The Brewers Association (BA) today announced it has formed a partnership with nonprofit fundraising organization Bottleshare to establish the “Believe in Beer Fund” to support breweries and state brewers guilds across the country that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting today, the BA and Bottleshare are accepting applications from guilds and breweries in need of financial support, as well as donations from consumers for the fund via GoFundMe, with a stated goal of raising $1 million, through Sunday, May 17. The goal of the fund is to provide financial support to pay payroll, rent and utilities. As of press time, the fund has raised $810.
“This is a very challenging time for breweries and their livelihoods are at risk. We hope creating this relief fund with Bottleshare will provide an answer to the most common question beer lovers have been asking during this unprecedented time: ‘How can I help?’” BA president and CEO Bob Pease said in a press release. “The craft beer community is rooted in collaboration and philanthropy, and now is our chance to come together and give back to our most vulnerable breweries.”
All active U.S. beer companies with brewers notice from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) are eligible to apply. The “active brewery” designation is defined as “currently selling beer or selling beer prior to March 10th if currently closed due to the pandemic.” Those companies must produce the “market definition of beer in any amount, in order to qualify.”
Notably, companies are not required to hold BA memberships, nor do they need to be considered a “craft brewery” as defined by the BA (those who produce fewer than 6 million barrels annually and less than 25% owned by a non-craft brewer).
All state-level guilds are eligible to apply for funding, which “will be distributed on a need basis.”
Bottleshare will evaluate the applications and select the recipients based upon need, which will be distributed by mid-June 2020. The program’s grants must be spent on the recipient’s employees and business, including payroll, rent and utilities. Bottleshare is also reserving the right to request proof of how the funding was spent.
“Bottleshare was created to support industry workers and their families when they experience hardships,” Bottleshare founder Christopher Glenn said in a press release. “During this uncertain time, when support is needed more than ever, we’re proud to join efforts with the Brewers Association to reciprocate the love and strength that characterize the craft beer community and help the breweries that make it so special.”
Although off-premise retail sales of beer products have increased year-over-year due to consumers stocking up during the COVID-19 outbreak, many smaller craft breweries haven’t benefited from those sales spikes, as they over-index in sales at their breweries and draft sales. Several craft beer companies have been forced to layoff or furlough staff members over the last month. And according to a survey conducted by the BA in early April, 46.4% of respondents said their businesses would likely only last between one and three months, while 12.7% said they could stay afloat for just another one to four weeks. The survey found that 2.5% of respondents said they were planning to permanently close their doors.
A quarter of respondents to the BA’s survey said their businesses could survive between three and six months, while 8.3% said they could hang on between six months and a year. Just 5.1% said they would be able to stay in business a year.
It’s unclear whether those responses would have changed or bought those companies more time, if approved, through the distribution of emergency funding via the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program or Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, which were signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27 and rolled out on April 3. In early April, many small businesses were unaware of the status of their applications.
President Trump is expected to sign today another bill to provide $484 billion in economic assistance to small businesses.