More than 60 businesses applied for Greeley Area Recovery Fund grants since its launch, but we won’t know where the money goes

By Kelly Ragan

Less than a week after its launch, more than 60 businesses have applied to receive grants from the Greeley Area Recovery Fund. 

Managed by the Greeley Chamber of Commerce’s nonprofit foundation, the goal of the fund was to make $500,000 available to local small businesses through a public-private partnership. The city of Greeley put up $250,000. The Greeley Chamber was tasked with matching the funds. 

As of Tuesday, 62 businesses have applied for a grant, said Benjamin Snow, Greeley’s director of economic health and housing, at the city council meeting Tuesday. 

“In addition to the $250,000 from the city of Greeley, the fund has received $20,000 in support from the city of Evans, $175,000 in private pledges from business and over $5,000 in grassroots support from the community,” Snow said. 

Councilmember Brett Payton, who represents southeast Greeley and who also sits on the Greeley Chamber of Commerce foundation board, said application review is now underway. 

In a phone interview with the NoCo Optimist, Payton said the foundation board met to go over applications for the first time Tuesday, when it made a decision to approve funding for five businesses. The foundation board will meet again Thursday to go over more applications as the process ramps up. 

The businesses that apply for funding are guarded by non-disclosure agreements, Payton said, so the public won’t know what businesses end up receiving the grants. 

Some business owners expressed concern about providing the financial information the grant application asks for and how that might be used in the future, Payton said, hence the emphasis on confidentiality. 

“Our goal is to be really protective of those folks,” Payton said. 

According to the Greeley Area Recovery Fund application, all the information in the application is considered trade secrets and confidential financial data. 

“Therefore, it is not subject to public disclosure,” according to the website. “The only people who will have access to the applications will be members of the Greeley Area Chamber Foundation Task Force, who will be bound by a single purpose non-disclosure agreement.”

But that also means we might not know whether the board is favoring some types businesses over others, such as locally owned franchises compared to individual operations, businesses located downtown compared to out west, businesses owned by men compared to women, etc.

We also don’t know who’s involved with deciding whether businesses get grant money.

Bryce Jacobson, chair of the Greeley Chamber of Commerce Foundation Board and former Greeley Tribune publisher, spoke to the NoCo Optimist about why that’s the case.

“We’re not releasing the names of those individuals,” Jacobson said. “Anytime you have tough decisions to be made, it’s difficult. It’s a painstaking process. The unintended consequences of that are not in line with the spirit of the fundraising.”

Jacobson said he thought eight people were involved with making application decisions. Jacobson and Payton make up two of the eight members of the task force that decides what businesses get grant money.

“Are we going to give money to friends? Absolutely. This is a small town,” Jacobson said. “Are we going to say no to our friends, too? Yeah, we’re gonna.”

But without a full list of the folks on the task force and without a list of businesses receiving grants, the public — and business owners applying for a grant — won’t know if there are any conflicts of interest.

It has to come down to trust. So, why should we trust this unnamed group within the chamber to make good decisions?

“The chamber has been around for 100 years,” Jacobson said. “I don’t think there are any concerns about the money being handled correctly.”

Payton also said applicants don’t necessarily have to be located in Greeley. 

“The funds from the city of Greeley are intended to go to Greeley businesses,” Payton said. “But we’re trying to create as much flexibility as we can to spread this out as much as possible.” 

After all, about half the funds are coming from outside the taxpayer dollars approved by city council.  

At the city council meeting Tuesday, councilmember Tommy Butler asked if the council could see applications submitted for businesses in and outside Greeley for the sake of transparency. 

Snow said he thought that would be possible despite the NDA and could present the information Friday. 

Who can apply for the fund? 

According to the Greeley Area Recovery Fund website, applicants must: 

• Be an investor in the Greeley Area Chamber (the chamber is offering a six-month complimentary investor status) 

• Be a locally owned business in operation for a minimum of six months as of the date of application 

• Demonstrate solvency with positive equity and net income prior to Feb. 29, 2020 

• Provide proof of application for at least one of the available federal relief programs, such as the SBA, Disaster Loan, PPP Loan, or EIDL loan. 

How to apply for the fund or donate to it

To learn more about the process to donate or apply, go to https://greeleyarearecoveryfund.com/.

*Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Bryce Jacobson’s current role with the Greeley Chamber of Commerce.