Lendistry to Power $49.5M California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program

LOS ANGELES, May 17, 2022 (Newswire.com) - Lendistry (www.lendistry.com) announced today that it will administer the California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program. Set to launch in early June 2022, the program will distribute $49.5M in grants to nonprofit theater, dance, music and other performance companies to promote workforce development, helping eligible organizations support their current and potential employees. According to Californians for the Arts, due to the pandemic, 72% of performing arts organizations in CA had to lay off or terminate permanent employees, 50% terminated contractors, and 42% had to implement full-week furloughs.

"Lendistry is proud to help nonprofit performing arts organizations show up for their hard-working teams," says Everett K. Sands, CEO of Lendistry. "Their losses in revenue during the pandemic caused them to make some tough choices to stay afloat. The organizations and their devoted staff deserve all the help we can give as they reopen."  

These grant funds must be used for employee expenses like payroll, health care benefits, paid sick leave, insurance premiums, recruitment, training & development and other HR or operating expenses for employees.

Eligible organizations include registered 501(c)(3) entities with no more than $2M in annual gross revenue, and who are classified as theater groups, dance companies, musical groups and artists, and other performing artists. Grant amounts will be based on gross revenue from the 2019 taxable year.

"Lendistry has been a committed and unwavering partner for the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) as we develop programs to support new and established small businesses that have struggled through the pandemic", said Tara Lynn Gray, Director. Most recently, the fintech was selected to administer the grant element of the California Dream Fund, which provided technical and financial assistance to new small business owners to seed entrepreneurship. The $150 million California Venues Program and $4 billion California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program provided assistance to the businesses hit hardest when closing their doors was the only way to protect their communities. 

Lendistry's accessible technology and ecosystem of community partners have proved the most effective way to reach the state's most underserved, often multilingual small business owners, including women, minorities, veterans, and businesses in rural areas. In administering the California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program, Lendistry joins CalOSBA in honoring the people who make sure the show goes on.

About Lendistry

B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba Lendistry (lendistry.com) is a minority-led and technology-enabled small business and commercial real estate lender with Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and Community Development Entity (CDE) certification. Lendistry is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, headquartered in a Los Angeles Opportunity Zone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lendistry provided Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses in all 50 states, becoming the #8 PPP lender in the country in 2021. Lendistry was selected by the states of California, Pennsylvania, and New York to administer their small business relief programs, which distributed grants to businesses that lost significant revenues during the pandemic. As a previous SBA Community Advantage lender in California, Lendistry was historically one of the top-ranked lenders in that program in the nation, providing responsible financing to small business owners who needed responsible capital to grow. Lendistry and its nonprofit partner organization, The Center by Lendistry, are dedicated to providing economic opportunities and progressive growth for underserved urban and rural small business borrowers and their communities. In 2022, Lendistry SBLC, LLC, a subsidiary of B.S.D. Capital, Inc., became the nation's only African American-led SBA designated Small Business Lending Company. 

Press contact: [email protected]

Source: Lendistry