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Recovery Lancaster Opens Phase 3 Funding
Phase 3 of the Lancaster Small Business Recovery & Sustainability Fund opens on Monday, November 9, 2020, at 8:00 a.m. and will remain open until Friday, November 13, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Recovery Lancaster is a grant program that does not award grants on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Phase 3 funding cycle consists of $10,000,000 that the federal CARES Act distributed to Lancaster County. Moreover, Recovery Lancaster will distribute $3,500,000 of this amount to businesses with twenty (20) or fewer employees.
Who qualifies?
To apply, the applicant must be a business, a 501(c)(3), or an agricultural entity that operates in Lancaster County and employs 500 or fewer employees. The determination of employees is based on a “headcount” and not on FTE equivalents. Part-time employees are each considered one employee for this calculation.
The headcount does include the owner of a business if the owner works in the business, but it does not include independent contractors.
Applicants must show that they have sustained a revenue loss of 40% or greater when comparing revenue from April-September 2019 to revenue received April-September 2020.
What are the restrictions or disqualifications?
Applicants may receive funding assistance even if the business has received other grants and loans from other sources, such as PPP, PIDA, Lancaster City Emergency Fund, Phase I or Phase 2 of the Small Business Recovery and Sustainability Fund, or other such grant programs.
Passive income businesses, such as residential and commercial landlords, are ineligible to apply. Entities receiving (or who will be receiving) direct allocation of funds from the county, such as libraries, Fire Stations, and EMS, are also ineligible.
Moreover, a business may be ineligible if an owner has been charged, arrested, or incarcerated for a felony. If an applicant may be disqualified for these reasons, you should check the program for specific restrictions.
How can I apply?
The application will be located at http://www.recoverylancaster.com, and applicants are strongly encouraged by the Fund to fill out the application online.
To apply, the applicants must provide documentation, including but not limited to:
- EIN or SSN (if reporting as a sole proprietor)
- NAISC Code
- Entity name
- Summary of Goods and/or Services produced
- Summary of Proposed Use of Working Capital
- April-September 2019 Revenue Statement
- April- September 2020 Revenue Statement
- 2019 Gross Revenue
- 2019 Net Profit (or Loss)
- 2019 Total Operating Expenses
- 2019 Depreciation Included in Operating Expenses
- Year the business was established
- The highest number of employees reported from April 1, 2019 – April 1, 2020
- Copies of the business’s 2019 federal tax return
- Information regarding how COVID-19 has impacted the business operations and/or working capital
Is there anything else I should know?
Recipients can use the funds to cover necessary working capital costs. Those costs include payroll, rent, mortgage, supplies, and operating expenses (including safety retrofits) but do not include owner compensation.
Grant funds cannot be used
- to pay compensation to shareholders, partners, or sole proprietors
- to pay back loans to pay owner compensation, or
- to pay back loans to related parties such as shareholders, partners, or family members.
The maximum cap on the amount awarded to a business will be based on its number of employees. The maximum caps are:
| Company Size | Max Award for 1st Awardee | Max Award for 2nd Time Awardee |
| 1-20 Employees | $20,000 | $10,000 |
| 21-50 Employees | $50,000 | $25,000 |
| 50-100 Employees | $80,000 | $40,000 |
| 101-250 Employees | $125,000 | n/a |
| 251-500 Employees | $175,000 | n/a |
Recovery Lancaster will release some information, including the legal name and d/b/a name of the applicant, the municipality the applicant is located, the funding amount requested, and the score result given by the funding committee.
However, Recovery Lancaster will not publicly release revenue amounts, operating expenses, the purpose of the funding, or whether funding was obtained.
Laws and regulations remain a moving target for COVID-19-related relief. As such, the laws and regulations discussed today may change soon. Please consult with a legal professional regarding the Lancaster Small Business Recovery & Sustainability Fund if you have any legal concerns.