As developments continue to unfold in response to the spread of COVID-19, we know many small businesses have questions about implications in the workplace and funding options to help bolster their businesses during this difficult time. We are compiling relevant tips and resources and information on new funding opportunities and policy developments that we are sharing on our website and through online presentations. We will be posting daily updates to this page with useful information about the ways small businesses can prepare for the impact of COVID-19 on their business and community.
Energize Colorado Gap Fund is currently taking applications, with the goal of trying to put financial assistance into the hands of small businesses overlooked in prior programs.
That includes female-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned and rural-based businesses that are so small they have struggled to gain the attention of commercial banks or access federal lending programs.
Area served: Colorado Audience: Small Business Owners
The California Rebuilding Fund is a new program built to support California’s smallest businesses as they adapt, reopen, and recover from the effects of COVID-19. This program has been built in partnership with public, private, and nonprofit leaders across the state to ensure that California’s smallest businesses are able to access the resources and capital they need to get through these challenging economic times.
The program has three main ways it is supporting small businesses:
Area served: California Audience: Small Business Owners
Applications are now open (starting August 10)! Funding is being made available through Rebuild VA, a new economic recovery fund, and grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to approximately 7,000 applicants to cover eligible expenses. Businesses and nonprofits must be in good standing, have annual gross revenues of no more than $1.5 million, and have no more than 25 employees.
Area served: Virginia Audience: Small Business Owners, Non-profits
In partnership with the United Way of the Inland Valleys, the City of Riverside is offering a one-time grant of up to $10,000 to support Riverside small businesses with between 1 and 50 employees that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Recipients of other assistance including federal, state and local funding can still qualify. Eligibility is based on demonstrated need and grants will be awarded quickly on a first come, first reviewed basis.
Area served: California Audience: Small Business Owners
A second round of CARES Act funding has been made available to the Town of Leesburg. On September 8th the Leesburg Town Council allocated $1,000,000 of this Round 2 CARES Act funding in support of non-profit organizations working to assist Leesburg residents who have been financially or medically impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. This allocation is a second allotment to non-profit organizations, in addition to the initial $1,000,000 in Non-Profit CARES Act grants previously distributed by the Town.
Area served: Virginia Audience: Non-profits
The program will provide grants of $10,000 to minority-owned small businesses in response to their need to successfully retool and adapt to new guidelines and a changing marketplace.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Interested businesses should contact a participating community based organization to receive assistance with submitting an application.
LISC NYC will accept applications for Round 1 of this grant opportunity from Monday, September 14th at 9:00 am EST through Friday, October 2nd at 11:59 pm
Area served: New York Audience: Small Business Owners
Elk Grove based small businesses with 20 employees or less and annual revenue of less than $3 million who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, but remain open or plan to reopen, may be eligible for grants from the City of up to $25,000. The second-round application period will go live on September 28, 2020 and will close at 5:00 pm on October 5, 2020.
Area served: California Audience: Small Business Owners
The Cook County COVID-19 Recovery: Small Business Assistance program provides support for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program offers advising for small businesses in Cook County and grants for small businesses in suburban Cook County and the unincorporated areas; and is divided into three types of relief:
Area served: Illinois Audience: Small Business Owners
To help take their businesses to the next level, Pledge LA will select 20 companies to be part of the new PledgeLA + Grid110 Winter Cohort, where each will receive:
Area served: California Audience: Small Business Owners
The PowerUp Program is a grant + mentorship opportunity for Latino small business owners whose businesses are located in California, New York, and Texas.
Area served: California, New York, Texas Audience: Small Business Owners
LISC is inviting small business owners in rural locations across the country to apply for the LISC-Lowe's Rural Relief Small Business Grants program. Only small businesses located in rural communities are eligible at this time. Rural communities are defined as having a population of 50,000 or less. A community is defined as the city/town/village where your business address is located. If the business is mobile (a food truck, fishing boat, ride share driver, etc) please use the address where your vehicle is stored during non-business hours.
Audience: Small Business Owners
With state-mandated lockdowns and business closures, small business owners across the country are struggling to pay employees, rent, overhead costs and more. Now more than ever, it is important to be wary of predatory lenders as you seek out capital to keep your business afloat. Our guide to avoiding predatory lending includes guidelines for applying for PPP and EIDL, a checklist to determine if a loan is predatory and an outline of the Small Business Borrowers' Bill of Rights.
This document has been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Burmese, Khmer, Hmong, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Bhutanese, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Thai, Lao, Tagalog, Samoan, Tongan and Marshallese in partnership with the National Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans Community Development with a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed, Non-profits
Intuit Aid Assist—a free service for everyone—helps U.S.-based businesses, self-employed, contractors, freelancers, and gig workers understand different business relief programs available due to the COVID-19 crisis. Start with a loan eligibility assessment or get an estimate with loan calculators.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
Below is a list of lending institutions that we believe are accepting PPP applications from new clients. We advise checking with your existing bank to see if they are offering PPP, or using the SBA’s lender search feature to find a lender near you. We are updating this list daily; however, this list is not exhaustive, nor are we able to verify at this time that the institutions listed below are successfully processing PPP applications. We will update this list as we learn more. For any errors or omissions, please contact resources@venturize.org.
