been filled from inside, and none stayed open longer than three weeks.
Second, we plan for moves instead of dreading them. When a military spouse on our team gets orders, we ask for as much notice as they can give, help them find a grooming job at the new duty station, and pay their final exam fee if they have not taken it yet. Then we hire from our apprentice list. Two groomers have left us this way, each certified and with a job waiting.
The results show in who stays and who comes to us. No one has left us for another local employer, and the spouses who move tell other spouses about us. Most of our new hires now come through those referrals.”
Why it works: two practices, each with a result you could check, and the second ties hiring to military life.
Question 6: “How would you use this $10,000 grant?”
The prompt asks how it would shape your growth. Plan for $10,000: four of the five awards are that size.
- 1
Price every item, adding up to $10,000.
- 2
State the growth you expect. In jobs, capacity or revenue.
Show the made-up example 169 words
“The $10,000 would pay for our next groomer. It breaks down like this:
$6,000 takes one trainee through our 10-week apprenticeship, full time at $15 an hour.
$2,100 buys a training table and a high-velocity dryer, so the trainee can practice at our base while both vans are out.
$1,000 covers certification exams for two groomers: the new trainee and a bather already on our list.
$900 pays for a year of scheduling software, so we can book the extra van days without adding office hours.
That is $10,000 in all, with nothing spent on overhead.
The trainee becomes our eighth job. A fourth full-time groomer lets our second van run six days a week instead of four. At about $500 a van-day, those 100 extra days a year should bring in about $50,000, enough to keep the new job going after the grant is spent. We would start the apprentice within a month of the award, and we will track second-van bookings month by month against this year’s.”
Why it works: every dollar is named, and the growth is a new local job, which the rules count under local economic growth.
What Hiring Our Heroes itself says to watch
- Numbers have to be true. The rules say “erroneous or false information provided in the application will result in immediate disqualification.” Don’t round up.
- Two rounds. Senior Hiring Our Heroes leaders pick up to 20 semi-finalists on the three criteria; a judging panel then chooses five winners.
- What past winners showed. Hiring Our Heroes said its 2024 winners were chosen for “business acumen” and two traits: “a dedication to overcoming economic hardships and a commitment to giving back to their communities.”
- No edits later. No application can be amended or withdrawn after January 1, 2027.
Want all six answers written from your own details? Start your free draft preview. You see the preview before you pay anything.
What it covers
Eligible expenses
- Business growth; the rules do not restrict use of funds
Ineligible expenses
- See official program guidance
How to apply
-
1
Answer the eligibility screens
Eight yes/no questions: 51% ownership, military connection, residency, US-based, for-profit, under $5M revenue, 3–20 people, and a distressed location or hardship.
~10 min
-
2
Business details
Owner and business contact details, date established, website, industry, prior-year gross revenue, current and prior-year headcount, and whether you plan to hire next year.
~20 min
-
3
Six written answers, up to 2,000 characters each
Tell us all about your business / your path to success / your contribution to your local economy / your leadership and community engagement / one or two best practices for hiring, training and retaining employees / how you would use this $10,000 grant.
~4 hrs
Two of the three scored criteria are about your community and local economy, so give real numbers: people employed, hires from the military community, local suppliers, and what you did for employees or customers in the past year.
Deadline & timing
Applications for the 2027 cycle close at 11:59 pm EDT on December 15, 2026. Semi-finalists (up to 20) are chosen first, then a judging panel picks five winners, notified on or before March 29, 2027. The program runs once a year; the 2026 cycle also closed December 15.
Deadline: December 15, 2026 — put it in your calendar before you close this tab.
Includes reminders one week and one day before. Verify on the official program page — funders move dates.
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Required documents
- Online application only
- Winners later provide proof of military service, business photos and an owner headshot
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