Source: Development.Oregon4biz.com

Business Oregon’s operational cost assistance grants offer funding for businesses with 100 of fewer employees that

1. offer the consumption of food and or drink on premise;
2. provide specified indoor physical exercise, recreational or family entertainment; OR
3. provide specified personal services; and that experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Oregon.

Restaurants, bars, gyms, brewpubs, theaters, bowling centers, and salons are some of the more common examples of eligible businesses.

Applications for the Operational Cost Assistance Grant will be accepted beginning May 26 and closes on June 6. Awards will be selected after a random lottery process of all complete and eligible applications received. Full details of the program, including eligible industries, is on available our website. 

Businesses that received assistance grants through the state of Oregon Commercial Rent Relief Program for the same location are eligible to receive the grant, as long as the award amount through the Commercial Rent Relief Program was less than $100,000.

APPLY HERE.

Thriving Entrepreneurs Grant Program

The Oregon Community Foundation is now offering a new grant program specifically for nonprofit organizations that support entrepreneurs in Oregon.  Please check out the Thriving Entrepreneurs Grant Program.  Entrepreneurs have big ideas and creative ways to solve problems, but they often need help developing their business plans, go-to-market strategies, recruiting talented teams or board members, and raising money.

The Thriving Entrepreneurs Grant offers organizations flexible funding, with prioritized support for those organizations that serve entrepreneurs who are women, people of color, living in rural communities, or working in under-resourced sectors such as consumer products. Priority will also be given to organizations that work with entrepreneurs who are aspiring to develop traded sector companies. Funding is not available for individuals; OCF makes grants to nonprofits only.

Applications are due June 25, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. 

PPP Loans

IRS guidance on first round PPP loans

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2021-20 PDF for certain businesses that received first-round Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans but did not deduct any of the original eligible expenses on their tax return because they relied on guidance issued before the enactment of tax relief legislation in December of 2020.

Under prior guidance, businesses that received PPP loans to cover payroll costs, interest on covered mortgage obligations, covered rent obligation payments, and covered utility payments could not deduct corresponding expenses when reporting business expense deductions.

With the Dec. 27, 2020, enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, businesses now may claim these deductions even though they received PPP loans to cover original eligible expenses. These businesses can use the safe harbor provided by this guidance to deduct those expenses on the return for the immediately subsequent year.

More information is available here.

New Masking and Physical Distancing Guidance

In accordance with the CDC’s new guidance for fully vaccinated people, Governor Brown announced that as of May 13, fully vaccinated Oregonians with proof of vaccination are no longer required to wear a mask in indoor public places where vaccination statuses of individuals are checked, with a few exceptions. Those exceptions include; public transportation, hospitals and health care settings, correctional facilities, long-term care facilities, shelters and transitional housing, and K-12 schools. In addition, on May 18, Oregon Health Authority released other updated guidance for masking and physical distancing throughout the state with significant changes to the following: businesses, employers and faith institutions have the right to determine their own masking policies for fully vaccinated individuals; and masks are no longer required for people who are outdoors, though masking is still encouraged, especially in crowed places and for people who are unvaccinated. 

For more information, visit Governor Brown’s COVID-19 Resource page.