Top Loans and Funding Opportunities for LGBTQ+ Owned Small Businesses
- Calla Norman
- May 13, 2022
- 2 min read
If you’re a business owner and a member of the LGBTQ+ opportunity, did you know that there are some special ways you can get funding for your business? From loans to grants to crowdfunding and networking with investors, here are some ways you can get your LGBTQ+-owned small business funded.
Call upon the LGBTQ+ community with crowdfunding for your small business
The queer community is no stranger to mutual aid and community support, on both micro- and large-scale efforts. Crowdfunding, a means of gathering funds online through social networking, is one way this has manifested. Take the Lesbian Bar Project, a crowdfunding effort that raised over $117,000 for 21 bars across the country that were struggling with the coronavirus pandemics impacts.
However, crowdfunding isn’t just for mutual aid or charity! If you’re looking to raise money for your LGBTQ+-owned business, whether it’s through investors or loans, you can crowdfund it directly from your community.
Honeycomb Credit is an example of a loan crowdfunding platform. The way it works is that members of your community - your customers, family, and friends - can invest as little as $100 in your business, and you’ll pay them back, plus interest. This means you’ll get the funding you need for your business as well as help build wealth in your community.
LGBTQ+-owned Honeycomb alumni businesses such as Scoot Cold Brew, Pierogi Pantry, and Square Cafe have grown their businesses with loans from $30,000 to $250,000, raised by their community.
Get a traditional small business loan from the SBA
I mean, if you really want to go the boring route, you can get a small business loan from the SBA. The SBA actually isn’t a lender, but they connect you with banks who will potentially lend to you. Keyword: potentially. Small business funding from traditional financial institutions has been declining for decades, and sadly marginalized communities are often left out of that funding.
The most common SBA loan for small businesses is the SBA 7(a) loan, which can be used for working capital, refinancing high-interest debt, and purchasing furniture, etc. It is worth noting that if you do get approved for an SBA loan, it might not cover all of your needs - which is why you can combine it with other sources of funding - like crowdfunding!
Look for grants for LGBTQ+ owned small businesses
Numbers of foundations, large and small, have grants available to LGBTQ+ owned small businesses. Some are for nonprofits, some are for socially-minded small businesses, and others. It’s definitely a great option, especially for small startups who might not be ready to take on debt quite yet.
Let your community show their pride by investing in your business
Find out just how much your business matters to your community by running a Honeycomb loan crowdfunding campaign. You can get fast, fair access to capital, build your customer relationships, and boost your marketing cred all in the process. Fill out the form below for more information.
Crowdfunding-as-a-loan is an interesting middle ground because it’s still real repayment pressure, but it’s not you vs. a bank that doesn’t understand your business or your community. The mutual aid example also shows how fast people mobilize when the story is clear and specific. I keep thinking clarity is everything—like with a caesar cipher, once you know the shift, the whole message suddenly makes sense.
The examples of LGBTQ+-owned businesses raising anywhere from $30k up to $250k make it feel a lot more tangible—like this isn’t just theory, it’s a real path if you already have regulars who want you to stick around. I also like the framing of building wealth locally instead of extracting it. Totally unrelated, but the community-energy piece makes me think of people sharing little creative experiments like ghibli ai—same “let’s all chip in and make something happen” vibe.
What I appreciate here is the emphasis on tapping your actual community instead of pretending funding is purely a numbers game—especially for LGBTQ+ owners who don’t always get the same “benefit of the doubt” from banks. A loan crowdfunding model feels like it aligns incentives better than a faceless lender. Side note: the “try before you commit” vibe kind of matches hairstyle ai—test the options, then make the big move.
The part about people investing as little as $100 hit me—those small chunks add up fast when you have a loyal customer base, and it feels less isolating than going it alone with a traditional lender. Also interesting how it’s not just capital, it’s momentum (customers become stakeholders). It weirdly reminds me of blockblast—one smart placement at a time and suddenly a whole row clears.
I like that this isn’t framed as “just get a grant” but more like mixing options—loans, crowdfunding, networking, and whatever your community can realistically support. The Lesbian Bar Project example is a solid proof point that mutual aid can scale, even if the goals are different. Random tangent, but it reads like trying to figure out what kind of funding you’re looking at is like using a cipher identifier before you try to decode anything.