Small businesses can get help with COVID-19 costs
The We’re All In small business grant initiative program will provide $2,500 grants to 30,000 small businesses in Wisconsin. It is designed to help small businesses get back on their feet amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while also encouraging them to adopt best practices to keep employees, customers and communities safe.
Funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the grants will help small businesses with the costs of business interruption, or for health and safety improvements, wages and salaries, rent, mortgages and inventory.
The We’re All In small business grant application portal closes Tuesday, June 23, until 11:59pm.
A business may apply for the We’re All In Small Business Grant if it meets the folling requirements:
• Was in business in February 2020. Businesses that started in 2020 are not eligible.
• Is Wisconsin-based and for-profit
• Employs 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employ- ees, including the owner
• Has more than $0 but less than $1 million in annual revenues.
Businesses will not be eligible for the grants if they are:
• Part of a national chain, unless the business is a thirdparty franchise
• Industries that are covered by other Wisconsin CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund programs, such as crop production, animal production or aquaculture, lessors of residential buildings and dwellings.
To prepare for the online application process, businesses should be ready to upload the following documents to the WEDC application:
• A 2019 federal tax return for business. A 2018 tax return is acceptable, if 2019 returns are not filed.
• A signed W-9 form available at irs.gov
• An email or letter of acknowledgement from a community organization indicating your business was in operation in February 2020.
The business will need to identify the three-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code that best fits their business. This information may be included in a business’s tax return or through the NAICS website atnaics. com.
The application for the grant will be live on the WEDC’s website at wedc.org.
