The yearlong commitment will provide business advisory and lending services for underserved and minority communities.
Atlanta, Georgia. November 10, 2021 – Sage is investing $250,000 in critically needed grant funding to strengthen ACE’s Recovery and Resiliency initiatives. The multi-faceted grant will support organizational capacity, business advisory and lending through an interest rate buydown subsidy for small businesses recovering from the extended pandemic. ACE has already begun leveraging the buy down feature, which will enable approximately $1.75M in lending.
The partnership supports ACE and Sage’s shared goals to tackle economic inequality. ACE’s lending sector is small business with a focus on low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs, business owners of color, women, and ones located in low-income communities. The investment will impact up to 50 small businesses with business advisory and/or lending services in the metro Atlanta area, particularly Black, indigenous and persons of color (BIPOC) owned businesses that have historically suffered from a lack of access to capital and business operations resources necessary to scale and prosper.
In addition, ACE aligns with Sage’s pillar for Tackling Economic Inequality – by supporting underrepresented groups. Since 2000, ACE has been helping underserved and underrepresented populations access the capital, coaching and connections needed to start and grow successful small businesses. ACE has provided more than $125 million in capital to over 2,000 small businesses, helping create or retain 14,000+ jobs. ACE is a community development finance institution that knows how to move capital quickly to where it’s needed most. With equity at our core, we offer services in both Spanish and English. Throughout the pandemic and now, ACE continues to provide pandemic relief, including reasonable interest rates, payment deferments, loan forgiveness, coupled with critical business guidance.
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About Sage
Sage exists to knock down barriers so everyone can thrive, starting with the millions of Small and Mid-Sized Businesses served by us, our partners and accountants. Customers trust our finance, HR and payroll software to make work and money flow. By digitizing business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, banks and governments, our digital network connects SMBs, removing friction and delivering insights. Knocking down barriers also means we use our time, technology and experience to tackle digital inequality, economic inequality and the climate crisis. To learn more please visit www.sage.com/en-us/ or www.sageintacct.com.