CHICAGO – Women Employed, which has been creating fundamental, systemic change for working women for over 50 years, today launched a new tool on its Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WE Hub) site designed specifically to help women entrepreneurs discover and access grants, loans, and other business funding available in Illinois. The Money Finder tool is a tailored resource in Illinois for women entrepreneurs searching for funding opportunities to support their businesses.

“The Money Finder tool is a direct result of feedback from our WE Hub users who face challenges identifying and pursuing funding for their businesses,” said Ibie Hart, Director of Business Development for Women Employed. “We believe this money-finding tool can help thousands of women entrepreneurs grow and sustain their businesses throughout Illinois.”

Launched in September 2022 as the first statewide entrepreneurship hub in Illinois focused on women, WE Hub is particularly geared toward women who face the greatest barriers to success when looking to start and grow businesses, especially Black and Latina/x women, as well as women who are low-income, whose businesses are very small, or who don’t fit the stereotypical image of an “entrepreneur.” WE Hub curates resources and services available throughout the state and brings them all into one space, giving women the options, resources, and tools to help put them on a path to entrepreneurship.

The Money Finder tool works in the following way:

• Log into the WE Hub site and click on “Money Finder” in the dashboard menu;
• Fill out a short survey asking a few questions about you, your business, and your needs; and
• The tool returns available funding opportunities (grants and/or loans) that you may qualify for based upon your responses.

Since its launch, Women Employed has connected with women entrepreneurs across the state through events, conferences, and meetings. Alongside 11 planning partners, WE led the Women’s Economic Power Agenda (WEPA) Summit in late 2023, hosting discussions on entrepreneurship that brought together a diverse group of women, many of whom were immigrants who were either already running or seeking to start their own businesses. WE has hosted workshops with partners across the state, including their recent SHEsolidarity event with Mujeres Latinas en Acción, and in these spaces has met women entrepreneurs in virtually every industry in every corner of Illinois.

In June, WE issued its first-ever report of the results of its WE Hub initiative entitled, “Listening and Learning from Women Entrepreneurs.” The full report can be found here.

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Women Employed (WE) is a 50-year-old advocacy organization that pursues equity for women in the workforce by effecting policy change, expanding access to educational opportunities, and advocating for fair and inclusive workplaces so that all women, families, and communities can thrive. Our mission is to improve the economic status of women and remove barriers to economic equity, and we are working towards closing the wealth gap at the intersection of gender and race. For more information, visit womenemployed.org, or follow @WomenEmployed on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.