Digital Transformation Grant
On July 19, the Ontario government announced an investment of $10 million towards the Digital Main Street program for 2021-22 to help over 13,000 small businesses expand their digital presence and market their services online.
Small businesses across Ontario with a brick-and-mortar location and one to 50 employees can apply for $2,500 Digital Transformation Grants, which they can use to purchase new technology and digital services.
Read more about this announcement here. Read more about this grant here.
Tourism Relief Fund
On July 12, the Government of Canada launched $500-million in funding for the new Tourism Relief Fund.
Eligible applicants include tourism entities that cater mainly to visitors, such as:
- businesses;
- not-for-profit organizations, such as tourism associations; and
- band councils or other Indigenous organizations and cooperatives.
To be considered eligible for this fund, applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Be a key supplier or operator in the visitor experience;
- Be part of a defined tourism cluster or a tourism dependent community, including supporting downtown cores; or
- Provide an anchor product or service in a tourism destination.
Financial support:
- Contributions to businesses will be either:
- non-repayable contributions up to $100,000 for up to 50 percent of eligible costs; or
- fully repayable contributions up to $500,000 for up to 75 percent of eligible costs.
*NOTE: A business cannot receive a combination of a non-repayable and a repayable contribution for the same project.
- Not-for-profit organizations and Indigenous entities (not generating profits) will be eligible for non-repayable contributions.
- Project contribution amounts would not exceed $500,000. The actual contribution amount will be based on the minimum amount required to carry out the project.
Read more about this announcement here. For complete details on eligibility, and to apply for funding, visit FedNor’s Tourism Relief Fund webpage here or contact your local FedNor Initiatives Officer here.
Grow Your Business Online
On July 8, the Government of Canada launched the call for the Canada Digital Adoption Program’s (CDAP) first stream, Grow Your Business Online. This stream will award funding of up to $336.8 million to not-for-profit organizations to support small businesses as they adopt digital technologies such as digital storefronts and e-commerce platforms, and expand their digital presence. Grow Your Business Online will help up to 90,000 smaller businesses, including restaurants, tourism and recreation-based businesses.
Eligible businesses will receive micro-grants of up to $2,400 to help with the costs related to adopting digital technologies. Grow Your Business Online will also support a network of up to 11,200 youth digital advisors who will provide advice to and help the small businesses adopt e-commerce. Applications are currently being accepted until August 6th 2021.
Read more about this announcement here. Read more about this funding stream here.