The second and third phases of the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) Covid-19 Business Relief Program, called the Relief Fund and the Mitigation Fund, are set to launch sometime around August 3, according to the WBC. There is $175 million allocated to the Relief Fund and $50 million to the Mitigation Fund. Click here for some information provided by the WBC in regards to both funds.
Relief Fund
Businesses with 100 or fewer employees and 501c3, c6, c12 and c19 nonprofit organizations with at least one FT employee are eligible to apply to the Relief Fund. A FT employee is any employee who averages 30 or more hours per week. Your business must be headquartered in Wyoming or have its principal operations in Wyoming and at least 60 percent of your employees must be employed in Wyoming or 60 percent of the business payroll is paid to individuals living in Wyoming.
The calculation of the Relief Fund grant amount is dependent on whether your business or nonprofit was required to close due to a public health order. In either case, you start by comparing your current year revenue from 3/13/2020 to the application date to the same time frame in 2019. After that, the calculation varies. However, in any case, you must reduce the Relief Fund grant amount by any grant received from the Interruption Fund (Phase 1 of the WBC grants) and also by any other CARES Act funding you have received, which you will not have to repay, such as forgivable PPP loans and EIDL grants. In no event can the Relief Fund grant exceed $300,000.
Mitigation Fund
The Mitigation Fund is to reimburse all Wyoming businesses and nonprofits of any size, for customer and employee health and safety expenses paid from March 1, 2020 through the application date, which are directly related to Covid-19. The maximum grant amount is $500,000. Examples of eligible expenses are cleaning products, sanitizer, masks, signage, Covid-19 training, physical barriers, teleworking expenses due to Covid-19, etc. Ineligible expenses are legal fees, travel expense, rent, lost wages and expenses already reimbursed from another source.
You can apply for and receive both grants, but not to cover the same expenses. WBC is currently developing an online application process and is hoping to start taking applications sometime during the week of August 3. You will apply online at www.wyobizrelief.org. There are webinars available to watch on July 28 and July 30 to learn more about both programs.
Please call us with any questions and let us know how we can help with the grant calculation or application.