Tag Archives: Business Interruption Grant

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Chi Biz Strong and Outdoor Dining Grants

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From https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/chi-biz-strong-grants/home.html

The City of Chicago just opened two new grant programs: Chi Biz Strong and Outdoor Dining. These programs are extremely straightforward, easy to understand and apply for, and are funded with over $20M. To streamline the process for applicants, the Chi Biz Strong Grants and Outdoor Dining Grant Program will be available through a single application.

Applications are available now and will be open until Friday, November 12, 2021 at 11:59 pm. Grants will be disbursed via a lottery and based on eligibility and prioritization criteria. To apply and learn more, please visit Chicago.gov/ChiBizStrongGrant.

I attended today’s webinar by Allies for Community Business — formerly Accion — and they did a great job presenting the basics and answering questions. If you have questions about the program, I strongly recommend attending one of the webinars or watching today’s recording, soon to be posted on the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection’s YouTube page.

Program Overview:

  • Chi Biz Strong Grant Program: $5,000 or $10,000 grants (based on 2020 revenue reported on tax return) to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that have experienced lost revenue or increased costs due to COVID-19 to support business/nonprofit expenses
  • Outdoor Dining Grant Program: $5,000 grants for small restaurants and bars to support the purchase (or reimbursement) of outdoor furniture, pandemic-related signage, and personal protective equipment
  • Eligible organizations must have under $3M in revenue, and organizations that have not received prior government pandemic relief will be prioritized
  • Applicants will be selected by criteria and lottery; how soon you submit your application will have no impact on your likelihood to receive an award, as long as it is submitted prior to the deadline
  • Applications are open through Friday, November 12, 2021, at 11:59 PM.

Here are the details for for-profit companies (the rules for non-profits are different, so I encourage you to watch the webinar specifically for NFPs if this applies to you):

For-profit business criteria:

  • Small businesses (under $3M in revenue)
  • If you have over $60k of 2020 revenue reported on your tax return, Chi Biz will be a $10k flat grant — versus under $60k in revenue, it will be a $5k flat grant; unlike prior programs, it is not an amount based on a decline in revenue
  • Outdoor Dining is a $5k flat grant — you can apply for both Chi Biz and Outdoor Dining on the same application
  • Businesses who started in 2020 may be eligible, presuming they meet the qualifications otherwise
  • 50% of funding will be prioritized for businesses in Low and Moderate Income (LMI) communities and 50% to other geographies
  • Excludes certain business types, such as junk yards and pawn shops
  • Businesses that have not received prior State, Federal or local government aid or financial relief will be prioritized
  • Small chains and franchises are eligible below a certain size; see FAQ for details

Required Documents (For-Profit Businesses)

  • Business Owner Valid ID (driver’s license, State ID, Passport, Consular Registration Card)
  • City/State business license with Chicago business address OR other proof of Chicago address (e.g. business bank statement or tax statement with business name and Chicago address). For Outdoor Dining Grant Program, City business license is required.
  • 2020 Federal Business Tax Return all pages (Form 1120, 1065, 990 OR Form 1040 w/ Schedule C)
  • Most recent business bank statement
  • W9 Form

Timeline

  • 10/22: Grant application is available
  • 11/12: Grant application closes at 12:59 p.m. CDT
  • By third week of December: Grant recipients are chosen via lottery and notified of their acceptance

An excerpt of slides from today’s webinar:

For more information, webinar registration, and the application, please visit https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/chi-biz-strong-grants/home.html.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Update: Illinois Business Interruption Grants – It’s Not Too Late To Apply

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BIG Application Page
BIG Application Page

The Business Interruption Grant (BIG), a program available through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (IDCEO), continues to actively seek applicants, in order to effectively disburse the full amount awarded to the state program. It leverages federal funding provided by the CARES Act to provide economic relief for small businesses hit hardest by COVID-19. The state received $540 million for BIG from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act, of which $270 million was earmarked for small businesses, according to Lauren Huffman, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity. Applications are live now.

The first round of BIGs provided $49 million to businesses such as restaurants, personal care services, gyms and fitness clubs, and businesses located in “Disproportionately Impacted Areas” (DIAs). A list of awardees is available here.

