Verizon Small Business Grants 2026: How to Get $10,000

Verizon small business grants: 6 routes checked November 9, 2026

Grantsights checked 6 Verizon routes that come up when owners and nonprofits search "Verizon grants." One is a cash grant you can apply for today. The table shows each route and its status on the check date.

Recently changed: Verizon's FAQ says the grant was redesigned for 2026 into one rolling application, and anyone who applied before April 15, 2026 has to submit a new 2026 application.

Our reading: the Digital Ready grant is one of the easier corporate small business grants to enter. The 2 courses take a few hours, the application takes about 30 minutes, and one application stays in the running for every monthly pick through December. If you qualify and haven't applied, do it before the December 7 course cutoff.

How the $10,000 Verizon Digital Ready grant works

According to the Digital Ready program, Verizon has awarded $15 million in small business grants to more than 1,500 businesses since 2021, and the 2026 grant is $10,000 each. Verizon's Digital Ready grant details page (opens in a new tab), checked November 9, 2026, says Verizon works with LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation), a national nonprofit that acts as the independent grant administrator: LISC takes in applications, reviews them and sends the money.

Who qualifies

The FAQ on that page lists 6 conditions:

1. A Digital Ready account. Registration is free, and the Digital Ready home page says no Verizon commitment is required.
2. 2 completed activities. Any mix of 2 courses, virtual events (recorded ones count) or listed in-person events, finished between January 1 and December 7, 2026. In-person events count only if you scan the event's QR code on site.
3. A for-profit business based in the U.S., Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Nonprofits aren't eligible.
4. An owner 18 or older. An owner of more than one business can apply for only 1 of them.
5. Paperwork if chosen. Finalists must provide verification documents such as a W-9 and bank details for ACH payment.
6. No conflicts. Current directors, officers, employees and contractors of LISC or Verizon, and their families, may not be eligible.

There's no stated minimum revenue, years in business or employee count on the page. That makes the grant open to sole proprietors and very new businesses, which many corporate programs exclude.

How LISC picks winners

According to the grant details page, LISC uses 3 stages:

Finalists are told within about 6 weeks of the end of each month, from June 2026 to January 2027. If you aren't picked in a given month, you won't hear anything, and your application stays in for the rest of 2026. LISC emails come from an @lisc.org address, so check spam folders and treat other senders with care.

How many grants and what the money did

Verizon's Digital Ready funding page (opens in a new tab) says Verizon and LISC plan to award "more than 145 grants this year." The national grant FAQ describes 10 grants a month from June through December, which is 70. Verizon's pages don't explain the difference, and earlier 2026 rounds (the FAQ mentions applications before April 15, 2026) may account for it. Either way, at $10,000 each, 2026 grants total somewhere between $700,000 and $1.45 million.

For example, iCareClean received a $10,000 Verizon Small Business grant: according to Verizon's story on the Los Angeles cleaning company (opens in a new tab), its founders used the money for marketing, new equipment and payroll. The funding page also features Ojije Lifestyle as a $10,000 grant recipient from summer 2025.

What Verizon's Grant Pages Don't Tell You

Verizon's pages present the grant clearly, but 6 practical points take some digging. Grantsights checked the funding page against the FAQ, the grant requirements page and the Verizon Foundation's own return to find them.

The first cut is luck. Stage 1 is an anonymous drawing. A polished application can't get you past it, so don't spend days on the essay. Spend 30 careful minutes, then move on to other grants.

Applicant counts aren't published. Verizon gives the number of grants but not the number of applicants, so there's no way to calculate your odds. With $15 million spread over 5 years and free entry, assume it's competitive.

Winning once usually means winning once. The FAQ says past Digital Ready grantees can apply but are "not likely to be awarded a second grant." If you won before, count on other sources this year.

Silence isn't a no. Applicants who aren't picked in a month get no email. A common mistake is reapplying or creating a second account, which triggers a duplicate-record error; the FAQ says to apply once.

Finalists share sensitive data. LISC may ask for your date of birth, Social Security number or other tax ID, EIN, W-9 and bank details, and it runs a background search (no credit check). LISC says it will never ask for copies of a driver's license or passport. That's a red flag worth remembering: anyone asking for those isn't following LISC's stated process.

It's taxable. The grant doesn't need to be repaid, but LISC issues a Form 1099, and the FAQ says taxes are the grantee's responsibility. Underestimate this and a $10,000 grant can feel smaller in April.

How to apply for the Verizon small business grant in 5 steps

The process takes about 2 sittings: one for courses, one for the application. Here's the order from Verizon's grant details page, checked November 9, 2026:

1. Register on Digital Ready. Sign up free at digitalready.verizonwireless.com.
2. Finish 2 courses or events by December 7, 2026. Pick topics you'd use anyway, such as bookkeeping or local search. The application unlocks on the funding page once both are done.
3. Block 30 minutes and use Google Chrome. The FAQ recommends Chrome and says LISC can't accept changes after you submit. The application is also available in Spanish.
4. Answer plainly and specifically. After the drawing, reviewers look at accuracy, community impact and how you'll use $10,000. Give a concrete plan with numbers.
5. Watch your inbox through January 12, 2027. Respond quickly if LISC emails you as a finalist; undeliverable emails or late documents can cost you the grant.

