By Kathy Bazan, Business Recovery Center Consultant
Great news! The EIDL Advance payments—grants–will soon be offered to all small businesses, small farms or ranches, sole proprietors, independent contractors, and non-profits.
Read on and find out more!
History of the EIDL
Prior to the pandemic, the EIDL program opened for a limited time in a specific geographic area to make loans to business owners wiped out by natural disasters such as the Joplin tornado or Hurricane Katrina.
In the first stimulus bill (March 2020), the EIDL was expanded to offer grants and loans to any business owner anywhere in the US whose revenues declined due to the pandemic.
Recent Developments
In March 2021, two programs were additionally funded under the EIDL umbrella:
- $10 billion for the Targeted EIDL Advance (a $10,000 grant to a business in a low income community which had a 30% decline in revenue during any 8 week period since March 2, 2020)
- $5 billion for Supplemental Targeted EIDL Advance (a $5,000 grant to a business in a low income community with 10 or fewer employees which suffered a 50% revenue loss during any 8 week period since March 2020.
Note: Both programs are grants, money which does NOT need to be repaid.
How do you find out if the SBA considers your neighborhood is a low income community? Use the SBA mapping tool.
So far, only $1.5 billion was dispersed to small business owners.
For that reason, these grants will soon be offered to small businesses, sole proprietors, independent contractors, farms, ranches, and private non-profits outside of the low income communities delineated by the SBA mapping tool.
How Can You Apply?
Apply for the EIDL program for a loan of up to $500,000 on the SBA website: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/eidl/covid-19-eidl
- After you submit your application, you may receive an e-mail asking you if you would like to apply for the Targeted EIDL Advance (a grant) or the Supplemental Targeted EIDL (a grant).
- You are NOT required to accept the loan (or even be approved for it) to receive either or both grants.
- If your business received either the Targeted or the Supplemental Advance but it was less than the maximum allowed now, you can apply for an increase.
- If you applied for the EIDL previously, the SBA may send you an e-mail invitation to apply for either or both of the Advance payments, which are grants.
- If you did not respond to an earlier e-mail about either grant program, contact me. I am working with the staff of our local Congressional representative who is working on solutions for several of my clients.