The second round of BIGs will provide $220 million to “businesses downstate, in disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs), and for heavily impacted industry and regions – representing businesses that have been unable to reopen or operating at a severely diminished capacity since the spring.” A discussion of the program, outlining the various types of prioritized and eligible businesses, as well as eligible costs, is in an earlier blog post, here.

To summarize, Round 2 includes:
– $60 million for heavily impacted industries, such as movie theaters, performing arts & concert venues, indoor recreation, amusement parks.*
– $70 million for disproportionately impacted areas, defined by zip code for communities that are most economically distressed and vulnerable to COVID-19. 
– More than $100 million for downstate communities.
– $5 million for livestock production disruptions. (Applications available from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.)
– Loan Forgiveness for Illinois small business emergency loan recipients.

*In addition to the $60 million for heavily impacted industries, the following types of businesses are being prioritized:

  • Businesses directly affected by regional mitigations implemented by state or local governments.
  • Independently owned retail.
  • Tourism- and hospitality-related industries.

(Businesses outside the categories listed above are also eligible to apply and receive funding under the program but may be reviewed later than priority businesses. Assistance with applications is available at no cost.)

A list of awardees for Round 2 (those granted so far, on a rolling award basis), is here.

However, as I started to see media coverage touting the benefits to independent retail, and promoting the program, trying to drum up applications, I began to be concerned for my own clients — many of them have received grants, to be sure, for which we are immensely thankful — but they were all in the hospitality industry, or in a DIA. To-date, not a single retail client has received any BIG funds. And since the program says that all businesses will receive a decision on their grant application within four to six weeks of application submission, I was frustrated to see that many of my clients had not heard anything, and yet new articles such as this were frequently coming my way, where my own state rep, Will Guzzardi, was saying the program did not have enough applicants. (Block Club was reporting the same story.) I reached out to colleagues in accounting, bookkeeping, law, and to chambers of commerce and heard the same story — small retailers were not receiving Business Interruption Grants.

So I contacted Rep. Guzzardi to find out what the story was, and he was, as usual, interested in the discrepancy between what he had been told and the actual experiences of small business owners. He took my questions to the state and came back with some solid explanations and more encouragement.

For starters, the state is reviewing applications in three categories: DIAs, downstate Illinois applicants, and disproportionately impacted industries — restaurants, bars, venues, etc. If an application doesn’t fall into one of those categories, it’s probably being moved further down the queue. But that doesn’t mean anything about their likelihood of getting a grant. It just means that they’ll be reviewed later in the process.

They evaluate every application first on the basis of whether or not they meet the basic eligibility criteria, and then based on how many of these criteria they meet:

  • Directly impacted by regional mitigation to prevent the spread of COVID 19, based on applicant industry and county
  • Has not received any other emergency funding, e.g. in the form of PPP or other state or local grants
  • Has under $5 million in annual revenue
  • Located in a disproportionately impacted area (DIA)
  • Located in a “downstate” county
  • Operate in a priority industry, including the following: ○ Independently-Owned Retail ○ Restaurant ○ Bar or Tavern ○ Gym or Fitness Center ○ Tourism and Travel ○ Support Service of Arts or Events

Then they conduct separate lotteries based on how many of those criteria you met. So if you meet 6/6, you’re in a lottery group with very good odds. If you only meet one or two, your lottery is less likely.
If you don’t win your lottery, your application is held over into the next lottery batch.

BIG Round 1 didn’t go to retailers at all. In Round 2, retail is in a pretty large pool with bars, restaurants, gyms, museums, etc., and so they’re just facing slightly longer odds, especially if they’re not in a DIA or downstate.

The message to retail folks is: if you applied, your application is still in the lottery — just because it hasn’t come up doesn’t mean it won’t. I expect the state is just trying to make sure those who are hardest hit have the best chance at the grants, and then they’ll turn their attention to independently-owned retail and the other eligible business types.

It is not too late to apply!

Join the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (DCEO) for an informational webinar regarding the Business Interruption Grant (BIG). Attendees will learn about eligibility criteria, required documentation and step-by-step instructions for the online application. DCEO representatives will be available to answer your questions and all attendees will receive a copy of the presentation materials with direct links to the BIG program portal, FAQs and contact information for DCEO representatives who are available for 1-to-1 technical assistance, if needed.

