The Community Foundation for Crawford County has created a Program Related Investment (PRI) Fund, in conjunction with the Crawford Partnership. This fund was developed to provide emergency loans to small businesses in Crawford County that have experienced economic losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first donations toward this fund were made by local business owners Pat and Janel Hord and Doug and Renee Leuthold. “Janel and I felt it is important for our community to come together to support our small businesses. We are proud to support this program and urge others to do so as well,” noted Pat. “We also encourage those who receive stimulus checks who are not personally suffering to consider donating that income to the Foundation’s PRI Fund,” added Doug, who is also a Board member of the Foundation. “As these loans are repaid, the fund will become a revolving investment fund, making additional future loans available for even more small, local businesses impacted by this or other disasters,” he added.
While the fund will be held at the Foundation, the loans will be administered by the Partnership. Maximum loan amount will be $10,000 per business. Loans will be offered at 0% interest and will provide short-term (1-3 year) payment terms. In addition, payments will be deferred for 60 days. The loans are intended to be used towards overhead such as salaries, inventory, and utilities.
To be eligible, a small business must be a for-profit enterprise with its principal place of business located in Crawford County. The business must employ a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 25 employees. Need resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic must be demonstrated. These loans are meant to supplement larger funding programs available through governments, the Small Business Administration (SBA), and financial institutions.
“This collaboration between the Foundation and the Partnership will help maintain our local economy during this difficult time,” added Gary Frankhouse, Executive and Economic Development Director at the Crawford Partnership. “We must sustain our businesses if we are to ensure economic recovery from this financial crisis.” The Partnership’s Budget and Finance Committee will be responsible for reviewing applications and making loan recommendations, and the Foundation Board will approve final selections.
For more information regarding eligibility, guidelines and application instructions, please visit: https://crawfordpartnership.org/. The Foundation is actively seeking contributions from the community to support this new fund. To make your much appreciated, tax-deductible donation, please call 419-562-3958, or visit https://www.cfcrawford.org/donate.
