Sonoma Rotary Clubs grant $200,000 to more than 200 local businesses

The Sonoma Valley Rotary Foundation has just wrapped up a grant campaign that awarded $200,000 to about 200 local businesses in the form of grants from $500 to more than $1,000 to help those businesses cope with the economic effects from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The money came from $100,000 raised by Sonoma Rotarians and then matched with $100,000 from Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund.

Dub Hay, Rotarian and development co-chair of Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund said, “Grants went to companies in industries hardest hit by the shutdowns. Retailers, wine-related companies, catering and food services companies, restaurants, and beauty service providers top the list of recipients. We’ve also helped massage therapists, fitness professionals, tradespeople, and more.”

Katherine Fulton, who is leading the benevolent effort for the Sonoma Catalyst Fund said Sonoma’s Rotary clubs were an obvious choice to help distribute money to those businesses. “When cases started spiking in the fall, Catalyst Fund knew we wanted to find a way to support our local businesses. We were familiar with Rotary’s efforts raising and distributing $1,000,000 in money, food, and goods to victims and first responders of the 2017 fires. It seemed a perfect fit to use Rotary’s hands-on expertise to launch a grants program for the Valley’s small businesses as they faced into another shutdown. There was no way Catalyst could have done this without partnering with Rotary.”

The Rotary-Catalyst grants committee was headed by Dub Hay. Last November he formed a committee of Rotarians from both clubs, as well as Sonoma Chamber CEO Mark Bodenhamer. The group usually met twice each week to review applications from businesses. By early January the committee had awarded the initial $100,000. Seeing the continued need, the Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund offered another matching grant of $50,000, so Rotarians raised an additional $50,000, and the committee continued giving money away.

“It was clear from the demand for the first tranche that businesses in the valley still needed help,” Fulton said. “Not all businesses fit neatly in categories established by government programs. This was such a simple way for businesses to get a little bit of help; they just needed to ask for it. So we offered a second round, and Rotary took up the challenge to raise an additional $50,000 for us to match.”

Not surprisingly, business owners responded with significant appreciation to the effort. “From what I’ve heard,” Fulton added, “business owners couldn’t have been more grateful. And while the money helped a little bit, the gesture—that people in the community cared about them and wanted them to survive—was significant. It gave them hope. And sometimes, hope is enough.”