Kirkland Small Business Relief Fund Provides Financial Support

Published on April 13, 2020

Media Contact:
Kellie Stickney
Communications Program Manager
kstickney@kirklandwa.gov
(425) 979-6562

 KIRKLAND, Wash. – Checks are in the mail to 250 Kirkland small businesses that will each receive a $1000 grant from the Kirkland Small Business Relief Fund.

The City of Kirkland, the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, and the Kirkland branch of Banner Bank partnered to create the Kirkland Small Business Relief Fund to provide immediate grants to qualifying small businesses and small nonprofits in Kirkland impacted by COVID-19. The Relief Fund received initial seed funding of $250,000 from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm.

The Chamber is acting as the fiscal agent for the Relief Fund and is managing all contributions. A committee comprised of members from the Chamber and Banner Bank reviewed all applications. All information that was considered in the selection of grant recipients came from answers provided on the application form.

Businesses qualified for fund consideration by having a Kirkland business license, being a “brick and mortar” business, and having 25 or fewer employees. The review committee determined that funds should be distributed evenly to 250 qualified businesses based on objective criteria, without knowledge of business identity. One objective criterion was business need, which was determined by evaluating year-to-year first quarter reduction in gross revenues and availability of reserves.

The intention of the Kirkland Small Business Relief Fund is to offer a second round of funding if additional funds from donors becomes available. Donations can be made at https://kirklandchamber.org/relief/.

“We hope that people will continue to donate to the Small Business Relief Fund so that additional rounds of funding can be made available,” said Mayor Penny Sweet. “We know that this is a very challenging time for small business owners and their employees, and I’m so proud of what our community is doing to support each other.”

Over 700 applications for funding were received during the first round.

“The number of applications that we received was overwhelming and truly demonstrated the need that currently exists in our community,” said Samantha St. John, CEO of the Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. “We hope to be able to offer future rounds of funding. Thank you again to Google.org for providing the seed funding for this grant program, and we hope that others will be able to join in with a contribution to support our local businesses.”

For more information, including details on contributing to the fund, please visit: https://kirklandchamber.org/relief/.