Back to Posts

Please note that the Salesforce Care Grants Programme concluded on 2nd August 2020.  Visit our Leading Through Change Resource centre for current resources to help businesses through the pandemic. 

 

Small businesses are a vital part of our communities. They offer individual livelihoods, provide crucial services, and drive innovation in almost all sectors. How we support small businesses makes all the difference – especially in times of crisis. 

In the UK, small businesses are the life and soul of the business community, accounting for more than half of all employment and, indeed, the vast majority of businesses overall. 

According to recent data from the UK government:

  • 99.9% of all UK enterprises fall under the SME category 
  • This is a total of around 5.6 million businesses
  • 60% of private-sector employees work for an SME 
  • SMEs account for 52% of UK private sector turnover

These stats clearly show that most of us interact with SMEs on a daily basis – and that now is the time to support our SMEs.

 

What is the Salesforce Care Grants Programme?

As businesses manage the initial crisis response and begin to prepare for a second phase of recovery and reopening, every bit of support a small business can get makes an enormous difference.

With this in mind, we are launching the Salesforce Care Grants Programme. This programme will dedicate a total financial commitment of $1 million to small businesses in the UK in the form of small business grants. 

The grants will each total £5,000 and can be used by SME owners in a way that helps their business the most – whether it's to pay salaries, suppliers, rent, materials or to adapt their business model. 

We hope that this programme will provide some financial respite to the UK SME community that we value so dearly. 

 

Tools to steer your small business forward

Funding is not the only way we support SMEs. Businesses need the right business tools to keep their teams empowered, focussed and motivated, and to manage projects efficiently. 

This is why we at Salesforce want to provide access to tools and technology to help businesses navigate the recent changes. The access to the following tools is supported by live sessions and onboardings, webinars and expert guides, as well as technical support to ensure that new users get up and running quickly. 

This is why Salesforce is offering solutions and resources to help companies of all sizes and in any industry recover with Work.com focused on helping businesses and communities reopen and recover safely and responsibly.

 

Additional resources and further reading to support SMEs

Times are challenging – making it crucial to provide businesses with practical, actionable advice. 

Our Leading Through Change resource centre provides inspirational thought leadership content, webinars and learning modules all geared towards helping businesses in times of crisis. 

Here is just a small selection of some excellent free resources to get you started: 

 

SMEs need our support: Let’s join forces and pull out all the strings

Small and medium businesses are the backbone of the UK business community. Almost all of us interact with them on a daily basis. It is crucial – now more than ever – to support small businesses in every way we can. 

While Salesforce’s new grant scheme offers financial support and resources like the Leading Through Change series provide actionable strategies, it’s important that we come together and do all we can for our SME community.

Visit our Leading Through Change Resource centre