Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant Application

Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant Application Template

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged small businesses in unprecedented ways, forcing many to pivot operations, reduce staff, and navigate revenue loss while managing mounting operational costs. Recovery grants exist to help businesses stabilize, retain employees, and rebuild sustainable operations—but accessing these funds often means completing detailed applications that require careful documentation and strategic planning.

This Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant Application template is designed to help small businesses apply for pandemic relief funding efficiently and professionally. Built with Paperform, this template streamlines the application process while ensuring you capture all the critical information grant administrators need to evaluate eligibility and impact.

Who This Template Is For

This grant application template is ideal for:

• Small business owners seeking COVID-19 recovery funding and relief grants
• Grant administrators and government agencies managing pandemic relief programs
• Economic development organizations distributing recovery funds to local businesses
• Community foundations supporting small business resilience
• SBA and CDFI partners coordinating supplemental relief efforts
• Municipal and state agencies running targeted recovery initiatives

Whether you're a retail shop, restaurant, professional service firm, or manufacturing business, this template helps you present a compelling case for funding while demonstrating fiscal responsibility and community impact.

What This Template Covers

The application gathers comprehensive information across several key areas:

Business Information & Eligibility: Capture essential details including business name, legal structure, industry classification (NAICS code), location, ownership information, and years in operation. This helps grant administrators verify eligibility criteria and prioritize applications based on program parameters.

Revenue Loss Documentation: Document the financial impact of COVID-19 with comparative revenue reporting for 2019 vs. 2020, percentage of revenue decline, and narrative descriptions of how the pandemic affected operations. This quantitative and qualitative data demonstrates need and justifies funding amounts.

Employee Impact & Retention Plans: Report on workforce changes including employee counts before and during the pandemic, layoffs, furloughs, and detailed retention plans showing how grant funds will be used to rehire staff, maintain payroll, or prevent future layoffs. This aligns with many programs' focus on job preservation.

Grant Funding Request: Specify the amount requested, provide detailed budget breakdowns showing how funds will be allocated (payroll, rent, inventory, PPE, technology, etc.), and articulate expected outcomes and community impact.

SBA Loan Status & Other Assistance: Disclose PPP loans, EIDL advances, state grants, and other relief received to prevent duplication of benefits and ensure compliance with program rules. Transparency here is critical for grant administrators managing multiple funding sources.

Supporting Documentation Upload: Allow applicants to attach required documents like tax returns, financial statements, payroll records, lease agreements, and bank statements—all in one secure submission.

Certifications & Attestations: Include required legal certifications, authorization signatures, and compliance statements to ensure applications meet regulatory requirements.

Why Paperform Is the Right Solution

Traditional grant applications often rely on PDFs, email chains, and manual data entry that create bottlenecks for both applicants and administrators. Paperform transforms this process into a streamlined, professional experience:

Guided, On-Brand Experience: The doc-style editor lets you create an application that feels professional and trustworthy, with clear instructions, conditional logic that shows only relevant questions, and a clean layout that reduces applicant frustration. You can match your organization's branding to build confidence and credibility.

File Uploads Made Simple: Applicants can upload financial documents, tax returns, and supporting materials directly within the form. Everything stays organized and linked to the submission—no more hunting through email attachments or shared drives.

Conditional Logic for Smart Workflows: Show different questions based on business type, loan status, or funding amount requested. For example, if an applicant indicates they received a PPP loan, automatically surface questions about loan amounts and forgiveness status. This keeps the form lean and relevant.

Payment Integration (If Needed): If your grant program requires application fees or matching contributions, Paperform's native payment processing through Stripe, PayPal, or Square handles it seamlessly within the same form.

Calculations for Budget Validation: Use Paperform's calculation engine to auto-total budget line items, calculate revenue loss percentages, or validate that requested amounts align with documented losses. This reduces errors and speeds up review.

Automated Workflows with Stepper: Once an application is submitted, use Stepper to automate your grant review process. Route applications to review committees based on funding tier, send automated confirmation emails with next steps, update Airtable or Google Sheets tracking databases, notify finance teams when applications are approved, and trigger follow-up tasks—all without manual data entry.

Secure, Compliant Data Management: With SOC 2 Type II compliance, role-based permissions, and secure file storage, Paperform gives grant administrators the confidence that sensitive financial and personal information is protected. You can assign different team members to review, score, and approve applications without compromising data security.

Integrations That Scale: Connect submissions to your CRM, project management tools, or financial systems via native integrations, webhooks, or automation platforms. Push data to HubSpot for applicant relationship management, log applications in Notion or Airtable for collaborative review, or ping Slack when high-priority applications come through.

How Small Businesses and Grant Administrators Benefit

For Applicants: The clear, step-by-step layout reduces confusion and anxiety during an already stressful time. Conditional logic means they only see questions that apply to their situation, file uploads keep all documentation in one place, and instant confirmation emails provide peace of mind that their application was received.

For Grant Administrators: You'll receive structured, complete applications that are easy to review and compare. Automated workflows reduce manual tasks, calculations ensure accuracy, and built-in reporting (enhanced by Paperform's AI Insights) helps you quickly identify trends, prioritize applications, and demonstrate program impact to stakeholders.

Industry-Specific Flexibility

While this template is built specifically for COVID-19 recovery grants, the structure adapts beautifully to other grant programs:

• Disaster relief grants for businesses affected by natural disasters
• Innovation and expansion grants for growth-stage companies
• Community development grants for minority-owned or rural businesses
• Workforce development grants for training and upskilling programs
• Sustainability and green business grants for environmental initiatives

Simply adjust the questions, documentation requirements, and evaluation criteria to match your specific program goals.

Real Impact, Faster Deployment

Grant programs need to move quickly—especially during crisis response. With Paperform, you can launch a professional, secure application form in hours instead of weeks. The intuitive editor means you don't need IT support or developer resources to make updates as program requirements evolve.

For the small businesses you serve, this template represents hope and opportunity. A clear, accessible application process removes barriers and empowers business owners to focus on what matters: their recovery story, their employees, and their community impact.

Get Started Today

Whether you're administering a multi-million dollar relief program or a local community fund, this Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Grant Application template gives you the foundation to accept applications professionally, efficiently, and securely. Built for the real-world needs of economic development professionals and the small businesses they serve, it's a solution that scales with your mission.

Start with this template, customize it to your program's specific requirements, and use Stepper to automate everything that happens after "Submit." That's how modern grant programs run—with less manual work, better applicant experiences, and faster time to impact.