TMC Community Capital Launches Grant Program with Support from Signature Bank and TMC Financing, Allowing Bay Area and Los Angeles Residents to Nominate Local Businesses as Potential Recipients

TMC Community Capital, a new nonprofit fintech lender focused on lending to women entrepreneurs in California, announced today the launch of its Small Business, Big Heart Grant Program, created to help small businesses navigate the economic fallout of COVID-19 and recent civil unrest.

Under the $1 million grant program, TMC Community Capital, with support from Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank with operations throughout the West Coast, and its sister organization, TMC Financing, developed the Small Business, Big Heart Grant Program to equitably provide financial support to the most vulnerable small businesses throughout the Bay Area as well as in Los Angeles. This includes, but is not limited to, mom and pop shops that perhaps missed out on federal relief efforts.

TMC Community Capital is requesting local residents of the Bay Area and Los Angeles communities nominate eligible businesses they believe could benefit from the grant support.

Unlike other recently introduced small business grant relief programs founded on a first-come-first-served basis, TMC Community Capital is asking the local community to nominate small businesses for its no-strings attached grants, which extend up to $10,000. The nominations will be accepted via social media until August 14. Qualified nominees will be entered into a lottery to ensure the funds are equitably distributed. Ten businesses will be selected on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, beginning Friday, July 17th, until all the monies are fully committed.

Members of the community can nominate a small business on TMC Community Capital’s Facebook or LinkedIn pages using #TMCSmallBizBigHeart. To be eligible, businesses must currently be impacted by recent events; have fewer than 30 employees and less than $1 million in annual revenue; and, operate a physical location in San Francisco, Oakland or Los Angeles.

“Small businesses are facing unusual times of crisis. Federal aid programs left many underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses behind while larger companies with significantly deeper resources and broader technical capabilities received aid. It has been a stressful time for all businesses as grant programs also require business owners to traverse through cumbersome processes to secure funds. This has affected all facets of the economy, but especially small business,” said TMC Community Capital CEO Barbara Morrison.

“We wanted to build a program that was easy and equitable, and as a result, we decided to rely on consumers in these local communities to champion the small businesses they frequent. We have established a streamlined verification process, which will give small business owners access to expedited grant funds, assuming they meet the criteria. The program will help Main Street businesses at whose products, services and employees are the lifeblood of these communities,” Morrison concluded.

“Signature Bank was built on a model that serves privately owned businesses, their owners and managers, and it is important to our institution to give back whenever possible, especially during these unprecedented times. To this end, we are pleased to support TMC’s innovative grant program. Our $250,000 donation is earmarked specifically for helping restore primarily those minority and woman-owned small businesses throughout the Bay Area and the greater Los Angeles region - where the Bank has operations - experiencing downturns from the pandemic and civil unrest. This affords Signature Bank the opportunity to strengthen the most vulnerable small businesses - those that make up the fabric of our dynamic, local communities,” said Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.

“We are grateful for the support from Signature Bank and TMC Financing, which makes this program possible,” said Hanna Leen, program manager of TMC Community Capital. “Small businesses pulled the economy out of the Great Recession by creating two-thirds of all net new jobs. With everyone’s help, it can be done again.”

Details for the grant program are available at https://www.tmccommunitycapital.org/grants.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 32 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area including Greenwich, Conn. as well as in San Francisco and Charlotte, N.C. The Bank’s growing network of private client banking teams serves the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $53.07 billion in assets, $41.0 billion in loans, $42.24 billion in deposits, $4.76 billion in equity capital and $3.39 billion in other assets under management as of March 31, 2020. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.

Signature Bankis one of the top 40 largest banks in the U.S., based on deposits (S&P Global Market Intelligence). The Bank recently earned several third-party recognitions, including: appeared on Forbes' Best Banks in America list for the 10th consecutive year in 2020; and, named number one in the Business Bank, Private Bank and Attorney Escrow Services categories by the New York Law Journal in the publication’s annual “Best of” survey for 2019, earning it a place in the New York Law Journal’s Hall of Fame (awarded to companies that have ranked in the “Best of” survey for at least three of the past four years). The Bank also ranked second nationally in the Business Bank, Private Banking Services and Attorney Escrow Service categories of both the 2019 and 2020 National Law Journal’s “Best of” survey.

For more information, please visit www.signatureny.com.

About TMC Community Capital

TMC Community Capital is a nonprofit online mircrolender that provides fast and affordable financing, fosters financial stability, and encourages entrepreneurship among women-owned, low-income and under-resourced small businesses in California.

For more information, please visit www.tmccommunitycapital.org.

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