Grant Overview

25 WV Businesses Can Win Unrestricted Cash With Just One Free Course Completed

Before you dig into any other Verizon grant page, pause. Most of what's circulating online describes a $10,000 national program that closed in December 2025. That's not this. What's open right now is a West Virginia-specific grant offering $5,000 to 25 local for-profit businesses, administered by LISC, one of the country's largest and most credible community development financial institutions. The entry requirement is genuinely low: complete one free course or event on the Digital Ready platform between January 1 and March 31, 2026. That unlocks a 30-minute application. No Verizon service plan needed. No business plan. No matching funds. No repayment ever. Selection starts with an anonymous lottery, so every qualified applicant gets a fair shot regardless of business size or revenue. If you run a for-profit business with a West Virginia address and can carve out about an hour total, this page gives you everything you need to apply correctly and avoid the traps that quietly disqualify people who think they followed the rules.

Key Grant Information

Active

37 days left

01

Verizon Small Business Digital Ready West Virginia $5000 Grant

Funded by Verizon | LISC

02

Grant Snapshot

Grant Award

$5,000

Application Deadline

March 31 2026 37 days left

Eligible Region

West Virginia, United States

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Eligibility and Benefits

Eligibility Criteria

• For-profit business only (nonprofits are explicitly ineligible)
• Primary business address must be in West Virginia
• Business owner must be 18 years of age or older
• Free account on the Verizon Digital Ready platform required
• Creating an account is free and takes about five minutes
• Complete at least one eligible course or virtual event between January 1 2026 and March 31 2026
• In-person events only count if listed on the Digital Ready In-Person Events page and QR code is scanned onsite
• Must be able to provide business and financial verification documents if selected as a finalist
• Includes a W-9 and bank account details for ACH payment
• Background check may be conducted at LISC's expense (not a credit check)
• Current employees or directors of LISC or Verizon and their close family members are not eligible
• Prior grant recipients may apply but will receive lower selection priority than first-time applicants

Grant Benefits

• $5000
• Unrestricted cash (spend it on whatever your business needs most)
• No repayment required ever
• No post-award reporting requirements
• Paid via direct ACH bank transfer
• LISC will issue a Form 1099 (you are responsible for any taxes owed)

04

Focus Areas

Verizon Digital Ready WV Grant Small Business Grant West Virginia $5000 Small Business Grant 2026

Does Your West Virginia Business Qualify? Use This Free Eligibility Check First

The tool below walks through the core eligibility gates for this grant in about two minutes. It covers the essentials: business type, state location, owner age, the Digital Ready account requirement, and the course completion window. No login needed and no personal information required. Work through each question honestly and you'll have a clear read on your status before committing time to anything else on this page.

If the checker confirms you're eligible, your next move is setting up a free Digital Ready account (if you haven't already) and completing one qualifying course or event before March 31, 2026. The application link unlocks inside the platform once that step processes. If the checker says you don't qualify, scroll to the related grants section below where other programs may fit your situation better. If you land in a gray area on any single criterion, reach out to LISC directly at smallbusinessservices@lisc.org before the deadline. They respond to specific eligibility questions, and a quick email is always better than guessing.

This Is Not the $10,000 Verizon Grant: What Actually Changed for 2026

Most pages covering this program haven't been updated since 2025. That year, Verizon ran a national Digital Ready grant: $10,000 to 50 businesses anywhere in the US, with a December deadline and a two-course requirement. That cycle is over. The 2026 WV grant is a different structure in every key dimension, and if you arrive expecting the old program you'll misread your odds, your requirements, and your deadline.

The state-specific structure is actually an advantage if you're in WV. You're competing inside a geographically fenced pool, not a national draw. And finishing one resource instead of two cuts the time commitment considerably. If you were tracking the old national grant, this is the current West Virginia equivalent, just structured differently and with its own rules.

How the Application Unlocks: Two Steps and One Sequence You Cannot Reverse

There's a specific order and both steps share the same deadline. Skipping step one makes step two permanently unavailable until the next cycle.

