Yelp and GoFundMe team up to help businesses struggling during coronavirus

Worried about your favorite restaurants surviving amid the coronavirus pandemic? A new feature from GoFundMe and Yelp might help you help them.

On Tuesday, the crowdfunding platform and review website announced a new partnership to help local businesses around the U.S. raise money while they're closed or offering limited services due to COVID-19, the official term for the disease caused by the virus.

Through the partnership, you'll soon be able to donate to restaurants, fitness clubs, nightlife spots, and beauty parlors through a button on their Yelp pages. This feature will roll out across the country over the next two days, first reaching the areas COVID-19 has hit the hardest. To qualify, businesses must have fewer than five locations and a GoFundMe.

Businesses across America are closing amid the pandemic. Unemployment claims have jumped precipitously, according to data collected by Buzzfeed. Some businesses have already turned to GoFundMe for help, with one in three fundraisers created in the U.S. over a 48-hour period last week citing the coronavirus, according to CBS News.

In addition to the button, GoFundMe, Yelp, and the accounting company Intuit QuickBooks have pledged to match up to $1.5 million in donations. Eligible small businesses will receive up to $500 each through a grant, in addition to individual donations it receives. Money will be given to businesses that have either created a fundraiser through the Small Business Relief Initiative (a program supported by GoFundMe and Yelp) or have an existing GoFundMe where they've raised at least $500.

You can search for small business spots in your area using GoFundMe's small business locator.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting all of us, many small businesses are being forced to shut their doors,” said Tim Cadogan, GoFundMe's CEO, in a press release. "Local businesses provide jobs and are often the heart and soul of a community.”