While you wait, register for R4R. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's R4R page (opens in a new tab) says the program is offered in partnership with Verizon, with FedEx as founding partner. It pays $5,000 to registered businesses with at least $5,000 in uninsured losses after a qualifying disaster in their county, and you must sign up before the disaster. For bigger recovery needs, the SBA's disaster loan program (opens in a new tab) lends to businesses of all sizes after declared disasters.

Who actually gets Verizon Foundation grants

The Verizon Foundation's 2024 return reports $7,012,851 in grants paid, and Grantsights analysis of its grant list shows almost none of it is open to applications. According to the Verizon Foundation 2024 return data in the Grantsights snapshot, the 5,441 lines have a median of $500, and 3,963 of them are under $1,000. Every line on the return carries the same purpose label, "OTHER CIVIC / COMMUNITY," apart from 8 small disaster relief gifts. Verizon's giving page (opens in a new tab) explains why: the company supports employees through its Matching Gifts Program and by donating to nonprofits where employees volunteer.

The return's own total is $7,012,851, so the snapshot covers all but $11,775. The year before, the 2023 return reported $7,619,795 in grants paid.

The 7 largest grants in 2024 went to the American National Red Cross in Washington, D.C. ($1,000,000), Volunteer Florida Foundation ($400,000), United Way of North Carolina ($300,000), Community Foundation for the CSRA in Augusta, Georgia ($100,000), Georgia Foundation for Agriculture ($100,000), Greater Valdosta United Way ($50,000) and Second Harvest of South Georgia ($50,000). Six of the 7 went to groups in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia and the seventh to the Red Cross, a pattern that looks like disaster response rather than an open grant program.

Our reading: the Verizon Foundation isn't a place to send a proposal. LISC doesn't appear in its 2024 grant list, which fits Verizon's statement that LISC administers the Digital Ready grants separately. Verizon's larger programs, such as its school technology program, are described on company pages and don't show up as large grants on the foundation's return.

Verizon grants for nonprofits and schools: by invitation only

Verizon's corporate grants for charities and schools don't take open applications, as checked November 9, 2026. According to Verizon's grant requirements page (opens in a new tab), funding priorities are digital inclusion, climate protection and human prosperity, "new applications are by invitation only," and Verizon and the Verizon Foundation don't respond to unsolicited inquiries.

The same page sets the bar for being considered for an invitation:

• Nonprofits must be 501(c)(3) organizations classified as public charities under section 509(a)(1), (a)(2) or an approved type of (a)(3).
• Schools must be nonprofit public or private K-12 schools registered with the National Center for Education Statistics. You can look up a public school's NCES ID in the NCES public school search (opens in a new tab).
• Budgets should be at least 85% direct costs, with indirect costs at 15% or less unless justified.
• Education grants support digital skills for K-12 students and teachers, such as after-school STEM and teacher training. Schools eligible for E-Rate can't use Verizon money for hardware, devices or internet service without Verizon compliance approval.

Verizon may refuse funding for individuals, private foundations, endowments, political causes, sports events without a charitable purpose, and organizations it funded for the past 3 consecutive years (they can reapply after a 1-year break). It also won't give cash to pay for Verizon products or services.

Verizon's school technology program has, in the words of Verizon's digital inclusion page, given students and educators internet access, tech-integrated lessons and teacher training for over a decade. Neither that page nor the program's own page describes an application. For open funding, Grantsights' guides to grants for school technology, grants for nonprofit technology, grants for digital literacy programs and corporate grants for nonprofits list programs that take applications.

Other grants to apply for alongside Verizon's

Verizon picks only about 10 businesses a month, so treat the grant as 1 of several applications. The SBA won't fill the gap: according to SBA's grants page (opens in a new tab), checked November 9, 2026, "SBA does not provide grants for starting and expanding a business." The SBA does pay for free advice through its resource partners (opens in a new tab), including Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE mentors and Veterans Business Outreach Centers, and a local adviser often knows which city or state grants are open.

Grantsights guides that fit Verizon applicants:

• Best place to start: best grants for small businesses in 2026, with programs that are open this year.
• The basics: small business grants: the complete guide and free money for small business.
• Your state: small business grants by state, where competition is usually lighter than in national programs.
• Federal programs: federal grants for small businesses.
• By owner: grants for women-owned businesses, the Amber Grant, best grants for Black-owned businesses, grants for minority-owned businesses and grants for veteran-owned businesses.

To find programs with live deadlines near you, use Grantsights grant search.

How Grantsights Checked This Guide

Grantsights read 14 Verizon, partner and government pages and 2 Verizon Foundation returns on November 9, 2026. Each status, amount and eligibility rule was checked against the page that states it, and the foundation figures were checked against the return's Part XV line 3a total. No figure comes from a news story or a grants blog.

Sources

• Verizon Small Business Digital Ready: Funding (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon Small Business Digital Ready: $10,000 national grant details and FAQ (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon Small Business Digital Ready: Supplier Accelerator (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon: Small business program (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon: Grant requirements, guidelines and exemptions (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon: Giving and grants (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon: Digital inclusion (opens in a new tab)
• Verizon News: How a Verizon grant helped this small business find new clients (opens in a new tab)
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Small Business Readiness for Resiliency (opens in a new tab)
• ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Verizon Foundation filings (opens in a new tab)
• SBA: Grants (opens in a new tab)
• SBA: Resource partners (opens in a new tab)
• SBA: Disaster assistance (opens in a new tab)
• NCES: Search for public schools (opens in a new tab)