With funding from the American Rescue Plan Act grant program, Town Council has adopted a Venue Support Grant to assist eligible venues with losses suffered during the pandemic.
Donor Name: Town of Ashland
State: Virginia
Town: Ashland
Type of Grant: Grant
Type of Entity: Businesses and Non-profit Organizations
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 01/24/2022
Size of the Grant: $200,000
Details:
The goal of the Town of Ashland’s Venue Support Program is to provide financial assistance to businesses and non-profit organizations in the tourism and entertainment industry that are primarily supported through ticketed or paid attendance at their physical location within the Town of Ashland.
Businesses and organizations in the tourism and entertainment industry with physical locations were most severely impacted economically by the COVID-19 impact due to public safety and health regulations that required their closure for months.
Eligible uses of funds include:
- Employee wages including the cost of benefits
- Rent and utilities for commercial workspace
- Working capital
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must:
- Certify and attest that all information in the application and all submitted documentation is true and correct
- Own a local small business or manage a non-profit primarily operated as a tourism and entertainment venue within the Town of Ashland. For example, these businesses and organizations that require payment or accept a donation as part of the entry to the venue.
- Explain how their business or non-profit organization’s venue is a part of the local tourism and entertainment industry, and the entity is primarily supported by in-person attendance (visitors) at their venue. Demonstrate a reduction in revenue. The applicant must show total revenue from 2019 (pre-pandemic) and then total revenue from 2020 and 2021, to show the impact the pandemic had on revenue from decreased patronage.
- Note: In the event the business or organization was not fully open for the entire calendar year of 2019, the Town Manager is authorized to evaluate and recommend grant awards based on partial year revenue or attendance numbers.
- Provide 2019, 2020 and 2021 attendance figures.
- Complete and submit an IRS W-9 form
- Share with the Town other CARES or SBA assistance the organization has already received or has been notified of future receipt for the loss. In general, this is any financial support received from a local, state or federal agency since March 13, 2020.
- Have no more than 50 active full-time equivalent employees
- Be up to date on all Town taxes, licenses, and fees including Business Licenses
- Provide a current registration with the State Corporation Commission
- Provide a copy of the business IRS tax filing for 2020
- Execute a grant agreement (if a grant award is made).
For more information, visit Town of Ashland.
