Main Street America›Main Street America› offers Backing Small Businesses

The program recruits applicants through its mainstreet.org program page during open application windows, awarding grants of $10,000 for growth and resilience projects. Program questions route to SmallBizGrant@mainstreet.org by email or voicemail, and Main Street America distributes future round notices through its subscription list.

Reach is earned-first: Main Street America's LinkedIn audience exceeds 20,600 followers alongside its Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and X profiles. The National Main Street Center is a verified Google Ads Transparency advertiser for mainstreet.org, and no current ads from the program's own pages appear in the Meta ad library.

In 2021, American Express and Main Street America created the Backing Small Businesses grant program to help economically vulnerable small business owners recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It joined American Express's family of Backing Small programs, alongside Backing Historic Small Restaurants and Backing International Small Restaurants.

In June 2024, the program awarded $10,000 grants to 500 small business owners. In January 2025, 25 owners received $30,000 enhancement grants, July 2025 opened the 400-grant application round, and June 2025 announced 100 disaster-recovery grants, with the 2025 recipients announced on February 17, 2026.

American Express and Main Street America created Backing Small Businesses, a grant program awarding fixed-dollar grants to locally significant small businesses with community reach. The 2025 cycle provided grants of $10,000 to fund projects promoting sustainable growth, long-term resilience, and local impact.

Since launching, the program has distributed more than $14 million across more than 1,600 small business owners nationwide. Rounds include $10,000 grants to a 500-member cohort, $30,000 enhancement grants to 25 owners, and $10,000 disaster-recovery grants to 100 owners.

American Express's backing and Main Street America's national small business network give the program durable funding and reach into economically vulnerable business owners. Cumulative grants have exceeded $14 million across more than 1,600 recipients since 2021.

Grant rounds open in windows and the 2025 application is closed, leaving owners without a year-round funding channel. The program shares Main Street America's social channels rather than maintaining profiles of its own.

Future grant rounds can extend reach, and disaster-recovery grants add a crisis-response line for owners hit by natural disasters. Subscription distribution keeps applicants in the funnel between rounds.

Owners seeking larger awards can turn to newer American Express programs such as the Amex Shop Small Grants Program, which offers grants of $20,000. Owners also choose among many public and private small business grant programs.