Loudoun County Business Reinvestment and Recovery Grant

The Loudoun County Business Recovery & Reinvention Grant (BRRG) is designed to fund innovative solutions to accelerate business growth for companies that have needed to pivot in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Loudoun County will provide grants of up to $50,000 to help enable companies to make a change to their business model, adopt new technologies or practices, or otherwise reinvent their business to cope with the economic and/or public health requirements and challenges during the pandemic.

BRRG applicants were required to demonstrate the following criteria:

• Licensed and operational for-profit business in Loudoun County
• Operational prior to March 1, 2020
• Currently open and operating (Funds may NOT be used to restart a business closed during COVID-19)
• Commitment to maintain funded project within Loudoun County for a minimum of 2 years post-award
• 0-250 employees (no limit on 1099 contractors)
• Pre-Covid (March 1, 2020) revenue of at least $50,000 and no more than $8 million.
• Funds will only be distributed via ACH (If awarded the business must provide the Economic Development Authority additional banking forms for financial disbursement)

How were applications reviewed?

1. All applications will undergo an administrative review for eligibility requirements. Any application that does not meet the minimum requirements will be disqualified at this stage. This includes:
   • Any application for a business not licensed and in good standing with the County or the incorporated town at the time the application is received.
   • Any business who has not demonstrated they meet the revenue requirements of a minimum of $50,000 and not exceeding $8 million
   • Any business whose employee count exceeds 250 W2 employees
   • Any business that has not clearly demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 on their business and how the requested project funding is in response to that impact.[2]
2. After the administrative review remaining applications will be assigned to a caller who will work with the applicant to get documents to support the projected project[3], remove any requested projects or items that do not meet the grant criteria and determine a final request amount and project plan.
3. After the caller has signed off on the application it will go through a certification review. This process will score the applications based on the highest impact to the business and the county, will review how previous local, State, and Federal funding has been used by the business, and make a final determination on which applications will receive funding until all funds have been expended.

[1] EXAMPLE: If the $4,940,000 were divided by all $50,000 projects the total number of businesses funded would be 98.8. As with all previous County grant programs, remaining funds are returned to the County’s general ARPA funds and will NOT be distributed beyond the guidelines of this grant.

[2] Businesses who provide a list of projects where some are eligible and others are not will not be disqualified at this round, but are subject to a change to their proposal in the second review stage.

[3] Documents could include a more detailed budget, invoices or MOUs for purchases, but will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The fund is now closed for applications. Selected grant recipients are listed below:

Please note:

• Business names are spelled exactly as they were entered on the application form. No edits were made to the received applications.
• In the coming weeks, selected businesses will receive an additional email from our team that will have instructions for accepting the grant award before funds are disbursed.
• IMPORTANT: If your business was awarded a grant, please note that you may now begin purchasing those items that were approved for your grant request proof of purchase price documents. Please also note that you will be required to provide receipts that match the project as it was submitted and the total amount approved.

If you have any other questions, please email LoudounBiz@loudoun.gov.

Grant program timeline:

1. Applications will be accepted on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 from noon until 3 p.m. ONLY.
2. Any application not fully submitted into the portal at 3 p.m. will not be considered.
3. Applications that were previously In Progress can be completed and submitted in this window,
4. All eligibility requirements as previously stated are the same and all applications submitted on either December 1, 2021, during that open window or on December 8, 2021, during the 12-3 p.m. window will be considered using the review process listed below.
5. This grant will NOT be administered using a lottery system and will only fund businesses which are certified and chosen for funding up to the allocated amount of $4.9 million.[1]
6. This grant will not be able to fund all applications that meet the eligibility requirements and will not be reallocated regardless of the total number of applications received.
7. Awarded applications will be announced in early February.

A Message from Loudoun Economic Development Executive Director Buddy Rizer:

We wanted to provide this important update to all applicants of the Loudoun County Business Reinvestment and Recovery Fund. This $4.9 million-dollar fund was created by the Board of Supervisors as part of their ongoing efforts to support our business community as we work to reinvest, recover, and reinvent in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Across the two days the portal was open, we received 768 applications from businesses of all shapes, sizes, industries and locations across the county. The response to this opportunity was both exhilarating and humbling. The projects within those applications show the dedication of the Loudoun business community to resiliency, recovery and growth.

The team at the Department of Economic Development (DED) is working diligently to review every application. In addition to DED staff, the application review process includes reviews by the Commissioner of the Revenue, the Incorporated Towns, and other County staff. Because the response was so high, we want to make sure we take the necessary time to review applications, particularly in this first phase with care and concern for the effort made and the goals of the grant program.