The Backing Historic Small Restaurants program, presented by American Express in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will award a total of $2.5 million in grants to 50 historic and culturally significant restaurants in the United States.
Donor Name: National Trust for Historic Preservation
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 03/25/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Funding Information
Each of the 50 selected restaurants will receive a $50,000 grant. The selected restaurants will enter into a grant agreement with the National Trust outlining the terms and conditions of the grant.
Uses of funds
The eligible funding breakdown is as follows:
- At least $40,000 must be used towards exterior improvement(s); up to $10,000 of the $40,000 can be used for the support of a preservation partner to help scope, manage, develop, or collaborate on the improvement project.
- Up to $10,000 can be allotted for unrestricted uses such as general operating expenses or any other business-related expenses for the restaurant.
Exterior, public-facing improvements to historic buildings include (but not limited to) murals, awnings, lighting, signage upgrades, painting or cleaning of exterior facades, and/or the creation of outdoor seating areas. Updates to websites for better operations may be permitted. Projects that prioritize scope towards exterior improvements will be most competitive. Grant funds may not be used for work completed prior to receipt of the grant.
Eligibility Criteria
- For the purposes of this Application Period of the Program, eligible restaurants are those businesses
- that have a physical location (meaning “brick-and-mortar” location) that operate in an older or historic main street, downtown or commercial district in the United States or United States territories, including local, state, or National Register of Historic Places designations (individually or contributing to a historic district), in a Main Street community, or in old buildings;
- that are located in a community that has been disproportionally impacted by disasters or other hardships;
- that employ fewer than 100 employees (including the company owners);
- that are a registered business entity in good standing in the state in which it was formed and the state in which it does business (e.g., not an unincorporated contractor or self-employed individual); and
- that are not part of a national franchise. Digital-only businesses are not eligible (digital includes, without limitation, online and application-based businesses).
- Applicants must be an owner of the eligible small business and 18 years of age or older. A preference may be given to eligible small businesses that are: Asian, Asian American, and/or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-owned businesses; African American or Black-owned businesses; businesses owned by persons with disabilities (meaning an impairment of the body and/or mind, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)); Hispanic or LatinX-owned businesses; LGBTQIA+-owned businesses; Indigenous-owned businesses (including American Indian or Alaska Native); and woman-owned businesses.
- Membership in the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States (“Sponsor”) is not required to be eligible for the Program. Employees and independent and seconded contractors of the Sponsor, American Express Company (“American Express”), and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and advertising and promotion agencies, and members of their immediate family (spouse and parent, children and siblings and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and persons living in the same household, whether or not related, of such employees, are not eligible to participate.
For more information, visit NTHP.
