Lake CARES Small Business Assistance Grant Program is designed to provide emergency relief to support small businesses, non-profits, and Chambers of Commerce with no more than 25 employees in Lake County by providing between $2,000 and $7,500 as a one-time grant to help recover from the negative financial consequences resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lake County Board of Commissioners is currently allocating up to $15.5 million in emergency funding for the program.
To receive email notifications about application availability, please click the link https://elevatelake-lakecares.submittable.com/submit and complete the following two steps:
- Create an account in Submittable OR, if you already have an account with Submittable, Sign In.
- Complete the Sign-Up Form for Lake CARES Small Business Assistance Grant Program Notifications.
The Lake CARES Act Helpline is (352) 268-9299 and is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
To view more information about the CARES Act Fund Programs for both Businesses and Residents, visit http://www.elevatelake.com/reopen#cares
Eligibility and Required Documentation
FOR-PROFITS
Qualifying businesses may be eligible to receive a one-time grant of $2,000 for self-employed or sole-proprietors, $5,000 for businesses that have 2 to 9 full-time equivalent employees or $7,500 for businesses that have between 10 and 25 full-time equivalent employees. Applications will be reviewed on a first come first serve basis dependent upon completeness and accuracy.
For-Profit Business Eligibility
- Business had 25 or fewer FTE* employees, including the owner, as of January 1, 2020.
- Business has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 emergency.
- Business has a physical location in Lake County that is legally operating prior to January 1, 2020.
- Business can demonstrate ongoing operations within Lake County through February 15, 2020.
- Business expects to continue/resume operations after all State Executive Orders restrictions are lifted.
- Business is not a subsidiary or partially owned by a publicly traded company or a hedge fund.
- Business does not have any legal actions against or from Lake County or its municipalities, including code enforcement liens.
- No owner, officer, partner, or principal actor of the business has a felony conviction for financial mismanagement within the last two years for which he or she is still serving a sentence (including prison, parole, and probation).
- Business is not operating in violation of any state, federal or local laws.
- Business was determined to be a non-essential business affected by State of Florida Safer-at-Home executive orders and/or was mandated to close or reduce operating capacity.
Documentation Required to Upload
- A Completed IRS Form W-9
- The following, as applicable:
- Most recent State of Florida business filing Annual Report
- DBA/Fictitious Name registration
- Most recent County Business Tax Receipt and/or City Business Tax Receipt
- 2019 IRS Form 1040 – Schedule C
- IRS Form 941 (Q4 2019) or IRS Form 943 (Annual 2019) for business paying wages
- Driver’s License Copy for each applicant (front only)
NON-PROFITS
Qualifying non-profits and Chambers of Commerce may be eligible to receive a one-time grant of $5,000 for organizations that have 25 employees or less. Applications will be reviewed on a first come first serve basis dependent upon completeness and accuracy.
Non-Profit Eligibility
- Organization is a Non-profit 501(c)(3) or Chamber of Commerce.
- Organization has 25 or less FTE* employees, including owner, as of January 1, 2020.
- Organization has been negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 emergency.
- Organization has a physical location in Lake County that is legally operating within Lake County and the State of Florida prior to January 1, 2020.
- Organization expects to continue/resume operations after all State Executive Orders restrictions are lifted.
- Organization is not a subsidiary of another organization.
- Organization does not have any legal actions against or from Lake County or its municipalities, including code enforcement liens.
- No owner, officer, partner, or principal actor of the organization has a felony conviction for financial mismanagement within the last two years for which he or she is still serving a sentence (including prison, parole, and probation).
- Organization is not operating in violation of any state, federal or local laws.
Documentation Required to Upload
- A Completed IRS Form W-9
- A copy of IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter or other IRS recognition document
- The following, as applicable:
- Most recent State of Florida business filing Annual Report
- DBA/Fictitious Name registration
- Most recent County Business Tax Receipt and/or City Business Tax Receipt
- IRS Form 941 (Q4 2019) or IRS Form 943 (Annual 2019) for organizations paying wages
- Driver’s License Copy for each applicant (front only)
*A full-time equivalent (FTE) is a way for employers to measure how many full-time employees they have, along with the number of part-time employees that can be translated into full-time terms. For the purposes of the application, full-time is based off of a 40-hour work week. Your FTE number = (Total number of hours worked by part-time employees per week / 40) + The number of full-time employees you have
If our team can assist you in any other way, please call (352) 343-9647 or email us at info@elevatelake.com or visitlake@lakecountyfl.gov.
Stay safe and healthy,
Your Elevate Lake & Visit Lake Team