Wednesday, December 2 at 10am
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=e84aa07e4dc9ede92fa8a13fa268fa538

Friday, December 4 at 9am
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=eb884f11ff20cb4fcc9394b7081fe49fd

Thursday, December 10 at 2pm
Event address for attendees: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=eb0276e6285a6954875c46d7da4555053

And I know I’ve shared this link countless times by now, but honestly, it is an amazing source of information on applications, evaluation criteria, assistance, eligible costs, and so much more.

For the clients who have received this grant, it has been a lifeline. It’s much more flexible than the PPP, it’s a grant rather than a loan like the EIDL, and it’s built for small business. The application is not a particularly challenging one. If you are a small business struggling due to the pandemic, you owe to to yourself to give this one a try.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

COVID-19 Financial Relief, Education, Illinois, Tips

Illinois Business Interruption Grant, Round 2, Open Now — FREE WEBINAR Sept 22

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Register by visiting www.chicago.gov/businesseducation

The State of Illinois has created the Business Interruption Grants (BIG) program for small businesses in Illinois suffering losses as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as communities impacted by the recent civil unrest. Applications for a second round of funding are now live. A total of $220 million will be made available for small businesses of all types in Illinois.

The Chicago BACP has put together a free webinar on September 22, 2020 that brings together the following partners to provide an overview of the program and how to apply.
– Ciere Boatright, Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives
– Brad McConnell, Accion Serving Illinois and Indiana
– Marcus Yancey, Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago
Register by visiting www.chicago.gov/businesseducation today.

The second wave of funds includes the following provisions to ensure a wide distribution of funds geographically and across business type:

  • Heavily Impacted Industries – $60 million for heavily distressed industries, such as movie theatres, performing arts venues, concert venues, indoor recreation, amusement parks, and more.
  • Disproportionately Impacted Areas – $70 million set aside for DIAs, defined by zip codes identified by the General Assembly for communities that are most economically distressed and vulnerable to COVID-19.
  • Downstate Communities– DCEO has committed to ensuring that at least half of all remaining funds, totaling more than $100 million, are reserved for businesses in downstate and rural communities of Illinois.
  • Priority Businesses– Apart from the $60 million for heavily impacted industries, applications from the following types of businesses will be prioritized for review for remaining funds:  businesses directly affected by regional mitigations implemented by the state or local governments, independently owned retail, tourism- and hospitality-related industries including accommodations, and more.
  • Agriculture – $5 million of the remainder of funds will be set aside for livestock production disruptions.
  • Grants and Loan Forgiveness for Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan recipients – As authorized by the General Assembly, DCEO will offer grants for businesses that have incurred eligible costs to offset loans received under the Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan program.

Businesses outside the categories listed above are also eligible to apply and receive funding under the program but may be reviewed later than priority businesses. All businesses will receive a decision on their grant application within four to six weeks of application submission. More information here —
https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/SmallBizAssistance/Pages/C19DisadvantagedBusGrants.aspx

I am getting a lot of questions from recipients of Round 1 grants about what types of costs are considered eligible for this program. The Certification & Requirements pdf states the following.

ELIGIBLE COSTS
“The subrecipient will use the proceeds of the subaward supported by the Program exclusively for costs and losses incurred due to the business interruption or other adverse conditions caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. For purposes of this Program, costs incurred during a business interruption may be classified as a cost related to COVID-19. Grant proceeds may be used to reimburse costs and losses such as inventory, equipment (including Personal Protective Equipment and other supplies to promote health and safety), compensation (including salaries, wages, tips, paid leave, and group healthcare benefits), rent, technology to facilitate e-commerce, professional services procured (including the design and construction of environments necessary to promote physical and social distancing and cleaning and disinfecting services) and other costs of operation in accordance with the applicable administrative rules or the policy directives of the grantor that was incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020. All spending related to this program must be reimbursable by the Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, as prescribed by 601(a) of the Social Security Act and added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act including all subsequent federal guidance. Expenses that have been or will be reimbursed under any other federal program are not eligible for reimbursement through the proceeds of this subaward.“

Please pass the word along about this grant to the neediest of the Illinois businesses you know.

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. This allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.