For purposes of this program, “eligible venue” means a venue with the following characteristics:

1. A defined performance and audience space.
2. Mixing equipment, a public address system, and a lighting rig.
3. Engages one or more individuals to carry out not less than two of the following roles:
   • A sound engineer.
   • A booker.
   • A promoter.
   • A stage manager.
   • Security personnel.
   • A box office manager.
4. Is one of the three highest revenue grossing entities, locations, or franchises associated with the applicant.
5. For a venue owned or operated by a nonprofit entity that produces free events, the events are produced and managed primarily by paid employees, not by volunteers.

• Employee expenses, including payroll costs, health care benefits, paid sick, medical, or family leave, and insurance premiums.
• Working capital and overhead, including rent, utilities, mortgage principal, and interest payments, but excluding mortgage prepayments, and debt obligations, including principal and interest, incurred before March 1, 2020.
• Costs associated with reopening business operations after being fully or partially closed due to state-mandated COVID-19 health and safety restrictions and business closures.
• Costs associated with complying with COVID-19 federal, state, or local guidelines for reopening with required safety protocols, including, but not limited to, equipment, plexiglass barriers, outdoor dining, personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, testing, and employee training expenses.
• Any other COVID-19-related expenses not already covered through grants, forgivable loans, or other relief through federal, state, county, or city programs.
• Any other COVID-19-related costs that are not human resource expenses for the state share of Medicaid, employee bonuses, severance pay, taxes, legal settlements, personal expenses, or other expenses unrelated to COVID-19 impacts, repairs from damages already covered by insurance, or reimbursement to donors for donated items or services.

• Notwithstanding the three previous pages, “eligible independent live event” shall not include entities that satisfy any of the following:
• Is a publicly traded corporation, or is majority owned and controlled by a publicly traded corporation.
• Owns or operates entities in more than five states or in another country, or is owned by an entity that owns or operates entities in more than five states or in another country.
• Generates less than 75 percent of its gross earned revenue in California.
• Demonstrates a percentage gross earned revenue decline in California of less than 30 percent, based on a reporting period comparing Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2020, compared to Q2, Q3, and Q4 of 2019.
• Businesses without a physical presence in the state and not headquartered in the state.
• Businesses primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities, regardless of whether the entity is registered as a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(6), or 501(c)(19).
• Passive businesses, investment companies, and investors who file a Schedule E on their tax returns.
• Financial institutions or businesses primarily engaged in the business of lending, such as banks, finance companies, and factoring companies.
• Businesses engaged in any activity that is unlawful under federal, state, or local law.
• Businesses that restrict patronage for any reason other than capacity.
• Speculative businesses.
• Businesses with any owner of greater than 10 percent of the equity interest in it who meets one or more of the following criteria:
  • The owner has, within the prior three years, been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against the owner, or has had commenced any form of parole or probation, including probation before judgment, for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a federal, state, or local public transaction or contract under a public transaction, violation of federal or state antitrust or procurement statutes or commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property.
  • The owner is presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a federal, state, or local government entity, with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in clause (i).
• Affiliated companies, as defined in Section 121.103 of Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
• Other businesses determined by the office, consistent with the limitations and exclusions set in Rounds 1 and 2 of the COVID-19 Relief Grant Program.

• Employee expenses, including payroll costs, health care benefits, paid sick, medical, or family leave, and insurance premiums.
• Working capital and overhead, including rent, utilities, mortgage principal, and interest payments, but excluding mortgage prepayments, and debt obligations, including principal and interest, incurred before March 1, 2020.
• Costs associated with reopening business operations after being fully or partially closed due to state-mandated COVID-19 health and safety restrictions and business closures.
• Costs associated with complying with COVID-19 federal, state, or local guidelines for reopening with required safety protocols, including, but not limited to, equipment, plexiglass barriers, outdoor dining, personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, testing, and employee training expenses.
• Any other COVID-19-related expenses not already covered through grants, forgivable loans, or other relief through federal, state, county, or city programs.
• Any other COVID-19-related costs that are not human resource expenses for the state share of Medicaid, employee bonuses, severance pay, taxes, legal settlements, personal expenses, or other expenses unrelated to COVID-19 impacts, repairs from damages already covered by insurance, or reimbursement to donors for donated items or services.

