If a fundraiser was started for your small business through Yelp, it (a) must be in the United States, (b) must have claimed its business on Yelp by March 22, 2020, and (c) must have five or fewer locations. Additionally, businesses must (d) be listed in at least one of the following categories.
In addition, to be eligible for a grant from the Small Business Relief Fund, the business needs to meet the following requirements: have been negatively impacted by a government mandate due to the COVID-19 pandemic; be independently owned and operated; not be nationally dominant in its field of operation; intend to use funds to either help (a) care for its employees/workers or (b) pay ongoing business expenses; raise at least $500 for the business through its own GoFundMe fundraiser, which fundraiser it started because of the COVID-19 pandemic; and have no fraud reports made against it. Only one grant per business. All business fundraisers and grant recipients must comply with GoFundMe’s terms of service. To read more see here our terms of service.
That said, any business, as long as it complies with our terms of service, can start a GoFundMe.
If a fundraiser has been started on a business’s behalf through the Yelp integration, here are the steps required to be considered for a grant:
- Fill out this claim form
- Raise $500 from your friends, families, and other connections
- Be sure the business owner is set up to receive the funds from the fundraiser, if you’re not raising money for your own business. Select the “Withdraw” option in the GoFundMe dashboard to make sure this is set up
Any unclaimed donations remaining on a fundraiser created through Yelp will be refunded to donors.