Nonprofit lenders
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
The SBA has issued additional guidance around how self-employed individuals and independent contractors can qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program.
Audience: Small Business Owners
Now accepting new applications for COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans. If you have previously applied and not heard a decision, do not reapply. This portal is for new applications only. Check the SBA website for more information.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed, Non-profits
The SBA recently released its PPP Loan Forgiveness Application form. We are providing highlights and examples from the form below to help guide you through the process. If you have specific questions not covered here, please ask on our Community page where you can engage with business experts and other small business owners. The SBA has announced that it will begin accepting forgiveness application forms on August 10.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed, Non-profits
USDA’s Farm Service Agency is accepting CFAP applications now through August 28, 2020.
USDA launched the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to help farmers and ranchers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of $16 billion will be available in direct payments to agricultural producers and $3 billion in food purchases.
Audience: Small Business Owners
Apply for grants up to $50,000 to support business growth, including $10,000 emergency COVID-19 Business for All Grants to help small businesses in crisis. Business for All is a national movement to lift up 100,000 small business owners to receive funding
Audience: Small Business Owners
The maximum loan amount for this loan is $400,000. There is no down payment requirement. Interest rates are calculated monthly and are posted on the 1st of each month. The purpose of the loan must be essential to the success of the farming or ranching operation. The funds may be used to purchase equipment, seed, livestock, and other necessities. They can be used to refinance certain farm-related debts (excluding real estate). Repayment terms vary from 1 to 7 years. The length of the loan depends on the amount and purpose of the loan. Collateral is required. Collateral for farm operating loans may be required up to 150% of the value of the loan.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
$5,000 grants available to women entrepreneurs to help alleviate immediate concerns.
Audience: Small Business Owners
To help address some of these challenges, Google is offering more than $400 million in Google Ad credits to small businesses.
Audience: Small Business Owners
The focus of Microloans is on the financing needs of small, beginning farmer, niche and non-traditional farm operations, such as truck farms, farms participating in direct marketing and sales such as farmers’ markets, CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), restaurants and grocery stores, or those using hydroponic, aquaponic, organic and vertical growing methods.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
RCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides training, technical and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their goals and visions. RCAC’s Small Business Loan Program assists businesses to retain or create jobs and thus improve the economic condition of rural communities. This program offers short-term loans (up to $250k) for working capital and lines of credit as well as long-term loans for real estate and equipment. Most small businesses rely on lenders to provide the capital they need for acquisitions, capital improvements, business expansions and to bridge cash flow gaps. Without loans, many small business owners would be unable to realize their dreams of running their own business or expanding their operations. RCAC’s business loans are tailored to the needs of the particular business with flexible terms and requirements.
Audience: Small Business Owners
The RWCF is in the process of working with our legal advisors to develop this area of work. In the coming weeks, we will produce a draft set of criteria for small businesses that can be applied fairly, and which align with our mission of supporting hospitality industry leaders committed to creating better working conditions across our four program areas: wage fairness and career ladders, gender equity and sexual violence, racial justice and support for the immigrant community, mental health and substance abuse. As we develop criteria, we will explore whether or not we can or should publicly name the businesses supported through the program, but at the very least, we will report on number of loans made and other relevant data. The Restaurant Workers’ COVID19 Crisis Relief Fund is currently open.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Employees, Self-employed, Non-profits
Round 5 application period is now closed. Register to be notified of the next round opening August 31st.
Grants to small business owners to help meet their most immediate needs. Eligible expenses include: paying rent and utilities, meeting payroll, paying outstanding debt to vendors, upgrading technology infrastructure and other immediate operational costs.
Audience: Small Business Owners
To apply for the Support Latino Business Impact Fund, you must register in the Latino Business free directory. Once you're registered, Support Latino Business will send information about the application process. Support Latino Business will provide grants ranging from $1,000 – $5,000 to help support our Latino Business community who have been affected by COVID.
To be eligible, business must be a majority of Latino/x-owned (51% or more) and have been in business for at least one year. Grant funds must be used to directly support the applicant’s business. The SLB Board will review initial applications and select finalists, who will enter a public voting period.
The application process opens on Monday, September 21, 2020.
Audience: Small Business Owners
As part of the Small Business Relief Initiative, GoFundMe, Intuit QuickBooks, Yelp, GoDaddy, and Bill.com have each donated to the Small Business Relief Fund. GoFundMe.org, the charitable and advocacy arm of GoFundMe, started the Small Business Relief Fund to benefit small businesses. Supporters can donate to the Small Business Relief Fund, which will issue $500 matching grants to qualifying businesses that raise at least $500 on GoFundMe. More partners will be announced in relation to this initiative at a later date.