The LISC application runs through FormAssembly and it does not save mid-session. If your internet drops, you close the browser, or you step away too long, your answers may be gone when you come back. This is not a hypothetical. It's exactly the kind of thing that happens on deadline day. Set aside 30 solid minutes on a day that is not March 31 itself.

There's a dual deadline reality worth calling out clearly. Both the course completion and the application submission must happen by March 31, 2026. If you finish your course on March 30 and then hit a technical problem with the form on March 31, there is no extension window. Give yourself at least two days between completing the course and submitting the application.

What the Application Will Ask You

LISC says the form takes about 30 minutes. No grant writer is needed or recommended. LISC says that directly on their program page. Before you open the form, have these items ready so you're not scrambling for information mid-session:

If selected as a finalist, LISC will ask for additional documentation: a W-9, banking details for ACH payment, and information needed for a background verification check. That check may involve your date of birth, SSN, or EIN. It does not affect your credit score and LISC covers the cost. They will never request copies of your passport, driver's license, or green card. If anyone claims to be LISC and asks for those documents, contact smallbusinessservices@lisc.org immediately to verify.

Q: What happens if I see a "duplicate record" error when trying to apply?
A: This occurs when your name or email doesn't exactly match a prior application in the system. If you applied in a previous Verizon Digital Ready cycle, resubmit using the exact same first name, last name, and email address from your earlier application. Do not create a new account to work around it.

Verizon WV Grant Eligibility in Plain Language: What You Need and What You Don't

The requirements here are genuinely short. Before listing what you do need, let's start with what you absolutely do not need.

No Verizon phone or service plan. No existing customer account with Verizon. No minimum revenue threshold. No minimum time in business. No employee count requirement. No formal business plan document. No matching funds required. No credit check. That list of non-requirements is, honestly, one of the more practical reasons to apply in the first place.

What you actually need: a for-profit business with its primary address in West Virginia, an owner who is 18 or older, a free account on the Digital Ready platform, and one completed eligible resource between January 1 and March 31, 2026. That is the complete list.

One specific note on prior grantees. If you received a Verizon Digital Ready grant in a previous cycle, you are still technically eligible to apply this round. But LISC's guidance is clear: priority goes to first-time applicants. Your chances are lower, not eliminated. Apply if you meet the requirements, but go in with honest expectations.

Q: Can I apply for more than one business I own in West Virginia?
A: No. One application per person per round. If you own multiple businesses, apply for your largest by revenue. The grant is capped at one award per individual business tax ID.

Q: Are there industry restrictions?
A: None stated. Past recipients from comparable Verizon cycles have included restaurants, cleaning businesses, skincare brands, IT training centers, and outdoor gear companies. Any WV for-profit sector is eligible.

Q: Do I need a formal West Virginia business license to qualify?
A: The eligibility rules require a primary WV business address and the ability to pass finalist verification. Specific licensing forms aren't listed publicly, but having your WV business documentation organized before you apply is practical regardless.

How LISC Chooses the 25 West Virginia Winners: The Three-Stage Process

Most coverage of this grant skips this section entirely. That's a gap worth filling. Understanding how selection actually works should change how you think about your odds and how you frame your application.

Stage one is a genuine anonymous lottery. Every qualified applicant gets an equal first draw. Business size, revenue, application polish, how many employees you have: none of it matters at stage one. A solo entrepreneur six months into their first business has the same lottery odds as someone running a 15-year operation. Stage two uses an algorithm to ensure the 25 winners aren't all from Morgantown or all from the same industry. Geographic and sector balance across WV is a stated selection goal. Stage three is a manual review focused on accuracy, community impact, and how specifically the applicant describes their intended use of funds.

The LMI (low-to-moderate income) community priority in stage three is real. A large portion of West Virginia qualifies as LMI, particularly in rural areas. If your business address falls in an LMI zone, that factor is weighted in your favor during final review. You don't apply for that status separately. If your address qualifies, the system accounts for it automatically.

After submission, LISC communicates via email. Check spam starting mid-May. General applicant updates come from the LISC Small Business Grants sender. Finalist-specific messages come from an @lisc.org email address. If you receive a finalist notification and don't respond promptly, you risk losing your spot to a substitute from the eligible pool.

