*The Boulder Small Business Grant Program is now closed.
The City of Boulder is partnering with Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) to provide grants for local small businesses, including women- and minority-owned businesses and 501c3 nonprofits, with 100 or fewer employees that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
One-time grants of $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 that do not need to be repaid will be awarded through a competitive application process administered by CEF. Grant awards will be made until available funds of $675,000 dedicated to this program are exhausted. The online application will take about 10 minutes to complete.
To be considered, applicants must meet all eligibility requirements and must submit a complete online application to CEF on or before 5:00 p.m. MDT on Friday, September 11, 2020. Applications will be evaluated by CEF and a panel of local nonprofit organizations that serve Boulder businesses or nonprofits using a scoring model to evaluate financial and other factors.
Grant Eligibility:
Small businesses or enterprises (sole proprietors and registered small businesses including LLCs, S-Corps, and other business types) and small 501c3 nonprofit businesses that meet eligibility requirements will be considered for a grant award. Applicants will be required to provide their City of Boulder business/sales tax license number and federal EIN or Tax ID Number. Additionally, applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:
Note: Federal CARES Act funding will be used for this grant program and businesses in the marijuana industry are not eligible to participate.
For more information on resources available to Boulder businesses, visit the City of Boulder Coronavirus Business Resources page.
In response to the devastating effects COVID-19 has had on our community’s small businesses and nonprofit organizations, the City of Boulder has created a competitive grant application process for small businesses and 501c3 nonprofit organizations, providing up to $5,000 of grant funding to assist with business-related costs incurred due to the COVID-19 economic disruption such as: rent/mortgage/utility payments; employee payroll; accounts payable and other fixed debt costs; and personal protection equipment (PPE). Under the CARES Act, the federal funds may only be used to cover costs that are necessary economic recovery expenditures incurred due to the COVID-19 public health emergency incurred no earlier than March 1, 2020.
The Boulder Small Business Grant Program will accept applications beginning August 31, 2020 at 8:00 AM through September 11, 2020 at 5:00 PM. Applications will NOT be evaluated on a first come, first served basis. Rather, all applications submitted during the application period will be evaluated.
Colorado Enterprise Fund will let applicants know if they have been selected to receive a grant. Grant notifications and payments are expected to be made in early October 2020. The Boulder Small Business Grant Program is a grant program, and grant funds received through the program do not have to be repaid. However, this grant source should be noted as income and all taxes associated with the acceptance and/or usage of grant awards are the sole responsibility of the grantee, and the grantee shall comply with all applicable federal, state, local laws, executive orders, rules, and regulations in connection with acceptance and/or usage of grant funds.
No. We encourage businesses in need to apply even if you have already received other relief funding. If awarded, you may have to verify with program staff how the expenses you were requesting were not already supported by another relief funding source.
Information on the Boulder Small Business Grants Program (including eligibility, required information and the competitive process) can be found on the city’s COVID-19 Business Resources webpage or the Boulder Small Business Grant program webpage. Boulder-based small businesses and 501c3 nonprofits with 100 or fewer employees, operating from a bricks-and-mortar location in the Boulder, Colorado city limits, that experienced a disruption in their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible to apply for a grant through the program. Publicly traded entities are not eligible and, because the source of funds arises out of the federal CARES Act, marijuana industry businesses are also ineligible. Employees (and their relatives) of Colorado Enterprise Fund and review panel member organizations having personal business interests in any applicant business will also render that business ineligible to apply under this program.
To determine if your address is within Boulder city limits, click here.
Small businesses or enterprises (sole proprietors and registered small businesses including LLCs, S-Corps, and other business types) and small 501c3 nonprofit businesses that have experienced a business disruption due to COVID-19 and meet the following criteria are eligible for a grant award.
The program’s selection criteria will consider:
The timeline for the grant program is as follows: