Top Small Business Grants for 2025 in South Dakota

Being a small business in South Dakota comes with its fair share of challenges. You’re a small fish in a big sea; you’re learning as you go; and you’re often operating on a shoestring budget. The truth is that small businesses face fierce competition and steep odds.

South Dakota has its upsides, however. For instance, Sioux Falls was ranked the top city in the United States in which to own a small business in 2025, so there’s certainly hope. Not only that, but the state exported $2.1 billion worth of goods in 2024, which is up 34% since 2014. It’s a good time to incorporate a business.

But funding opportunities will, for many mom-and-pop shops, online entrepreneurs, or brick-and-mortar businesses, continue to be a source of struggle. This is where small business grants come in. Small business grants are a key funding option, providing the critical boost many companies need. Because grant opportunities don’t need to be repaid, they’re a much more attractive funding option than loans, and can help you get that competitive edge you need, whether you’re decades old or just starting out.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the top small business grants in South Dakota. We will take a look at both state-specific and national grants, as well as private grants programs, offering details about eligibility, key sectors, and the application process for each South Dakota grant program.

What are small business grants?

Small business grants are a unique form of funding.

As stated, they don’t need to be repaid, like a loan does, reducing the risk of your going into debt. Nor do they give someone else an ownership stake in your business, as venture capital will do. Grant opportunities also remove the need for you to fund your business yourself, either from your own checking account, from savings, or from another business you run.

In other words, small business grants in South Dakota are the best funding opportunities you will come across, and they come from 3 main types of sources:

• State and federal governments: This is government money that is allocated to helping small businesses, either in general or in a specific way (e.g., employee training).
• Corporations and private programs: As a way of repaying their communities, companies may offer seed money, expansion funding, or other types of capital to help your business grow repayment-free.
• Nonprofits: Some nonprofits are dedicated to helping certain types of owners (e.g., veterans or women) get their businesses off the ground.

Depending on your business and whom you serve, you may be eligible for one, 2, or all 3 of the above types of small business grants.

(Note that a South Dakota grant program offered by a nonprofit is usually found in the same roundups that corporate and private programs are, not the ones that list government grants.)

South Dakota state-specific grants

There are so many South Dakota grant program choices that it is impossible to list them all here. However, the following will give you an idea of the state-level and industry-specific funding opportunities available in the state.

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)

The disadvantaged business enterprise is a grant available to businesses that are at least 51% owned by people who are economically and socially disadvantaged, not either/or. Those people must also be part of the daily business operations. Grant amounts vary.

The company standing as a “small business concern” is determined by its gross receipts, so read through the numbers carefully. To learn more, please visit the website.

GOED’s Workforce Development Program

The South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development offers a Workforce Development Program, offering small business grants for the purpose of training existing and new employees. Grant amounts vary.

If you’re awarded the grant, you may receive compensation for as much as 50% of your training expenses. Learn more about your eligibility for the Workforce Development Program.

GOED’s Proof of Concept Program

The Proof of Concept Program is meant to help entrepreneurs and inventors get a new business idea off the ground via 3 different small business grants: Proof of Concept, Phase 0, and Supplement. Grant amounts vary.

Each of the 3 offers funding to help realize the vision, some of which dovetail with federal grants (such as the SBIR/STTR grant, discussed below). You can learn more about the Proof of Concept Program here.

Reinvestment Payment Program/South Dakota Jobs Program

If you’re a small business that is starting or completing a large project, you may qualify for repayments related to projects of $20,000,000 or more, or equipment upgrades of $2,000,000 or more.

The burden of proof for this grant rests in showing that you cannot complete the project without the money, so it is a good one for small businesses working on tight margins. You can also get money for expansions. Get more info on this page.

Industry-specific and niche grants: overview

The following industry-specific small business grants in South Dakota are examples of the types of funding opportunities you may find if you search. There are industry-specific grants in almost every field—from aviation to agriculture, pharmaceuticals to pet adoption—you just have to look for them.

