This previous summer time marked the return to reside live shows and film theaters for many people. However, the pandemic created important financial hardships for these venues and lots of others within the arts and leisure business. For instance, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment price for the business reached 47% in April 2020, and remained elevated into 2021.
To assist these companies, Congress created the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, which supplied $14.6 billion in monetary help to leisure companies adversely affected by COVID-19.
In the present day’s WatchBlog submit appears at our new report on who this system helped, and the teachings it provides for future emergency help applications.
Who obtained cash and the way a lot?
SVOG funding was accessible to a focused group of companies, together with reside leisure producers, organizations, and venues. Companies may use these grants to cowl working bills corresponding to payroll, lease or mortgage funds, and utility funds. To be eligible for this system, leisure companies needed to have misplaced a minimum of 25% of their income on account of the pandemic.
This system was solely open to candidates for a brief period of time—from April to August 2021. However throughout that brief time, greater than 17,000 companies utilized. The Small Enterprise Administration (SBA), which runs this system, awarded $14.6 billion in grants to over 13,000 of the candidates. Most denied purposes didn’t meet the grant program’s eligibility necessities.
Grant quantities have been primarily based on every enterprise’s pre-pandemic income, capped at $10 million. Over 90% of grant recipients have been small companies with 50 or fewer staff.
How can SBA higher guarantee emergency funding reaches eligible companies?
Nationwide, greater than 30 million small companies skilled decreased revenues or closures due to COVID-19. Subsequently, SBA had the problem of offering support shortly to leisure venues. However appearing shortly may make this system extra weak to fraud and associated points.
We’ve reported on challenges SBA confronted implementing these applications, together with fraud and insufficient communication.
Our evaluation of the SVOG program revealed that whereas this system was higher managed in some elements than another SBA COVID reduction applications, SBA may enhance its communications and buyer help, and enhance its efforts to watch dangers to this system, corresponding to identification theft.
In our new report, we made two suggestions to SBA that will assist enhance communication with companies that search emergency help and improve the company’s efforts to determine and handle fraud. Discover out extra by studying our new report.
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