An Initial $1.3 Million In Capital To Support Small Businesses Impacted By Recent Hurricanes

LiftFund partners with corporate leaders JPMorgan Chase & Co., Groupon and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses to provide relief to impacted businesses

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LiftFund

Oct 06, 2017, 06:55 ET

HOUSTON, Oct. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Small businesses make up over eighty percent of a local economy's vibrancy. The number of businesses impacted by the hurricanes that have hit the U.S. coasts is still unknown, but the work to rebuild communities is immediate.

LiftFund, a non-profit business lender, with the generous support of JPMorgan Chase, Groupon and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses has established a relief fund to support small business affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

With an initial $1.3 million in capital, including $1 million from JPMorgan Chase's Small Business Forward initiative, LiftFund's hurricane relief loan fund will help small businesses along the Texas Gulf Coast and Florida rebuild after the devastation caused by the September hurricanes.

LiftFund's hurricane relief loan fund has reached $1.3 million in capital to provide a combination of products and support services, including low to zero interest loans to small business owners affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

"For Houston to fully recover, our small businesses must remain strong engines of economic opportunity," said Nataly Marks, Managing Director for JPMorgan Chase in Houston. "JPMorgan Chase is proud to stand with LiftFund - an experienced microlender with a strong track record - and all the small businesses seeking to rebuild after Harvey."

"It's critical that when we rebuild our communities, we rebuild for homes, for corporations, and for small businesses. With our partners, we are here to support small businesses in the wake of the hurricanes. We know timing is of the essence, and we are ready to help them rebuild and reopen with our hurricane relief loan fund," said Janie Barrera, LiftFund President and CEO.

"Small businesses are the backbone of the communities they serve, and many absorbed significant damage from the recent hurricanes," said Groupon CEO Rich Williams. "The local impact of shuttered businesses will be felt long after the initial disaster. Helping businesses with much-needed access to capital is a key way we can help these communities along the road to recovery."

"We're proud to partner with LiftFund, a longstanding lending partner in the 10,000 Small Businesses program, to ensure that small business owners affected by the storm receive both immediate help as well as longer term support that will help them recover and rebuild," said Margaret Anadu, Goldman Sachs Managing Director. "This grant will supplement Goldman Sachs' overall response to these storms including over $1 million in donations as well as employee volunteer initiatives benefiting a range of nonprofit organizations in Houston and Florida."

LiftFund has historically supported small businesses through similar catastrophes like Hurricanes Katrina (2005), Ike (2008), and Sandy (2012), developing specific products and services to alleviate the needs of impacted small businesses.

Small business owners in Houston, along the Texas Gulf Coast and Florida can visit www.liftfund.com/hurricane-relief-resources to learn about products and support services specifically tied to LiftFund's hurricane relief efforts. Or, impacted business owners may call LiftFund at (888) 215-2373 or inquire by email at [email protected].

"LiftFund and our corporate partners stand strong with the small businesses and our special assistance programs aim to help these business owners get back on their feet," said Barrera.

To learn more about LiftFund's clients and keep up with the rebuilding process in their communities, please visit our blog post: Communities Rebuild after Harvey.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.6 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com. Follow us on Twitter @Chase and @ChaseSmallBiz, and at www.facebook.com/chase.

About Groupon
Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is building the daily habit in local commerce, offering a vast mobile and online marketplace where people discover and save on amazing things to do, see, eat and buy. By enabling real-time commerce across local businesses, travel destinations, consumer products and live events, shoppers can find the best a city has to offer.

Groupon is redefining how small businesses attract and retain customers by providing them with customizable and scalable marketing tools and services to profitably grow their businesses. To download Groupon's top-rated mobile apps, visit www.groupon.com/mobile. To search for great deals or subscribe to Groupon emails, visit www.groupon.com. To learn more about the company's merchant solutions and how to work with Groupon, visit www.groupon.com/merchant.

About Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is based on the broadly held view of leading experts that greater access to a combination of education, capital, and support services best addresses barriers to growth for small businesses. 10,000 Small Businesses is guided by an Advisory Council co-chaired by Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, Bloomberg L.P. founder, president and CEO, and 108th Mayor of the City of New York Michael R. Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City's Dr. Michael Porter. To date nationally, 10,000 Small Businesses has reached more than 6,300 small business owners across 14 US education sites, and has deployed over 1,000 loans to 870 additional businesses.

Approximately 70 percent of participants have reported increasing their revenues just six months after graduating and approximately 50 percent of participants have reported creating net new jobs in this same time period. 85 percent of program scholars do business with one or more 10,000 Small Businesses alumni.

About LiftFund
Established in 1994 in San Antonio, LiftFund is a non-profit financial and business support service organization that helps entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses, stabilize and increase their incomes, create employment and contribute to the economic revitalization of their communities. LiftFund has the nation's largest microlender portfolio and is committed to providing capital to entrepreneurs who do not have access to loans from commercial sources. Since its inception, LiftFund has made over 19,000 loans totaling more than $250 million. LiftFund operates in 13 states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. To learn more about LiftFund visit www.liftfund.com.