Frequently Asked Questions

To be eligible, applicants must: 

• Be a Black- or minority-owned small business owned by an adult (18+) 
• Have less than $1M in annual revenue 
• Be established on or before January 1, 2022 
• Have fewer than 11 total employees (including the owner) 
• Has not been an awardee of a Fiserv Back2Business Grant in the last three years
• Has a business located in one of the eligible Atlanta area counties: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Spalding, Newton, Coweta and Rockdale

• At this time, the program has reached capacity and we are no longer accepting applications.

• At this time, the program has reached capacity and we are no longer accepting applications.

• At this time, the program has reached capacity and we are no longer accepting applications.

• At this time, the program has reached capacity and we are no longer accepting applications.

• Business owners with multiple businesses are limited to applying on behalf of only one business. We will only accept one grant application per business owner. 

• Within the application, you will be prompted to upload your business documents. You will have the option to either ‘drop files or click here to upload.’ 

We request that all applicants provide the following documents: 

• Bank statements for January- March 2023 
• Most recently filed and signed tax returns for 2022 or 2021 
• Business registration or articles of incorporation – these documents must show the date your business was formed. 

• Please note that the application accepts PDF, Document (DOC, DOCX, TXT, ODT), or Graphic (JPG, PNG, GIF) files only.  
• The file size must be 50MB or less. 
• You can upload one file per question – to upload multiple files, please compress them into one document. 
• Please contact our Grant support team via smb@aeoworks to assist you.  

• For the security and privacy of our applicants, we cannot accept any documents via email. All documents must be uploaded to the application.  

• 2022 or 2021 tax returns are required. We do not accept substitutions for filed tax returns. 

• We accept the 1040 return with a Schedule C, 1120 S-Corp and 1065 partnership filings. 

We request the full signed return with proof of filing. 

An article of incorporation or a business registration is an official document establishing your business with your state government.  

Our request is not for a business or professional license (cosmetology license, dental license, mechanic license, etc.). We are seeking filed documents that support how long your business has been operating and documentation confirming that your business is a legal entity. Documents we will accept are: 

• Articles of incorporation 
• Certificate of organization 
• Business registration 
• LLC or LLP filing 
• DBA or Assumed Name filing 

• The Back2Business program from Fiserv is open to established small businesses. As part of this grant program, we must verify that each business is legally registered with their city or state government. 

• Please upload the bank statements that capture your business’s transactions (deposits and withdrawals) for January – March 2023. 

• We require bank statements showing your business financial transactions for January-March 2023. We will not accept transaction statements from your mobile payment systems as a substitute for bank statements. 

• We require bank statements showing your business financial transactions for January-March 2023. 

• We require bank statements or other statements showing your business financial transactions. 

• The certification documentation is optional. An applicant will not be declined because they did not provide certification documents 

Your application will be declined if we do not receive all the requested documents.

• We are working as quickly as possible to review all the applications submitted. A status update will be emailed to you after your application has been reviewed and moves onto the next stage of the application process. 

Due to the high volume of applications received we cannot provide a status update on your application. A status update will be sent to your email as your application moves through the review process. Please check your email often for updates and requests for information from AEO. 

• Our application process includes verifying your eligibility, requesting supporting documentation, reviewing and verifying your application responses, and other due diligence processes. 

• Due to the high volume of applications received we cannot provide an exact reason why your application was declined.  We appreciate your participation and wish your business the best of luck. 

• The grants are made on a rolling basis and grant payments are made weekly to selected small businesses. Please check your email often. 

• We review all applications for errors. If we come across an error on your application that may affect our decision, we will contact you directly via email.  

Due to the high volume of applications received we cannot reopen applications if a deadline is missed.