Hello Nonprofit Leaders and Colleagues,
Demonstrations demanding justice and systemic change in the killing of unarmed black people continue across Oregon. It comes as little surprise that towns like Ashland, Eugene, and Portland have seen continuous protests and demonstrations. What has been heartening is the demonstrations in towns including Burns, Coquille, La Grande, Medford, Ontario, Pendleton, and Salem. These protests are a clear sign that equal justice under the law is not a right-left issue, it is a human issue. As charitable organizations formed for public benefit, nonprofits across the state are in the center of helping to organize and enable their communities express their outrage at these abuses.
NAO applauds the safe and peaceful protesting of systemic racism and supports the efforts of Oregon’s nonprofits to help their communities understand and exercise their rights under the constitution. Change can come if we all work together!
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COVID-19-related news in Oregon
Yesterday, the Oregon Health Authority reported 146 new confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases bringing the total number of cases in Oregon to 4,808. The Sunday report is the largest daily increase since the emergence of the pandemic in the state.
OHA also reported one new death: a 71-year-old Malheur County man who tested positive June 1. The latest reported death brings the death toll in Oregon to 164 people.
According to the state, the new cases were reported in the following counties: Clackamas (18), Deschutes (2), Hood River (12), Lincoln (61), Linn (1), Marion (11), Multnomah (22), Umatilla (5), Wasco (2), Washington (8) and Yamhill (4).
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E-Board agrees on $247 million for pandemic response and recovery
The bipartisan Emergency Board, a committee of the Oregon Legislature, agreed Friday on the allocation of $247 million in federal coronavirus relief provided through the CARES Act. The funds had been made available to Oregon in April, but no consensus had been reached on their use until Friday.
Legislators spent nearly three hours debating aspects of the plan, but ultimately cast unanimous votes in favor of the plan
except
paying wage replacement to undocumented workers laid off amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A coalition of nonprofit organizations led by Causa, Capaces and PCUN have been pushing the state on additional funds to be allocated to the
Oregon Worker Relief Fund
for this cause.
The largest single element of the package is $55 million that will be paid to landlords who rent to low-income Oregonians who have lost wages due to the virus. That money will be dispersed by local community action agencies, adding to the $12 million in state funds already dispersed. If you have clients at your organization that could benefit from these funds, a full list of Oregon’s CAs can be found on
CAPO’s website
.
The next largest chunk is $50 million in grants to help certain 33 rural hospitals that saw their patient load – and income – plummet after the Stay Home, Stay Safe order issued by the Governor on March 23.
Other large items in the spending package include:
- $30 million in small grants to help child care providers to stay open as the economy recovers or to reopen if they have closed. Under Phase 2 reopening, providers still cannot care for more than 10 children in a room.
- $30 million to protect agricultural workers during the pandemic. The money will be used to cover employers’ costs to provide housing with greater sanitation and more distancing, equip fields with more hand-washing stations and transport workers in vans and busses with room for them to remain many feet apart. Another large chunk will be used to replace the wages of workers who have to quarantine after catching or being exposed to the virus.
- $25.6 million for additional mental health services, with a particular emphasis on providing more culturally and linguistically appropriate services, such as outreach to communities of color, tribes, and vulnerable populations.
- $20 million to expand rural broadband to help workers and students who are working or learning from home and need robust internet access. The upgrades would focus on improving connectivity in and near Roseburg, Medford, Ashland, Klamath Falls, The Dalles, Pendleton, La Grande, Ontario and Burns. This comes on the back of commitments by Senator Merkley last week at the NAO-convened Oregon Nonprofit Town Hall to continue to fight for further investments in broadband at the federal level.
There are still hundreds of millions of dollars provided to Oregon through federal relief funds that have yet to be allocated. Most glaringly are the unpaid unemployment claims that have flooded the Oregon Employment Division and caused the Governor to fire the director a week ago.
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Please excuse our error!
In NAO’s June 4 COVID-19 Alert issue, we reported that summer camps, including overnight camps, were approved for reopening. That was an error on our part! In fact, summer camps are still restricted to only day-time camps.
Day camp programs (single-day ski camp, art program at a community park, music camp at a university) that are not associated with a licensed organizational camp facility are not regulated by local public health authorities and are not required to be licensed under ORS 446. Overnight camps are not permitted to open or operate at this time.
In our effort to work quickly to get you the latest information, we quoted an earlier draft from the Governor’s office that had considered allowing overnight camps to open. We regret the error.
Full OHA guidance on camps and relevant instructions on staying safe can be found
here
.
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At the Federal level
Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act – Enacted
The President signed the
PPP Flexibility Act
(H.R. 7010) on Friday. National Council of Nonprofits, our partner at the national level,
issued a statement
welcoming the relief, while stressing that “looming deadlines for PPP borrowers were only one set of time-sensitive and significant challenges nonprofits face.” We highlighted the continuing need for fixes for reimbursing nonprofits and mid-size organizations, and improved giving incentives. This afternoon, we updated the chart, “
Loans Available for Nonprofits in the CARES Ac, as Amended
.”
In House news, a group of 90 Representatives (29 Democrats and 61 Republicans) sent a letter to Senate leaders encouraging them to draft PPP legislation that directs
“Treasury and the SBA to create a streamlined forgiveness application for businesses with loans under $350,000.”
