Yesterday, a group of 461 nonprofits from across North Carolina sent a letter to each member of Congress from North Carolina asking for additional COVID-19 relief for charitable nonprofits and the communities they serve. Specifically, the letter asks Congress to make four key improvements to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Support Act ( CARES Act):

Thank you if your organization signed on to this letter. Your advocacy is making a difference! The Center has heard from several members of Congress who are actively seeking legislative solutions to these four issues based on the unified message from so many nonprofits.

The Center continues to work with legislators and the Governor’s Office to provide suggestions for state policy solutions that could help North Carolina nonprofits respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center's recommended state policy solutions, based on feedback from hundreds of nonprofits, include:

Do any of these issues resonate with your nonprofit? Are there other ways state legislators could help your nonprofit and your community respond to the COVID-19 crisis? If so, please take a few minutes to contact your state legislators – and other state legislators you know personally – to ask them to include relief for nonprofits in COVID-19 legislation. It would be helpful if you can be specific about the type of relief that would be helpful (feel free to use language from the list above or from the Center’s more detailed suggestions). We encourage you to share your input with the Center so we can help with your advocacy.

The NC General Assembly will return to Raleigh on April 28 to pass COVID-19 relief legislation. Legislators are working on the details of these bills right now, so it is important to contact them as soon as possible.

Yesterday, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that lenders have approved loans for the full $349 billion in funding for the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This means that financial institutions cannot approve new PPP loans unless Congress appropriates additional funding for the program. The Center has heard from many nonprofits that have applied for (or attempted to apply for) this emergency relief program, which allows for forgivable loans for nonprofits and small businesses to pay for up to eight weeks of payroll expenses and other operational costs. The U.S. Senate was unable to approve $251 billion in additional funding for the PPP this week, but congressional leaders from both parties are hopeful that Congress can approve this additional funding next week. The Center is advocating for Congress to approve additional PPP funding as soon as possible and to allocate a portion of this funding for 501(c)(3) organizations so that more nonprofits can receive this necessary financial support soon.

A complete and accurate count in the 2020 U.S. Census is important for nonprofits since it will help ensure that North Carolina has full representation in Congress and access to federal funding that supports the work of many nonprofits. Because nonprofits are trusted messengers that often serve hard-to-count communities, it is important for all nonprofit organizations to spread the word about the importance of completing the 2020 Census. Nonprofit’s engagement in Census outreach is particularly critical since North Carolina continues to lag behind other states in our Census response rate. As of Wednesday, North Carolina’s response rate was 45.9%, well below the national average of 49.4% (see the U.S. Census Bureau’s map of response rates for more details).

The COVID-19 crisis is changing the way that nonprofits engage in nonpartisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote activities. Two Center partners are offering ways for nonprofits to learn more. 

This week, the IRS issued guidance clarifying that employers – including nonprofits – may defer payment of payroll taxes while they are seeking or receiving Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans until they receive notice of loan forgiveness from their lenders. After receiving notice of forgiveness of PPP loans, employers are no longer eligible for payroll tax deferral. The CARES Act allows employers to defer Social Security tax payments that would normally be due between March 27, 2020 and December 2020 until December 31, 2021 (for half of the amount of payments) and December 31, 2022 (for the full amount of payments).

Join us for another free nonprofit town hall webinar today, April 17 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The webinar will include updates on the latest federal and state legislative and executive relief efforts to help nonprofits respond to the COVID-19 crisis, and an online discussion about the needs nonprofits have right now – both operationally and as service providers. Special guests will provide information on the Paycheck Protection Program and other emergency financing options for nonprofits, and give an update on the state’s response to COVID-19. It will also include a (quick) briefing on the state of North Carolina’s nonprofit sector and current (and future) public policy issues affecting nonprofits. Registration is free, but participants will need to provide their own lunch!