Q: How many people apply for this grant?
A: LISC hasn't published WV-specific volume data. For prior national cycles they've referenced "thousands" of applicants across the full pool. Because this cycle is state-restricted, the WV applicant pool is smaller by definition. The anonymous lottery at stage one is the primary reason to apply regardless of how competitive the overall pool looks. Everyone who qualifies gets an equal first draw.

Q: If I don't win this round, can I try the next cycle?
A: Yes. Applications don't carry over between cycles. You'd apply fresh each time. First-time applicants hold priority in selection, so your first attempt is statistically your strongest.

What the $5,000 Can Be Used For (And Why Specificity Matters)

Short answer: whatever your business needs most. LISC calls this unrestricted cash support and means it. There are no spending categories to hit, no receipts to submit after the award, and no post-grant reporting. The money lands in your account and you put it to work.

Past Verizon Digital Ready grantees from comparable cycles have used similar funds for equipment purchases, website builds and e-commerce setup, digital marketing campaigns, payroll support during growth periods, product launches, legal fees for certifications, and venue costs for expansion. The range is genuinely wide. What consistently appears in applications that perform well at the stage three review is specificity. An applicant who writes "I will use the $5,000 to purchase a new POS system and train two staff members on digital inventory management" gives reviewers something concrete to evaluate. "I will use it for general business operations" does not.

One thing most coverage of this grant leaves out: the $5,000 is taxable income. LISC will issue a Form 1099 after disbursement. You never repay a dollar, but the IRS treats the award as business income. Talk to your accountant before spending the full amount so you're not short when the tax bill arrives. It's not a reason to skip applying. It's just practical information that most pages don't bother to mention.

Q: Can I use the money to pay myself?
A: The grant is unrestricted, so technically yes. But applications that describe owner draws as the primary use tend not to perform well in stage three review. Describe something tangible that your business will do differently because of this funding.

Key Dates and Application Timeline

Note that March 31 is the deadline for both the course and the application. Many people complete the course and assume they still have time to submit the form later. The portal closes at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. If you're in West Virginia, that's 2:59 AM Eastern on April 1. Build in buffer and submit before the final day.

Three Things This Page Could Not Fully Verify

This listing is built from official LISC documentation and confirmed public sources. A small number of details live behind the platform's login wall and couldn't be independently confirmed. Here's exactly what was flagged:

• What "completing" a course means technically: Does the system require a quiz, a minimum watch percentage, or simply reaching a completion confirmation screen? The platform doesn't clarify this publicly. The most reasonable assumption based on how the program is described is that reaching the completion screen registers as done. But if you're completing a resource close to the deadline, confirm this with Digital Ready support before relying on it.
• In-person events in WV before March 31, 2026: LISC confirms in-person events are eligible if listed on the Digital Ready In-Person Events page and the QR code is scanned onsite. We couldn't confirm whether any qualifying events are scheduled specifically in West Virginia before the deadline. For rural WV applicants with limited broadband access, checking the in-person events page directly matters.
• The complete application question list: The full form only becomes visible after a qualifying resource is completed on your account. The fields described in this guide come from LISC's published guidance. There may be additional questions in the actual form that aren't disclosed anywhere publicly.

Not in West Virginia or Missed the March 31 Deadline?

This grant is WV-only. If you're based in California or New York, parallel versions of this same grant are open on the same timeline with the same $5,000 amount and March 31 deadline. The Verizon Digital Ready California $5K grant and an equivalent NY program are both accessible via the Digital Ready platform under their respective state promotion pages.

If you're in another US state or find this page after March 31, monitor digitalready.verizonwireless.com/funding for the spring 2026 national cycle Verizon has signaled is coming. No official dates had been released as of early 2026. Meanwhile, other programs are worth knowing. The AT&T She's Connected grant serves women-owned businesses with a different structure and different amounts. BizConnect's small business funding targets under-resourced communities, which directly mirrors the LMI priority shaping how LISC selects WV winners. For grants tied to a platform account-and-completion mechanic similar to this one, see the Square Cornerstone grant. And for historical context on the prior $10,000 cycle, see our 2025 Verizon Digital Ready national grant listing.

