MADISON — Small businesses are getting a little more time to receive grants to help recover from the effects of COVID-19.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation said in a release the deadline for “We’re All In” small business grants, previously set for Tuesday night, has been extended to 11:59 p.m. Friday night.
The program gives $2,500 grants, not loans, to help enable small businesses to adopt best practices to keep employees, customers, and communities safe while recovering from the effects of the pandemic.
The online application can be found here.
“The We’re All In grants come with very few strings attached,” says WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes. “Businesses can use them for whatever they need at this time.”
Hughes said the grants are not determined on a first-come, first-served basis, so all businesses have the same chance of receiving a grant.
Over 26,000 businesses have already applied. A business can submit an application if:
- It started operating before January 1, 2020 and was operating as of February 2020.
- It is for-profit and Wisconsin-based.
- It employs 20 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, including the owner
- It has between $0 and $1 million in annual revenues.
To prepare for the application process, businesses should be ready to upload a 2018 or 2019 federal tax return for the business, a signed and dated W-9 form, and an email or letter from a community organization indicating the business was in operation in February 2020.