- Salesforce will be offering Salesforce Care Small Business Grants of $10,000 to provide capital to help keep businesses afloat. These grants will support small businesses as they work to replenish materials, pay salaries, or adapt their business model to overcome these challenging times. The grant application will be available to US businesses in mid-April and will be providing additional details on financial support to international small businesses in the near future, for a total financial commitment of $5 million.
- Additionally, we’re already providing free access to Salesforce Essentials to help small businesses engage and support their customers remotely, as well as Tableau so they can quickly make data-driven decisions. Our resource page for small businesses features articles and webinars from small business experts that share inspiration and tools.
- Visit salesforce.com/careforsmallbusiness to learn more about Essentials and our Salesforce Care for Small Business resources. You can sign up to be notified when we open applications for Salesforce Care Small Business Grants.
- Online Manufacturing Certifications. In response to the Coronavirus crisis, the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) has strengthened its capacity to offer a fully online learning and testing solution that will enable prospective certificants to secure MSSC certifications working at home. MSSC has just contracted with a remote proctoring vendor, ProctorU. After May 15th, MSSC's Authorized Assessment Centers can place orders for their test takers to take assessments from their own home or remote location on their personal computers. most Certified Production Technician (CPT) Instructor training was delivered personally by a MSSC Master Trainer. MSSC is now offering a Certified Production Technician (CPT) Instructor Training e-Package that candidate CPT Instructors can take at home online. More details can be found at www.msscusa.org
- Inc. and US Chamber Town Hall Date: Friday, April 10, at 12pm ET
Information and guidance from the government is in constant flux. Tune in each Friday at noon as Inc. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce provide answers to the newly emerging questions around the Stimulus Bill, to give you the essentials for business survival in the age of COVID-19. Register Now
- Business Resiliency Webinar: Keeping the Lights on. Date: Tuesday, April 14 at 1pm ET
Join Grow with Google and America’s SBDC for a no-cost Business Resiliency webinar, “Keeping the Lights On”. This webinar includes an introduction to a 25-page guide to help small business owners prepare to respond quickly and recover from disruptions. Webinar participants will receive the ‘Business Resiliency Guide’ and a ‘Business Resiliency Plan’ template they can customize to meet the specific needs of their business. Register Now
- Hospitality for Hope. To support the hotel and lodging industry’s 8 million employees, the AHLA Foundation is announcing free training and educational courses to help them continue their education and stay connected to the job during this difficult time https://www.ahlafoundation.org/relief
- TikTok has announced a series of relief funds and initiatives to support those fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and to help other individuals and organizations struggling with its impact. In total, the company is pledging $375 million; including $250 million in funds, $100 million in ad credits, and $25 million in ad space for public health information. The $250 million in funding is split into a couple of different relief funds. There’s the Health Heroes Relief Fund ($150 million), which will provide money for medical staff, supplies and hardship relief for healthcare workers. Then there’s its Community Relief Fund ($40 million) which provides money to organizations helping communities that have been hit hard by the health crisis (TikTok will also match an additional $10 million in donations). Finally, the service has pledged $50 million to support distance learning initiatives.
- Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is committing $10 million to help meet the immediate needs of warriors who are in urgent and significant financial crisis due to the loss of household income caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We are asking able companies and foundations to join the effort to support our nation’s heroes by matching the $10 million commitment. Applications will be accepted starting 12:00pm EST on Thursday, April 9th and grant payments will be made until funding is gone.
- Samuel Adams & the Greg Hill Foundation Restaurant Strong Fund - Grants for full-time (30 hours/week minimum) restaurant, bar, cafe, or nightclub workers
- In the US, artists can now get a $5,000 unrestricted grant. Conceived by a consortium of nonprofits, the Artist Relief fund aims to quickly assist artists impacted by the Covid-19 economic downturn.
- SheaMoisture $1 million relief fund to support women entrepreneurs and small business owners of color, awarding ten $10,000 grants in April, with additional, unspecified support to black-owned businesses throughout the month.
