Facebook pledges $40M for small businesses, introduces new fundraising tools and digital gift cards

Facebook announced Thursday new updates to its small-business grant program introduced on March 17, including $40 million in grants for small businesses. The grants will go to 10,000 U.S. small businesses in 34 locations that Facebook employees live and work. Those in New York and Seattle will be the first to receive funds starting next week. "In this challenging time, when information is changing daily, we are listening to and learning from scores of small businesses to understand what they need now and what they will need down the road," said Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, in a blog post. Facebook says it's also collaborating with small-business partner Ureeka to invest in eligible minority and women-owned businesses. Local businesses can go to facebook.com/grantsforbusiness to check their eligibility.