Virginia 30 Day Fund looks to help 1,000 small businesses by end of year
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Two Virginia-based entrepreneurs are on a mission to help struggling small businesses all across the state.
The Virginia 30 Day Fund launched back in April and is on its way to connecting 1,000 businesses with some extra cash.
“Anything from bakeries to barber shops, dog walkers to diners. We’ve even funded a private investigation firm, we’ve seen all walks of life,” says co-founder Pete Snyder.
The process is simple, and it starts at VA30DayFund.com. In order to qualify, businesses must have between three and 30 employees, have been in operation for at least a year, and be owned and operated by a Virginia resident. The money comes as forgivable loans.
“Just in time for Thanksgiving, we’re going to be hitting the 750 mark, and going to be well on our way to 1,000 companies by the end of the year,” Snyder said.
One of those businesses is Julep’s in Downtown Richmond, which was “fortunate to get granted twice,” according to owner Amy Cabaniss. She says the loan was used for utilities, payroll and other restaurant expenses.
Now, the windows are intact, and it’s slowly working its way back to normalcy.
“It made me feel like people in the VA 30 Day Fund [are] looking out for us, and that we’re relevant, and that this matters and they want to see us make it through,” Cabaniss said.
Snyder says more people on both sides of the equation have been reaching out since this second wave.
“We’ve seen a surge in applications, and we’ve seen a surge in donors coming back to us and saying ‘We love the work you’re doing, we’re worried people are still hurting.’”
He adds that the 1,000 is just a personal goal and that the fund is not closing up shop after hitting that number.
“We were supposed to be around five or six weeks, hence the name ’30 Day Fund’. But we are in our 7th round of overtime right now, months into this horrible pandemic, and people are still hurting. So as long as people are hurting, we’re going to stick around,” he adds.
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