• Applicant Certification (PDF)
  Completed and signed to self-certify the truthfulness and accuracy of the information you provide in the web application and supporting documents.
• Business Financials (PDF)
  • All pages of the business 2019 federal tax returns
  • All pages of the business 2019 California tax returns
  • All pages of the business 2020 federal tax returns
  • All pages of business 2020 California tax returns
• Government-Issued ID (PDF or JPEG)
  Driver’s License or Passport (Expired IDs will not be accepted)
• Interim Financial Statements (PDF)
  • Interim financials statement covering Q2, Q3 & Q4 for 2019
  • Interim financials statement covering Q2, Q3 & Q4 for 2020
• Official filing with the California Secretary of State (which must be active) or local municipality, as applicable, for your business such as one of the following (PDF):
  • Articles of Incorporation
  • Certificate of Organization
  • Fictitious Name of Registration
  • Government-issued Business License (sole proprietors without fictitious name)
• Nonprofits Only: Most Recent IRS Tax Exemption Letter (PDF)
• NOTE: Must provide a California Secretary of State filing evidencing that the business was legally doing business in the State of California prior to June 1, 2019.

• Eligible independent live event applicants shall complete a new and separate application for the grants allocated under this program even if they already have submitted an application for the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program established in Section 12100.83 of the California Government Code.
• If an eligible independent live event has been awarded a grant under the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program established in Section 12100.83 of the California Government Code, the amount of that grant shall be subtracted from the grant amount awarded under this program. If the grant amount awarded under Section 12100.83 of the California Government Code is greater than the amount awarded under this program, the eligible independent live event shall not receive a grant under this program and no amount shall be subtracted.

Confirmation emails come from Lendistry at [email protected]. If an applicant did not receive a confirmation email after submitting their application, we advise the applicant to check their spam folder for emails from [email protected] and add the email address to their email account’s safe sender list.

TIP: Place “Lendistry” in the search bar.

Lendistry’s Portal can be accessed HERE.

Eligible applicants will then go through the final stages of validation to determine if they are approved or declined for funding.

Lendistry will notify all applicants of their determination.

Lendistry may require proof of payment of applicable Secretary of State fees and/or Franchise Tax Board payments evidencing active status in California. Required proof of payment may include canceled check, an email confirmation of payment, or bank statement reflecting payment.

Lendistry does not sell personal information to advertisers or other third parties for financial gain. Any sharing of personal information with third parties is done in accordance with Lendistry’s privacy policy (available here) and is primarily for the purposes of making available and/or providing Lendistry’s products and services, including this grant.

Once Lendistry has received a fully executed grantee agreement, please allow up to 5 business days for funding to be received.

Acceptable forms of government-issued photo ID include:

• Driver’s License;
• United States Passport; and
• State ID.

Applicants will also need to take a selfie using a device with a front-facing camera to complete the Persona verification.

What is Persona?
Persona is a third-party platform utilized by Lendistry in its fraud prevention and mitigation process. The Persona platform enables Lendistry to verify an individual’s identity and protect against identity spoofing by automatically comparing the individual’s selfie to their ID portrait with a 3-point composite and biometric liveness checks.

The following forms of ID will NOT be accepted:

1. Expired IDs
2. Bus Passes
3. School IDs
4. Union IDs
5. Job Badges
6. Library Cards

Only one reexamination request is allowed for each application.

They will be notified via email if they are ineligible for this grant program. If there was an error in their web application form or in the documentation provided as part of their application, please contact our dedicated Call Center at (888) 984-1173 (M – F: 7:00am – 7:00pm PST) within five (5) business days of receiving this email. Please note that this will not guarantee a reversal of their ineligibility. Additional documents and information may be requested to further validate their application.

If Lendistry does not hear from them within this timeframe, their ineligibility will be sustained and their file will be closed.

Only one reexamination request is allowed per application.

They will be notified via email if they are declined for a grant award. If they believe they were declined in error, please contact our dedicated Call Center at (888) 984-1173 (M – F: 7:00am – 7:00pm PST) within five (5) business days of receiving this email. Please note that this will not guarantee a reversal of their decline determination. Additional documents and information may be requested to further validate their application.

If Lendistry does not hear from them within this timeframe, their decline determination will remain permanent and their file will be closed.

No. Only one application should be submitted for the Program. Submitting multiple applications may be detected as fraud and could disrupt the review process for your application.

If you require assistance for your Round 1 application, please call the call center at 888-984-1173. 

You could qualify if you meet Round 2 eligibility requirements. Please refer to the guidelines for updated eligibility including NAICS codes.

Yes, contact the call center at 888-984-1173 and request a re-review. Please note that this will not guarantee a reversal of your decline determination. Additional documents and information may be requested to further validate your application.