More than 350 people registered for our January webinar on IRA funding for women+. Far and away the largest event we’ve ever had. During the event our panelists shared details on several resources for non-dilutive funding for women+, included in this article below.

The Opportunity:

The U.S. economy could get a $1 trillion boost over the next 10 years if female labor market participation grew to the levels seen in other developed economies, according to Moody’s. And the truth is that the US (and other countries) are facing massive labor shortages in fields key to the energy transition. We simply can’t do this without recruiting and training more women. Here are some fun facts from a recent Boston Consulting Group analysis:

• Women who run their own businesses generate 10% more revenue in five years than men do.
• Startups founded and cofounded by women actually performed better over time, generating 10% more in cumulative revenue over a five-year period: $730,000 compared with $662,000.
• In terms of how effectively companies turn a dollar of investment into a dollar of revenue, startups founded and cofounded by women are significantly better financial investments. For every dollar of funding, these startups generated 78 cents, while male-founded startups generated less than half that—just 31 cents

Here are some more fun facts from Fundera:

• The US has 12.3 million women-owned businesses.
• US women-owned businesses generate $1.8 trillion a year.
• 40% of US businesses are women-owned.
• Women started 1,821 net new businesses every day last year. 
• 64% of new women-owned businesses were started by women of color last year. 
• Latina women-owned businesses grew by more than 87%.
• There are 114% more women entrepreneurs than there were 20 years ago. 
• 62% of women entrepreneurs cite their business as their primary source of income.
• Private tech companies led by women achieve 35% higher ROI.
• Women-founded companies in First Round Capital’s portfolio outperformed companies founded by men by 63%.

The Challenge:

But when it comes to women in the clean energy workforce, according to the DOE, women make up just 25%. When you drill down to where most job creation will be in clean energy and infrastructure upgrades, the numbers are even more bleak. Women make up 4 percent of construction workers and only 2% of electricians. When it comes to women business owners, 6.6% of VC funding went to female-founded companies in 2023, just 21 out of 318 climate tech funding rounds. Imagine the number of climate technologies that won’t see the light of day simply because of systemic financial bias against women.

Women are being shut out, which means a golden opportunity is missing that would benefit not only the energy transition but also adaptation. Research indicates that empowering women leads to more resilient communities and promotes peace and stability. In other words, gender equity might do more to promote peace and homeland security than all the weapons in the world. How true is this statement? We may never know because gender is constantly left out of the equation, and funds streaming from the IRA, the Federal Government, and states are bypassing women.

Women+ in Climate Tech is on a mission to change this, with two strategies:

1. Connecting women+ owned businesses to IRA-funded projects.
2. Sharing resources.

Connecting women+ owned businesses to IRA funded projects: 

One of the most frequently asked questions from our webinar was…

“All the money is going to giant companies or ‘scaleable’ tech companies. What about people-oriented companies like marketing or consulting? How can these companies find funding?”

According to Wells Fargo, half of all women-owned businesses (50%) are concentrated in services fields such as legal, book-keeping, consulting, administration, staffing, healthcare, social assistance, etc. While these types of businesses don’t usually attract investment, nonetheless they will play a critical role in the clean economy. After all, the hundreds of thousands of skilled people who will eventually work at Hydrogen Hubs and Grid Resilience projects around the country are going to need places to eat. And unless the goal is to only attract young men to these jobs, we’ll need daycare centers too. 

This got us thinking….why can’t daycare workers be considered climate tech workers? They will be just as necessary if these hugely ambitious infrastructure projects are going to get off the ground.

91% of childcare workers in the US are female. They make an average of $33,231 annually.

95.6% of US electricians are men. Their average annual salary is $60,040.

When we talk about a just transition, it strikes us as problematic to not include conversations about gender. Better wages and financial stability for women beget healthier families and more resilient communities. This is especially true given the rise in female heads of household. In 1990, 33 percent of households were headed by women; now, it’s more than half. As Justice40 and other initiatives designed to redistribute wealth back into communities get off the ground, gender should be a core consideration. 

Women+ in Climate Tech is gathering information on the big companies acquiring contracts as a result of the IRA to match them to woman-owned small businesses for their supply chain needs. If you own a business and would like to be added to the woman-owned business database that we’ll be sharing with big projects, please enter your information here.

Funding Resources and Other Opportunities:

These are resources our panelists shared during the January webinar. We welcome your thoughts and comments on additional resources to list as we build out this article. More on this below. To add to this repository, email amanda@womeninclimatetech.org with resources and ideas.

1. Follow Leah Garden on LinkedIn – she covers climate for Greenbiz and is a great resource for updates about Grantmaking through the Environmental Justice program, a program granting hundreds of millions of dollars to nonprofits around the US.
2. Here is a list of books by Eva Garland on successful grant writing and securing non-dilutive funding.
3. Subscribe to the Loan Programs Office updates newsletter for updates on funding opportunities.
4. Learn about DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Funding Opportunities
5. The DOE’s mentorship program provides consulting and guidance to woman-owned businesses: https://www.energy.gov/osdbu/mentor-protege-program
6. Bookmark the U.S. Cleantech Funding Database: Offered by the Clean Energy Business Network – this is a, publicly available database that aggregates cleantech funding resources across various technology types and stages. You can also sign up for email updates matching your interests on the frequency of your choosing. Sign up for CEBN email updates on policy, funding, and events. 
7. Here is a list of funds interested in women-led/owned firms:
   1. The 22 fund
   2. Female Founders & Funding – Resources for Female Entrepreneurs (flowcap.com) (lists various funds)
   3. Black Girl Ventures
   4. Mission Driven Capital Partners
   5. Voyager VC
   6. Malaika Ventures
   7. Enduring Planet

1. Here is a list of grant writers and grant writing services:
   1. Eva Garland Consulting
   2. Inspiralia 
   3. OmniSync Incorporated 
   4. Fedsprout
   5. Grantwiser 
   6. 12th and Upton Associates 
   7. Open Grants
   8. Pioneer 
   9. Intellectual Assets

Finally, the panel highly recommended becoming a Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program– The program is to help provide a level playing field for women business owners. The federal government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses that participate in the WOSB Program. These contracts are specific industries where WOSBs are underrepresented. 

In terms of applying and qualifying for this, Eva Garland shared the following advice:

1. For a small business to qualify for a WOSB certification you must meet the following criteria:
2. At least 51% of the business is women-owned
3. A woman must hold the highest officer position in the company
4. The owner must possess managerial experience and::
   1. Personal net worth (assets minus liabilities) less than $850,000
   2. A three-year average income is $450,000 or less.
   3. A fair market value of all assets of $6.5 million or less

3. High-level steps for the certification:

1. Obtain a UEI Number
2. Complete SAM Registration
3. Create an SBA Connect Account (Once you’ve acquired a UEI number and completed your SAM registration, you will then need to create an account with the U.S. Small Business Administration, where only then can you begin the WOSB certification process). This SBA site has checklists for filling out the application: https://wosb.certify.sba.gov/prepare/#wosb-anc