SME Grant Programme
Facebook has heard loud and clear that a little financial support goes a long way – it can be the thing that keeps a business afloat, so that’s why we’ve announced the creation of a $100 million grant program to help 30,000 small businesses around the world.
We think this is a critical time to help the small businesses who need it most, so they can keep the lights on and keep their people paid. We’ll be starting with businesses in over 30 countries where we operate, focusing in our own backyards - where we have offices and data centers - and we’ll have more details on how the program will work in the coming weeks. Please see a post from Sheryl Sandberg here.
The team is still building out this application process rapidly, so for now any interested businesses could click on the ‘Sign up for updates’ button at the bottom of the website and they’ll be the first to hear when it goes live.
Business Resources
In addition to this grant, we’re supporting businesses of all sizes in any way we can. We’re focused on making it easy to find help, training and support from our teams:
·Last week, we launched a Business Resource Hub with recommendations and resources that can help businesses cope with disruptions and keep their customers connected and informed.
·We've created virtual training and materials - and we’re looking to do more in the coming weeks.
·And, given that we’re a large, global company, we’re sharing what we have learned and what we know to help other businesses operate in this new, and unsettling, environment.
Collaboration Tech for free
We know that connecting with teams remotely is a new challenge for some businesses and so we’ve made our Workplace Tool (it works like an internal, secure, business facebook platform for messaging, video calls, working in teams) available to to emergency services and government organizations free of charge for 12 months. For any SMEs who do not fall in to those two categories but may need our technology, we also offer Workplace Essential - our free product for SMEs
Sharing Information
Yesterday we launched the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information Center to provide a central place for people to get the latest updates from trusted health authorities as well as resources and tips to stay healthy and support their family and community. This compliments the efforts we have been making on our platforms to reduce the spread of mis-information relating to Covid-19.
