Information on Small Business Grants 2021
Beginning next week WEDC will take applications for the $75 million “We’re All In Small Business Grant Program”. This program offers $2,500 grants to 30,000 qualifying Wisconsin small businesses to assist with the costs of business interruption or for health and safety improvements, wages and salaries, rent, mortgages and inventory. Here is a link to the WEDC webpage describing their program: https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/.
To be eligible for this new grant program businesses must:
*Be a Wisconsin-based, for-profit business;
*Employ 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, including the owner;
*Earn greater than $0 but less than $1 million in annual revenues (gross sales and receipts); and
*Have started operating prior to Jan. 1, 2020, and have been in business as of Feb. 2020. (Seasonal businesses should use the highest total FTEs employed during the season.)
The online grant application will be accessible for one week from 8 a.m. Monday, June 15, through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. A link to the application will be posted on this page. https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/
At the federal level, in addition to traditional SBA funding programs, the CARES Act established several new temporary SBA programs to address the COVID-19 outbreak. These include the Paycheck Protection Program, EIDL Loan Advance, SBA Express Bridge Loans, and SBA Debt Relief, all of which can be found on the following link: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options. One feature available for selected loans is to have the SBA make the payments for the first six months on behalf of the business.
The Federal Reserve Board recently proposed changes to the $600 billion Main Street Lending Program for small and mid-sized businesses hurt financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. They lowered the minimum loan size from $500,000 to $250,000, and increased the maximum amount for each of the three lending options in the Main Street Lending Program, extended loan terms from four to five years, and increased from one to two years the time before borrowers have to start making principal payments. The Federal Reserve will also now buy 95 percent of a loan from lenders, and soon plans to establish a lending option for nonprofit organizations.
At the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR), our Business Development and Government Relations (BDGR) webpage includes the latest COVID news and assistance for businesses: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/Businesses/bdgr.aspx.
The Department of Revenue just released the latest Wisconsin Economic Outlook which examines COVID-19's impact on the economy. It provides an overview of the state’s current economic conditions and a forecast of the critical economic metrics. This data is vitally important for businesses, especially now for those businesses needing to gauge the direction of the economy as a major factor in their investment decisions. Attached is the link to this report: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/dorreports/wi-forecast-05-2020.pdf.
Finally, the DOR’s Division of Research and Policy has also been developing a series of data visualizations the help businesses, local governments, and the public gain insights from some of the departments most robust databases. In addition to timely DOR-specific data such as sales taxes by industry and county, our economists gather economic indicators and other data from various state and federal sources. Many of the data visualizations are updated monthly.
Link to reports page: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/Report/Home.aspx
To be eligible for this new grant program businesses must:
*Be a Wisconsin-based, for-profit business;
*Employ 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, including the owner;
*Earn greater than $0 but less than $1 million in annual revenues (gross sales and receipts); and
*Have started operating prior to Jan. 1, 2020, and have been in business as of Feb. 2020. (Seasonal businesses should use the highest total FTEs employed during the season.)
The online grant application will be accessible for one week from 8 a.m. Monday, June 15, through 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. A link to the application will be posted on this page. https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/
At the federal level, in addition to traditional SBA funding programs, the CARES Act established several new temporary SBA programs to address the COVID-19 outbreak. These include the Paycheck Protection Program, EIDL Loan Advance, SBA Express Bridge Loans, and SBA Debt Relief, all of which can be found on the following link: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options. One feature available for selected loans is to have the SBA make the payments for the first six months on behalf of the business.
The Federal Reserve Board recently proposed changes to the $600 billion Main Street Lending Program for small and mid-sized businesses hurt financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. They lowered the minimum loan size from $500,000 to $250,000, and increased the maximum amount for each of the three lending options in the Main Street Lending Program, extended loan terms from four to five years, and increased from one to two years the time before borrowers have to start making principal payments. The Federal Reserve will also now buy 95 percent of a loan from lenders, and soon plans to establish a lending option for nonprofit organizations.
At the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR), our Business Development and Government Relations (BDGR) webpage includes the latest COVID news and assistance for businesses: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/Businesses/bdgr.aspx.
The Department of Revenue just released the latest Wisconsin Economic Outlook which examines COVID-19's impact on the economy. It provides an overview of the state’s current economic conditions and a forecast of the critical economic metrics. This data is vitally important for businesses, especially now for those businesses needing to gauge the direction of the economy as a major factor in their investment decisions. Attached is the link to this report: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/dorreports/wi-forecast-05-2020.pdf.
Finally, the DOR’s Division of Research and Policy has also been developing a series of data visualizations the help businesses, local governments, and the public gain insights from some of the departments most robust databases. In addition to timely DOR-specific data such as sales taxes by industry and county, our economists gather economic indicators and other data from various state and federal sources. Many of the data visualizations are updated monthly.
Link to reports page: https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/Report/Home.aspx