Museum operators including in soon to be open Shuttered Venue Operators Grant
The Small Business Administration will be opening up the new Shuttered Venue Operators Grant in the next few weeks. It’s important to be prepared to apply for this. Please note that museum operators are considered eligible for this grant per the FAQ: “Eligible entities may be live venue operators or promoters, theatrical producers, live performing arts organization operators, museum operators, motion picture theatre operators, and talent representatives, per the Economic Aid Act. Additionally, entities of these types owned by state or local governments (for example, museums or historic homes) are eligible to apply if the governmentally-owned entity also acts solely as a venue operator, museum, etc. and not also include other types of entities. For example, a city parks and recreation department that operated a bandstand in a public square along with running various nature parks would not qualify as an eligible entity for an SVOG. Finally, each subsidiary business owned by an eligible entity that also meets the eligibility requirements on its own rights will qualify as an eligible entity.”
To get ready when the grant opens, consider doing the following NOW:
- Read the FAQs
- If you or your organization does not already have a Dunn and Bradstreet DUNS Number, get one.
- Use your DUNS number to register in the federal government’s System for Award Management (SAM). You can’t simply use a Taxpayer or Employer ID Number to apply for an SVO grant. (Note: It could take up to two weeks to finalize a SAM registration.)
- Gather documents that demonstrate your number of employees and monthly revenues so you can calculate the average number of qualifying employees you had over the prior 12 months.
- Determine your gross earned revenue losses. It looks like SBA is going to use the Gross Earned Revenue definition to determine Priority Eligibility, but it’s not confirmed yet.
- Determine the extent of gross earned revenue loss you experienced between 2019 and 2020 on a quarterly basis.
- Make PDFs of additional information such as floor plans, contract copies and other evidence that will be needed to apply for an SVO grant.
- Sign up for a regional mailing list and webinar in your area and develop a direct relationship.
- Ask the SBA specific questions about SVO eligibility by e-mailing SVOGrant@sba.gov.
