Fund Her Future Grant

H&R Block's Fund Her Future grant program is a private small business initiative designed to support women-owned small businesses with both direct financial assistance and year-round business resources. H&R Block describes itself as a global provider of tax preparation, financial products, and small business solutions, including services offered through Block Advisors and Wave. The 2026 Fund Her Future program is the third annual round of the initiative and represents an expanded commitment to the long-term financial success of women-owned small businesses. H&R Block states that the program is intended to help bridge the funding and resource gap experienced by female business owners by combining grant money, education, community, and professional business support. The program will provide a total of $180,000 in grant funding. Four recipients will each receive a $45,000 grant. In addition to the cash award, each selected recipient will receive one year of complimentary small business services. The services identified by H&R Block include small business tax preparation, bookkeeping, payroll, and business structure analysis. Tax services provide access to a small business certified tax professional, bookkeeping support allows recipients to pass bookkeeping responsibilities to professionals, payroll assistance is intended to help automate paydays and support compliance and end-of-year filing, and business structure analysis is intended to review whether the recipient's business is appropriately structured. The supplied materials do not state specific restrictions on how the $45,000 cash grant may be spent, nor do they identify a cost-share or matching requirement. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and must be owners of U.S.-based businesses. The program page further specifies that the business must be woman-owned and repeatedly characterizes Fund Her Future as a program for female or women-owned small businesses. No individual state, territory, county, city, or other subnational geographic restrictions are identified in the supplied materials. The source does not provide additional eligibility requirements concerning business revenue, number of employees, years in operation, legal entity type, tax status, industry, or prior grant history. It also does not state that nonprofit organizations, government entities, educational institutions, or individuals without a qualifying business are eligible. Applications for the 2026 program opened by September 1, 2026, when H&R Block announced that applications were open. Applicants are directed to submit an application for their business by September 22, 2026. The program page tells applicants to describe their business as part of the application, but the supplied source does not provide a complete application-question preview, list of required attachments, named application forms, financial document requirements, or a pre-application requirement such as a letter of intent, concept paper, or notice of intent. No application fee, matching contribution, or required pre-application event is identified. H&R Block also encourages applicants and participants to follow H&R Block, join its Facebook group, and use its BARC resources, but these activities are presented as community resources rather than mandatory submission steps. After applications are submitted, H&R Block will select a group of applicants for personal interviews with its team. From that group, four grant winners will be selected and notified in October 2026. The supplied material therefore establishes an interview stage before final selection, although it does not disclose formal scoring criteria, weighted evaluation factors, or a detailed judging rubric. The program's stated focus is on supporting women-owned small businesses with capital and resources that can strengthen their foundations for growth. H&R Block cites prior applicant survey findings showing needs for mentorship and support with business functions such as tax preparation, bookkeeping, compliance, payroll, and incorporation, which are areas addressed by the program's community programming and recipient services. Applications are open for the current round through September 22, 2026, and winners are expected to be notified in October 2026. Because H&R Block identifies the 2026 program as its third annual Fund Her Future grant program, the opportunity is treated as recurring annually. Based on the September 2026 opening month, the next cycle is anticipated for September 2027 unless H&R Block publishes a different schedule. No specific performance period is provided for expenditure of the $45,000 cash grant, while the accompanying complimentary business services are expressly provided for one year. The supplied materials do not provide a dedicated grant-program telephone number or named program contact. The only explicit contact information supplied is H&R Block's Media Desk at mediadesk@hrblock.com.

Clearly describe the woman-owned U.S.-based small business and its business story; applicants selected to advance should be prepared for a personal interview with the H&R Block team.