Q: I completed a Digital Ready course in December 2025. Does that count toward this application?
A: No. The resource must be completed between January 1 and March 31, 2026. Completions from prior periods don't carry over into the current eligibility window for this cycle.

Q: Can I finish the course and submit the application on the same day?
A: Technically yes, but it carries risk. The system needs time to register your completion before the application link activates. Attempting both on March 31 itself leaves no room for registration lag or technical delays.

Q: Is the application available in Spanish?
A: LISC confirms the broader Digital Ready program supports Spanish-language applicants. WV-specific language availability wasn't separately confirmed in public documentation at the time of this research. Contact smallbusinessservices@lisc.org to confirm if this matters for your application.

Practical Application Tips: What LISC Guidance and Common Mistakes Both Teach

Grant Terms Every WV Applicant Should Know Before Starting

• Verizon Small Business Digital Ready: A free online platform built by Verizon to provide small business owners with on-demand courses, live coaching events, and peer networking. The platform is both the educational resource and the application gateway for this grant. You do not need a Verizon phone, service plan, or any existing customer account to access it.
• LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation): The nonprofit community development financial institution that administers this grant on Verizon's behalf. LISC handles application review, winner selection, finalist verification, and fund disbursement. When you submit your application, you are submitting it to LISC. All finalist communications come from an @lisc.org email address.
• CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution): A federally certified designation for financial institutions focused on serving under-resourced communities. LISC holds CDFI status, is S&P-rated, and appears on the ImpactAssets IA50. This is not a startup giveaway. CDFIs operate under specific federal accountability standards.
• Unrestricted Grant: A cash award with no designated spending categories and no post-award reporting requirements. You decide how to use the $5,000. This differs from restricted grants, which require spending on pre-approved budget items and require usage reports back to the funder. Unrestricted means genuine flexibility with no strings attached after disbursement.
• Form 1099: A tax document LISC will issue after sending your grant payment. It reports the $5,000 as taxable income to the IRS. You are responsible for paying any taxes owed on that amount. This is standard treatment for grants made to for-profit businesses. Set aside a portion of the award before spending the full amount and discuss the liability with your accountant.
• ACH Payment: Automated Clearing House, the US electronic bank transfer network. If you clear finalist verification, LISC will disburse the $5,000 directly to your designated business bank account via ACH. You'll need to supply your routing number and account number during the finalist documentation process.
• LMI (Low-to-Moderate Income) Community: A federally defined geographic area where median household income falls below a specific threshold relative to the regional median. LISC gives selection priority to businesses in LMI communities because these areas typically have fewer pathways to affordable capital. A large portion of West Virginia qualifies. If your address qualifies, it factors into the stage three review automatically without a separate application.
• Eligible Resource (Digital Ready): Any on-demand course, recorded virtual event, or qualifying in-person event available on the Verizon Digital Ready platform. For in-person events to count, they must appear on the official Digital Ready In-Person Events page and you must scan the QR code while physically present at the venue. Virtual and recorded courses count without any QR requirement.
• Resource Completion Window: The specific period during which your qualifying course or event must be completed in order to unlock the grant application. For the 2026 WV cycle this window runs from January 1 to March 31, 2026. Completions before or after this window do not count toward the current cycle eligibility.
• FormAssembly: The secure online form software LISC uses to collect grant applications. It becomes accessible inside your Digital Ready account after you complete a qualifying resource. FormAssembly does not auto-save in-progress work, which is the core reason LISC recommends completing the application in one uninterrupted session using Chrome.
• Finalist: A business that passes the anonymous lottery and algorithm stages and advances into the manual review and verification phase. Finalist status does not guarantee a grant. Finalists must submit a W-9, banking information, and pass a background check before any funds are released.
• Background Check (LISC): A due diligence review LISC conducts on finalists at its own expense. It is explicitly not a credit check and will not affect your credit score. It may require your date of birth, Social Security Number, Tax Identification Number, or EIN. LISC will never request government-issued photo ID like passports or driver's licenses during this process.
• Duplicate Record Error: An error in the FormAssembly system that appears when a returning applicant's details don't exactly match their prior application record. If you applied in a previous Verizon Digital Ready grant cycle, use the exact same first name, last name, and email address as your previous submission to avoid triggering this. Do not create a new account.
• Anonymous Drawing: The first stage of LISC's selection process for this grant. Every qualified applicant is entered into a random lottery. Business size, revenue, writing quality, and industry don't factor in at stage one. This is why applying is worth the effort even if the pool is competitive. Everyone who meets the requirements starts on equal footing.
• Priority Consideration: A selection factor applied during stage three to businesses in LMI communities and to first-time Digital Ready grant applicants. It doesn't exclude other applicants but tips the balance when the pool is otherwise comparable. First-time WV applicants whose businesses serve under-resourced communities are in the strongest relative position the program offers.
• West Virginia For-Profit Business: The core eligibility category. A business is WV-based for this grant if its primary business address is in West Virginia. Eligible structures include sole proprietorships, LLCs, S-corps, C-corps, and similar for-profit entity types. Tax-exempt nonprofits and charitable organizations are explicitly ineligible regardless of where they operate.
• Application Rollover: This program does not roll applications between cycles. A submission from the 2025 national cycle has no carry-over to the 2026 WV cycle. Each round requires a fresh submission. Prior applicants must reapply using the same name and email from before to avoid the duplicate record error described above.
• State-Specific Grant Round: A version of the Digital Ready grant program restricted to a single US state rather than the full country. The 2026 WV cycle is one of three simultaneous state rounds (West Virginia, California, and New York) each offering $5,000 to 25 businesses. The national program ran separately in 2025 with a different amount and different rules.
• Spring 2026 National Cycle: A national Digital Ready grant round that Verizon has publicly indicated is planned for spring 2026. As of early 2026 no dates, amounts, or eligibility details had been officially published. WV businesses who miss the March 31 deadline, and businesses in states not covered by the current state rounds, should monitor the Digital Ready funding page for that announcement.

