More Delaware small businesses and nonprofits are eligible to apply for Delaware Relief grants under changes made to the program.
The State and New Castle County launched a joint initiative in August to help small businesses and nonprofits struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Delaware Relief Grants program began distributing $100 million in federal CARES Act funding to eligible businesses and nonprofits that applied.
And as of October 28, 2020, 1,600 businesses and nonprofits had received funding.
Now, the program has an additional $50 million and Division of Small Business director Damian DeStefano says they hope to help more businesses.
“And so looking at where we were and looking at the applications that we were having coming in, we felt as though we could give a little bit more flexibility to hopefully reach more businesses that again, we know have been badly impacted by COVID-19," DeStafano said.
DeStefano says in this third round of funding, small businesses no longer need to demonstrate a revenue decline of at least 7.5% from 2019 to 2020. They only need to demonstrate a decrease in revenue of any size.
He notes this change also applies to businesses that have already received funding from the program
And companies that meet the federal definition of a small business and received a Payroll Protection Program loan from the SBA can also now apply for these grants.
As a reminder, businesses and nonprofits that are applying should make sure to:
- Provide their entire federal 2019 tax return (requirement may be different for nonprofits)
- Submit their current State of Delaware business license
- Confirm their expenses are eligible
- Triple check their application for accuracy before submitting
Numerous resources can be found at here, including an extensive Q&A document, demonstration videos and a full explanation of eligible expenses. Applicants in need of additional assistance should contact the Regional Business Manager for their area here.
