Home for Dreams Initiative

A grant program that aims to support Black-owned, product-centric businesses with capital, advisory meetings and brand amplification.

The program is only open to businesses based in the United States.

The goal of this program is to not only provide financial support, but also share what we’ve learned while building Parachute. We believe we are best positioned to make an impact focusing on companies that also sell physical products.

We spent a lot of time thinking about how we can show up as a company and do our part to support the Black community. Our decision was to start by doing something that we know well – launching and running a business. The commitment that we made was to start with this program because Black founders receive the lowest amount of funding and capital investments than any other demographic. 

Please know, we are continually looking for different ways to support different communities.

Other reasons this program is for Black-owned businesses:

• Inequities that were built into systems, laws, and policies created when slavery began in the United States over 400 years ago have affected generations of Black people to this day.

• When you look at the wage gap between finance accessibility, it has affected Black people in a particularly disproportionate way.

• Our resources are finite so we have had to make decisions on how to use those resources in support.

Currently, we are only accepting one application and one business per applicant.

We will be giving each recipient a grant of $25k when they are accepted into the program.

This is a six month program. We will award one $25k grant every six months.

No, this grant is for you to invest in growing your business.

The only requirement is that recipients use the grant funding for legitimate business expenses that are consistent with what’s outlined in their application. We will not be inspecting or monitoring recipients’ expenditures. But we will be happy to help guide recipients in spending the funds.

Our mentorship aspect of the program includes:

• Ongoing meetings with Parachute’s founder, Ariel 

• Monthly video calls with team members across all departments 

• Ongoing access to the Parachute team through our communication channels (email, Slack)

• Amplification of your brand via Parachute’s newsletter and social channels 

Yes. Employees of Parachute are welcome to apply if they meet the requirements.

Applications for the Home for Dreams Program are now closed and will be reviewed through the end of the year.

Applications are open October 7 - November 18, 2023.

You will need to provide us with basic information about yourself and your business. The application poses a series of short questions, and asks for your sales over the past year (if applicable), projections for the next two years and details about fundraising or debt.

No, you will need to fill out the entire application at one time. We suggest reviewing the application before getting started and gathering your answers on a separate document.

You may go back and edit your application while you are working on it. However, once an application is submitted, it cannot be edited. If you need to provide more information or fix an error, please email mentorship@parahutehome.com ↗

While we are not accepting physical samples of products, we encourage you to include pictures and detailed descriptions in your application.

You will receive a confirmation email once your application has been submitted.

Yes. The only people who will be privy to the information in your application will be the selection committee.

We will be focused on evaluating your brand, its mission and your business plan.

You may need to provide additional information such as financial statements if your application makes it through to our finalist round. Finalists will also be asked to interview with the selection committee.

We will reach out to finalists in November 2022 via the email address or phone number listed on your application.

A few finalists will be chosen for each grant. They will be asked to provide additional information, such as financial statements, and may be asked to interview with the selection committee. From the finalists, one grant recipient will be chosen.

The selection committee is composed of a cross-departmental group of Parachute team members.

No. Being a past or current Parachute customer will not improve your chance at being selected.

Yes! If you have a website or Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. accounts, please link to them in the application. But you can absolutely apply without.