NetWork Kansas Tax Credits to Help Our Businesses

The need for Kansas counties and local communities to create new resources to assist small businesses has never been greater than during the midst of this world wide crisis. Overnight, small businesses in every community have encountered situations they’ve never dealt with before. Additionally, cities and counties have struggled to identify ways they can best assist. It is in these times that the seeds of opportunity for a better future can emerge. It is this intersection of crisis and opportunity that has prompted NetWork Kansas to introduce the Restart Kansas County Loan Fund.

Restart Kansas County Loan Fund

The Restart Kansas County Loan Fund (Restart Kansas) is led by local leadership teams and NetWork Kansas administrative support organizations. NetWork Kansas currently has more than 40 administrative support organizations and sixty-four Entrepreneurship (E-) Communities.

How Funds Are Raised

Initial funds will be raised utilizing the Entrepreneurship Tax Credit. Sixty percent of all donations utilizing the tax credit will be dedicated to the participating county. Additional funds may also be raised through charitable donations. Forty percent of the funds will be dedicated to statewide efforts including entrepreneurship programming, statewide loan funds, and NetWork Kansas operations.

Restart Kansas County Loan Fund Parameters

For participating counties, Restart Kansas will provide loans up to $20,000 to businesses located in those counties seeking emergency assistance to maintain or restart their business because of some type of disaster. The Restart Kansas loans will have terms of 2% interest for 48 months with the payments deferred for four months.

Requirements for the Fund

Restart Kansas loan applicants must reside in one of the participating counties, complete a Restart Kansas application, be approved by the local leadership team, and complete a promissory note, personal guarantee, marketing release, and ACH form.

Meeting short term needs/long term goals

The Restart Kansas County Loan Fund provides an opportunity to continue to meet the short term needs of the COVID-19 crisis while building systems for meeting the long term needs of counties across Kansas. The long term goal for Restart Kansas is to offer additional loan programs as needs arise. These could include programs similar to statewide programs offered by NetWork Kansas. It is time to meet the current crisis head on while building a long term ecosystem that can meet the gaps inherent in our financial system today.