More Small Business Grants Worth Adding to Your Pipeline

Twenty-five spots across a whole state is a real constraint. Applying for the Verizon WV grant while keeping an eye on other programs is just smart planning. None of the options the tool surfaces below require the same Digital Ready steps, so they're genuinely complementary rather than redundant. Some have rolling deadlines. Others open on different cycles. Explore what fits your situation.

Need Help With Your Verizon WV Application Before the Deadline?

Grantaura works with small business owners at every stage of the grant process. If you're not certain you fully qualify, want a second set of eyes on your proposed use of funds before submitting, need help organizing the documentation that finalists are typically asked for, or want someone to verify the platform specifics hidden behind the login wall, that's work we can do with you. Our specialists know this program and can help you move through it with confidence rather than guesswork on a March deadline.

About the Author: Why Accuracy on This Particular Grant Matters

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  {
    "url": "https://grantaura.com/grant/verizon-small-business-grant/",
    "custom_description": "The prior national Verizon Digital Ready grant cycle that preceded the 2026 state-specific rounds. Relevant for applicants comparing program structures across cycles or waiting for the next national round after missing the WV state deadline."
  },
  {
    "url": "https://grantaura.com/grant/shes-connected-by-att/",
    "custom_description": "A telecom-backed small business grant from AT&T with a distinct focus on women-owned businesses. Useful for WV applicants who want to explore alternative corporate grant programs from a different carrier with different eligibility structures and award mechanics."
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  {
    "url": "https://grantaura.com/grant/bizconnect-small-business-funding/",
    "custom_description": "Small business funding program specifically targeting businesses in under-resourced communities. Shares the LMI community priority focus that LISC applies during Verizon grant selection, making it a natural complement for rural WV business owners who qualify for both."
  },
  {
    "url": "https://grantaura.com/grant/cornerstone-business-grants/",
    "custom_description": "Platform-gated small business grant that requires account usage before an application becomes accessible, structurally parallel to how Digital Ready course completion unlocks the Verizon WV application. A logical alternative for WV applicants already using Square for payments."
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