SBA Announces Supplemental Grants for SVOG Program

SVOG • Aug 11, 2021

Today, the SBA announced new Supplemental Grants for Shuttered Venue Operator Grant recipients as nearly $8 billion remains available to assist various types of venues. We've recapped today's news below, who's eligible, and what this means for additional funding for certain types of businesses.

The SVOG Has Helped Over 10,000 Venues Across the US

The SVOG program was allocated around $16 billion in the December 2020 pandemic relief package. According to the SBA, these types of venues — if in operation before February 29, 2020 —were eligible to apply:

Live venue operators or promoters
Theatrical producers
Live performing arts organization operators
Museum operators
Motion picture theater operators (including owners)
Talent representatives

To date, 15,872 SVOG applications have been submitted and 98% of applications have been reviewed. Of those, 10,826 businesses have received SVOG grants. The total amount awarded is $8.4 billion with the average grant being $779K. This means that only around half of the total available funding has been used to date, and the SBA has done extensive outreach to source more eligible applicants.

SBA Will Award Supplemental Grants To SVOG Recipients

In today's announcement, the SBA clarified that applications are still open and that supplemental grants for SVOG recipients will be available soon.

New applications to the SVOG program will be accepted until August 20, 2021. After that date, any business that received a grant through the SVOG can apply to receive an additional 50% of their original grant amount. Businesses will be capped at $10 million between the initial and supplemental grant.

With the initial grants totaling $8.4 billion, that means the SBA may be allocating an additional $4 billion. In addition, this means the average grant size of the "supplemental grant" may be around $400K — depending on which businesses apply for the extra grants.

SBA Administrator Guzman said, "As this program nears the finish line, we’re providing additional funding options for our hardest-hit venues through our supplemental awards program, which will provide another critical lifeline to ensure businesses can reopen and stay open.”

Meanwhile, Other Businesses Are Still Waiting for More Funding or New Rules

At the same time shuttered venues get the opportunity for business-changing grants, millions of other businesses are still waiting for funding through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and the Economic Injury and Disaster Loan (EIDL), and Targeted EIDL and Supplemental Grant programs.

Many small businesses have found it unfair that shuttered venues get a chance to double down on grants, when millions of restaurants were left out of the RRF funding, which was quickly oversubscribed and depleted.

Similarly, millions of business owners have been waiting for an opportunity to qualify for the $10K Targeted EIDL Grants or $5K Supplemental EIDL Grants — but have been unable to because of the restrictive "low-income community" provision. Nearly $20 billion in funding is still available in the Targeted EIDL grants program — for the time being — but not enough businesses meet the eligibility requirements defined by lawmakers.

However, Other Funding Opportunities Are Still Available

While the SVOG news is good news for some, it doesn't do much for most of you. We'll keep you posted on all SBA-related funding as it evolves here and on our YouTube channel. Meanwhile, we're posting more funding opportunities on the Skip app — under the Funding Tracker and Grants Tracker.