Applications are now being accepted for The Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF). The RRRF provides financial contributions (interest-free loans) to help support fixed operating costs of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), where business revenues have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The RRRF seeks to provide support to SMEs, which do not qualify for, or have been rejected from current Government of Canada COVID-19 relief measures, including Canada Emergency Business Account, the Business Credit Availability Program, or BDC COVID-19 Working Capital loans.
If you have received the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) or the National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) Innovation Assistance Program (IAP), you are eligible under the RRRF for financial support, excluding costs associated with salaries and benefits.
FUNDING AVAILABLE THROUGH RENFREW COUNTY COMMUNITY FUTURES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Renfrew County Community Futures Development Corporation (RCCFDC) will give priority to assisting sole proprietorship “main street” business owners of retail shops, restaurants, corner stores, and to people, who run businesses of strategic importance to their communities, with loans up to $40,000.
- Details of the RRRF Loan:
- Maximum assistance will be $40,000.
- 0% interest and no principal payments until December 31, 2022.
- Principal repayments can be voluntarily made at any time.
- 25% (not to exceed $10,000) of the loan can be forgiven provided the recipient has paid 75% of the original loan amount prior to December 31, 2022.
- If the recipient is unable to repay the loan by December 31, 2022, the loan will be converted to a three-year term loan with interest rates of 5%, effective January 1, 2023. The full balance must be repaid no later than December 31, 2025.
- Grants and non-repayable contributions are prohibited.
- Eligible RCCFDC applicants must also meet the following criteria:
- established prior to March 1, 2020;
- impacted adversely by the COVID-19 pandemic;
- viable and not experiencing other financial difficulties prior to March 1, 2020;
- have attempted to access other federal relief supports and were ineligible, rejected, or require funding for expenses that have not been supported, with priority given to applicants, who were ineligible or rejected from other federal relief supports.
Applications can be submitted for:
- Loans of up to $40,000 to help address working capital needs.
The application form will be posted to the website by 4PM Tuesday, May 19, 2020.
To Apply:
- Go to rccfdc.org/financing
- Scroll down to the fillable form; enter your contact information and click “send”.
- An application will be automatically sent to your email address (Please note the application will not be live until Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 4 PM EST). If you don’t receive an automatic email within five minutes (don’t forget to check your junk mail), contact info@rccfdc.org
- Email your completed application to submissions@rccfdc.org
Funding available through FedDev Ontario
FedDev Ontario is delivering $213 million in funding support to SMEs impacted by COVID-19 that do not qualify for, or have been declined for, current Government of Canada COVID-19 relief measures.
Should you be interested in a loan of $40,000 or more and meet the following eligibility criteria, you may wish to apply to FedDev Ontario for direct funding.
Eligible applicants must:
- Be a Canadian or provincially incorporated business, co-operative or an Indigenous-owned business located in southern Ontario with 1 to 499 full-time equivalent employees;
- Be facing funding pressures with fixed operating costs as a result of COVID-19;
- Have been a viable business before the COVID-19 pandemic and plan to continue to operate their business or resume operations.
- Have already applied to other Government of Canada emergency credit relief measures for which they are eligible, as outlined in the program guidelines.
For the RRRF funding provided directly by FedDev Ontario, priority may be given to SMEs that fall within the manufacturing, technology, tourism and other sectors key to the region, that are major employers in small communities, or that support the government’s commitment to underrepresented groups.
For more information, please visit the FedDev Ontario website and consult the Applicant Toolkit.
Please note: Applicants will not receive RRRF assistance from both RCCFDC and FedDev Ontario. Review the program guidelines to see which stream is right for you and contact RCCFDC if you have any questions before applying.