Audience: Small Business Owners
Application opens and closes on a rolling basis. Next round opens on Aug 31. LISC is offering grants to help small businesses fill urgent financial gaps until they can resume normal operations or until other more permanent financing becomes available. The funding will go to make grants of up to $10,000, especially to entrepreneurs of color, women-owned businesses and other enterprises in historically under-served places who don’t have access to flexible, affordable capital.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
Applications will open in August!
Facebook is committing $100 million to the Black business community in the US. This includes $25 million in support of Black content creators and $75 million in grants of cash and ad credits to support Black-owned small businesses and nonprofits supporting the Black community.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Non-profits
Venturize is partnering with Kiva to bring affordable capital to small business owners during these challenging times. Kiva provides loans of $1,000-$15,000, zero-percent interest and no fees. There is a 6 month grace period and then fixed monthly principal payment (12-36 months). Funds are raised through community-backed crowdsourcing. Kiva will offer Venturize-referred applicants priority review if you apply through this link and mark "Venturize" as the answer to "how did you hear about Kiva."
Audience: Small Business Owners
325 U.S. community foundations in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, have created relief funds to support those affected by COVID-19, directing critical relief to local nonprofits and partnering with local governments and health organizations to help contain its spread.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Non-profits
The Amber Grants began in 1998. It was launched by WomensNet to honor the memory of a young woman, Amber Wigdahl, who died at the age of 19 – unable to fulfill her entrepreneurial dreams. In 2020, the Amber Grant has been doubled to $4,000. Earn any Amber Grant through November, 2020, and you’ll be eligible for an additional $25,000 grant at the end of this year.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed, Non-profits
Connect2Capital is an online marketplace of nonprofit lenders. Fill out a short form to get connected to a network of lenders that may be able to help.
Audience: Small Business Owners
A list of crowdfunding platforms that have created special COVID-19 relief initiatives for U.S.-based campaigns.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
No current or previous farm ownership requirements and 100 percent financing available make FSA direct farm ownership loans a valuable resource to help farmers and ranchers become owner-operators of family farms, improve and expand current operations, increase agricultural productivity, and assist with land tenure to save farmland for future generations. FSA’s Direct Farm Ownership loans are used to: buy a farm or ranch, enlarge an existing farm or ranch, make a down payment on a farm, purchase of easements, construct, purchase or improve farm dwellings, service buildings or other facilities and improvements essential to the farm operation, promote soil and water conservation and protection, pay loan closing costs.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
An alternative loan option for those seeking commercial lending assistance is the Guaranteed Farm Loan Program. Farm Service Agency works with USDA-approved banks and other commercial lenders. You apply for these loans through the approved lender and agree to their terms and conditions. Guaranteed Farm Loans are only available for family farmers or ranchers and must be used for farm ownership and operating expenses.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
*UPDATE - Applications closed* PayPal Empowerment Grants for Black Businesses Program, which will award up to $10,000 to more than 1,000 black-owned businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 and civil unrest.
Audience: Small Business Owners
This fund provides over $1 Million for small minority and women of color-owned businesses. Shea has three different initiatives companies can apply for.
Audience: Small Business Owners
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is offering grants of $5,000 to small businesses impacted. The grant application opens on April 20. To qualify, you must: Employ between 3 and 20 people; be located in an economically vulnerable community; have been harmed financially by the COVID-19 pandemic
Audience: Small Business Owners
Up to 30,000 eligible small businesses will be able to receive a grant (cash and ad credits) from Facebook, which is allocating $100 million for the program. Applications open April 18 in New York and Seattle, April 20 in San Francisco and April 22 in other eligible cities.
Audience: Small Business Owners
Congress on July 1 passed an extension to the Paycheck Protection Program, giving businesses until Aug. 8, 2020, to apply.
The CARES Act and subsequent legislation include $659 billion for federally guaranteed loans for small businesses, sole proprietors, self-employed individuals and independent contractors affected by the COVID-19 crisis. These loans can be forgiven if the proceeds are spent on payroll, benefits, mortgage interest, rent and utilities. SBA has issued interim rules for both employer businesses as well as the self-employed that answer many questions on determining eligibility and other components of these programs.
Audience: Small Business Owners, Self-employed
The Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) is a newly announced program that will provide Midwestern dairy farmers and dairy-related businesses with financial and technical support. This initiative, a joint effort coordinated by the Center for Dairy Research (CDR) and the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA), was designed to support and promote the diversification and addition of value-added products to the Midwest dairy industry.
Audience: Small Business Owners
Copyright © 2020. This site is managed by Small Business Majority—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.