- National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE). Small biz grants up to $4K.Grants can be used for marketing, advertising, hiring employees, expanding facilities and other specific business needs. https://www.nase.org/become-a-member/member-benefits/business-resources/growth-grants
- Modest Needs is offering donations to hourly workers who won't get paid during the COVID-19 outbreak here.
- TouchBistro announced the launch of its all-new Restaurant Recovery Navigator, a go-to source for information, insights, products, and one-on-one support to help restaurateurs navigate their business through the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare a path forward for the future. TouchBistro also launched its dedicated gift card offering, a new solution designed to help restaurateurs improve their immediate cash flow during the pandemic; and announced its plans for a proprietary online ordering product, which is set to release by mid-April and will be free for TouchBistro customers for the first 12 months. TouchBistro Online Ordering is commission-free, allowing restaurants to keep 100% of the profits on every order. For more information, visit www.touchbistro.com.
- Drafted announced a free product called Layoff Network to help with the recent surge in layoffs. People can nominate their friends and colleagues affected by layoffs so that they get noticed quicker by companies that are still hiring. Personal recommendations are proven to get people hired up to 7x faster than a normal job board or career-site application process, so the platform enables hiring managers to connect to candidates via introductions. The Layoff Network is free to use starting April 6, 2020. You can sign up at https://app.drafted.us/
- “If you’re looking for a way to help those affected by COVID-19 layoffs, nominating them on the Layoff Network is one of the best things you can do,” says Vinayak Ranade, CEO at Drafted. “At Drafted, we believe that personal introductions through the community are the most scalable way to help connect people with opportunities. More and more companies are looking to hire talent for who they are, and not just their skills. A great nomination is one way to do that.” Over 100 companies have joined the Layoff Network pre-launch. You won’t have to go through a tedious application process; you’ll get a human from one of those companies reaching out to you directly. Drafted is a network recruiting platform that empowers people and companies to connect through introductions. Founded by a team from KAYAK and MIT, Drafted offers several networking products to both employers and individuals. For more information visit explore.drafted.us or contact Vinayak Ranade Drafted, Inc 617-982-3163 contact@drafted.us
- Kuvio Creative: Next round opens MAY 15. Kuvio Creative is a full-service web design and development company that gives back to entrepreneurs who are making a difference by providing them with small business grants and free services. Applications for the Kuvio Impact Grant open three times per year. Grant recipients will have a consultation with the Kuvio team and receive up to 100 hours of free services, such as web design and marketing, depending on the scope of the project. For-profit companies, nonprofits, women-owned companies, minority-owned businesses, and veteran-owned organizations from across sectors are welcome to apply.
- Mercato is waiving all setup fees for independent store chains that sign up with Mercato by APRIL 30. To get started, sign up for a no-obligation demo at www.mercato.com/merchant. Mercato, the online grocery e-commerce platform for independently owned grocery stores, is working to have stores online and delivering groceries within 24 hours for center aisle staples and produce, and 72 hours for most meat, dairy and prepared food items upon receiving their inventory file. Through its partnerships with the leading courier networks, Mercato has the ability to provide 100% delivery coverage across the nation, from high-density cities to rural communities.
- Five9, Inc (NASDAQ: FIVN) the leading provider of the intelligent cloud contact center, announced today that the company partnered with one of the largest global telecommunications companies to stand up and host a COVID-19 financial relief hotline that is facilitating 30,000 concurrent calls. In under 48 hours, the telecommunications company integrated Five9 into their interactive voice response (IVR). When small business owners dial the hotline, the call is routed via the telecommunications provider to the Five9 cloud infrastructure where the call is then routed to leading business process outsourcers to help process small business loans and lines of credit. In this particular instance, the Five9 contact center is equipped to handle the traffic of 30,000 concurrent inbound calls. For contact centers quickly looking to move to a remote workforce, Five9 has launched the Five9 FastTrack program which offers a 48 hour turnaround time to quickly migrate contact centers to the cloud and support a work from anywhere model. To learn more about the Five9 FastTrack program, click here.
- Listing of venture funds open for investments, etc. https://airtable.com/shrML0D37gYVrURbQ/tbloYTLIzOD592zAh?blocks=hide
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