They correctly identify that the PPP loan forgiveness instructions and application are too complicated for “mom and pop” businesses (and nonprofits!) and note that 94 percent of PPP loans are for amounts less than $350,000. Why did Representatives write to Senate leaders? The letter was sent while it was still unclear whether the Senate would draft its own PPP flexibility bill or vote on the House-passed bill.
Hearing on June 10: The
Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee
is holding a hearing June 10 at 10 p.m. ET on “
Implementation of Title I of the CARES Act
.” Title I is the part that includes the Paycheck Protection Program. The witnesses will be Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Small Business Administrator Carranza. NAO is working with national coalitions to generate questions for the witnesses. We will report more in what transpires after the hearing concludes.
Above-the-Line Charitable Deduction
The Senate champions for expanding and extending the above-the-line deduction are delaying introduction of their bill as they try to pre-empt objections by Senate Finance Committee leadership. The substantive terms of the bill remain the same: increase the cap on an above-the-line deduction for non-itemizers from the current $300 to one-third of the standard deduction, which would be approximately $4,000/individual and $8,000/couple. The draft bill would allow taxpayers to deduct from their 2019 tax liability donations made this year prior to July 15, and would permit taxpayers to deduct separate donations on their 2020 taxes.
Confidentiality Alert: The delay is related to coming up with language that would prevent fraud that staffers and some Senators presume will occur. The current thinking is to include an extra penalty for non-itemizers who negligently or intentionally claim charitable donations that they did not actually make. That approach is the least-worst idea that we’ve seen. The details have not been finalized; hopefully the bill will be released this week.
Oregon’s Senators Wyden and Merkley have both committed that they will work hard to support and expand the charitable deduction as much as possible.
UI Update
Hearing on June 9: The
Senate Finance Committee
has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, June 9 at 2:30 p.m. ET on “
Unemployment Insurance During COVID-19: The CARES Act and the Role of Unemployment Insurance During the Pandemic
.” Labor Secretary Scalia will be testifying. While the primary focus of the hearing is on whether to extend the expanded UI provisions of the Families First Act beyond July 31, we’re looking forward to the opportunity to raise the twin UI challenges that reimbursing nonprofits are facing: (1) Labor Department guidance requiring 100% payment upfront and (2) the need for the federal government to cover the full costs of reimbursing nonprofits and not just the 50% promised in the CARES Act.
ACTION ITEM
: Senator Wyden is the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, so will have a powerful role to play in this hearing. If your nonprofit self-insures, please send a
message to Senator Wyden’s office today
!
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Upcoming Online Sessions for Nonprofits
Re-Opening Guidance for Zoos, Museums, and Outdoor Gardens Webinar, Monday June 8, Noon – 1 p.m. PT:
Gov. Brown has announced that museums, zoos, and gardens can now reopen. Join representatives from the Oregon Museums Association, Cultural Advocacy Coalition, and Oregon Heritage to learn how the state-level guidance was initiated, how the Oregon museum community provided feedback in the process, and together walk through a general overview of the
reopening guidance for zoos, museums, and outdoor gardens
guidelines. This webinar will provide resources available to Oregon museums and gather questions from the museum community regarding reopening. Register for this session
here
.
Ask the Experts: How to Pivot to a Virtual Annual Fundraising Event Successfully, Tuesday, June 9, Noon
–
1 p.m. PT:
Brennan Wood, Executive Director of The Dougy Center and Lauren Dully Clark, Principal Consultant at Raise Agent will share how they pivoted The Dougy Center’s 23rd Annual Reflection Benefit and Auction – an annual in-person event and biggest fundraiser of the year – to a successful virtual event the weekend before Mother’s Day. They’ll discuss what it took working with their long-time auctioneer, audio-visual expert, and others to make this the special event it is every year for everyone The Dougy Center serves. Register for this session
here
.
QuickBooks Desktop Edition Made Easy for Nonprofits, June 16, 17 & 18, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. PT:
Gregg S. Bossen, CPA of QuickBooks Made Easy, is partnering with NAO to offer an updated three-part QuickBooks® training webinar for nonprofits.
This webinar is for the Desktop edition of Quickbooks
. Gregg will cover the basics of setting up and entering transactions specifically for nonprofits, an overview of the software updates included in the QuickBooks® 2018 Desktop Edition, as well as advanced topics covering a host of specific processes that will help you do more helpful and amazing things! Register for the three-part webinar
here
.
QuickBooks Online Edition Made Easy for Nonprofits, June 23, 24 & 25, 11 a.m. – 1 pm. PT:
Gregg S. Bossen, CPA of QuickBooks Made Easy, is partnering with NAO to offer an updated three-part QuickBooks® training webinar for nonprofits.
This webinar is for the Online edition of Quickbooks.
Gregg will cover the basics of setting up and entering transactions specifically for nonprofits, an overview of the software updates included in the QuickBooks® 2018 Online Edition, as well as advanced topics covering a host of specific processes that will help you do more helpful and amazing things! Register for the three-part webinar
here
.
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Stay safe and healthy.
Sincerely,
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Jim White
Executive Director
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Thank you to the following SUPPORTERS and SPONSORS who are supporting NAO’s online COVID-19 events and communications during these challenging times. Their support is vital in helping NAO to bring much-needed resources and information to Oregon’s nonprofits – thank you.
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FRIEND PLUS PARTNER SPONSORS
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