2025 Rural Healthcare Facility Recruitment Assistance Program

Individuals who complete a 3-year commitment to the community in a rural healthcare setting are eligible for a $10,000 grant. The job must be full-time, and the community must have a population of 10,000 people or fewer.

You can learn more about the application on the South Dakota Department of Health website.

Coordinated Natural Resources Conservation Grants

Whether you’re a startup or a long-established business, you can take advantage of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources’ multiple conservation-based funding opportunities.

These small business grants are available for very specific activities (e.g., planting trees in specific places or developing non-riparian water sources for livestock). The amounts vary, and the grants are highly competitive, so read more about the details on their website.

Federal grants available to South Dakota businesses

There also exist a number of small business grants at the federal level. After you exhaust state possibilities, make sure you comb through federal government resources as well.

State Trade Expansion Program (STEP)

The STEP Grant is funded by the federal government and administered by South Dakota. If you want to grow your business overseas—helping you increase your income as well as make America a more powerful trade partner—then these small business grants are a powerful tool.

To be eligible, international trade must be your goal. You can learn more about this on the South Dakota Trade website or the U.S. Small Business Administration page dedicated to the program.

SBIR and STTR

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are paid for and administered by America’s Seed Fund, a program of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

These small business grants offer non-dilutive funding (which means capital that does not give someone else an ownership share in your company) to help see a business idea from lightbulb moment to reality. These federal grants are powerful and worth learning more about on the SBIR/STTR page.

WOSB Federal Contracting Program

The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program, or WOSB Program for short, is another of the small business grants run by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This grant works a little differently, as there aren’t specific amounts, deadlines, or eligibility requirements.

Rather, the way it works is that you must get certified as a WOSB Federal Contract Program participant. Once you’ve done that, you’re eligible to compete for federal contracts that are earmarked specifically for this program. Therefore, your next step is to apply to be certified, which you can do on the WOSB page.

Corporate and private foundation grants

Corporations and private companies also make an effort to help out small businesses with ongoing grants. Although they may not pop to mind immediately and are not state-specific, these are nevertheless some of the best funding opportunities South Dakota has to offer.

FedEx

The shipping legacy has offered small business grants in South Dakota and across the nation for the last 12 years. The goal of the FedEx small business grant is to help support growing businesses with funding opportunities, but also with resources to help novices manage their companies more efficiently and increase their earning potential.

To learn about their small business grants, visit this FedEx page. For more of their small business resources, go here.

Target

The retail giant has for years focused on bettering business owners around the nation via loans and grants. They have specific requirements for which types of businesses can receive their grants, including federally tax-exempt section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, accredited schools, or public agencies.

Grant amounts vary, as Target offers them at the city, national, and global levels. To learn more about whether your organization would be a good fit for Target’s grant opportunities, you can visit the Target Foundation page.

Walmart

Although folks think of Walmart as a place to get great savings, it’s also a place that can help you, well, compete with Walmart. Walmart has 4 prongs of giving, which are titled Creating Opportunity, Advancing Sustainability, Strengthening Community, and the Center for Racial Equity. The requirements, grant amounts, and guidelines all differ depending on the specific rules for each of the foundation’s arms.

Before you apply, review the eligibility requirements for each prong, then the program guidelines. You can get the specifics on Walmart’s Grant Eligibility page. 

Of course, the above examples are only a few of the small business grants in South Dakota. It is up to you to do your due diligence regarding what’s available and how to put your best foot forward, but there are a few best practices and tips you can follow.

Application process: best practices and tips

Before you apply for your grant, make sure you have:

• Checked the deadline carefully
• Met all the eligibility requirements
• Collated all your documentation ahead of time
• Reached out to people who may need to corroborate your information before you start filling out the application
• Make a note on your calendar of upcoming grant cycles in case you don’t get this one
• Keep a file of grant materials on hand (letters of recommendation, financial documents, etc.) so that your applications get easier and easier

Conclusion

If you’d like to learn more about starting a business, getting a grant, or staying in compliance, Tailor Brands is here to help. Our friendly, experienced team would love to help you get your South Dakota LLC off the ground and thriving!