San Diego’s Small Business Relief Grant Fund

Due to COVID19, tens of thousands of San Diego businesses have had to close their operations, impacting the region’s economy in a critical way. More than 98% of businesses in San Diego have less than 100 employees—these are the businesses we know and love that need our assistance to help sustain their employees and keep their doors open.

At Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s urging to provide grants and micro loans to small businesses impacted by COVID-19, the City of San Diego allocated $6 million to create the Small Business Relief Fund, to provide certainty and offer financial support businesses facing reductions in demand, shorter business hours, and business closures due to the pandemic. The City received more than 9,000 applications for these funds, highlighting the need for more financial assistance raised for businesses that were not awarded.

In this expanded program, financial assistance will range from $1,000 to $10,000 and will be allocated to eligible small businesses based on the availability of funds and program guidelines.

·       Located within the City of San Diego

·       Valid Business Tax Certificate

·       Businesses with 0-100 employees; including home-based, and sole proprietors

·       Preference for location within an Opportunity Zone/ and Promise Zone

·       Ability to demonstrate financial hardship

·       Percentage of jobs to be retained

For more detail about how grant decisions will be made, please visit the grant criteria page.

 Corporate partners and San Diegans are encouraged to make a contribution in any amount to the Cal Coast Cares Foundation and 100% of the funds will be distributed as grants to small businesses in partnership with SD Grantmakers.

Cal Coast Credit Union, Qualcomm, and GoFundMe have each contributed $100,000 to launch this new initiative between the City, Cal Coast Cares Foundation and San Diego Grant Makers to encourage San Diegans to donate to the Small Business Relief Fund.

Any application received by the City’s Small Business Relief Fund to date that was not funded with the first fund established could be funded through this effort. All applications remain available for reference to San Diego Grantmakers so businesses do not need to apply again.  

Any business that has not yet applied and think they are qualified based on the above expanded criteria should apply on the city’s website sandiego.gov/SBRF. Applications will be received through Tuesday, April 14 at 11:59pm to allow for those businesses who may not yet be in the queue  time to send in their application.