This week, the NC General Assembly approved the Coronavirus Relief Act 3.0 (H.B. 1105), which appropriates the final $900 million of North Carolina’s COVID-19 relief funding from the federal CARES Act. More than $145 million of this funding was allocated to a wide range of nonprofits, including food banks, arts organizations, YMCAs, free and charitable clinics, nonprofit residential facilities, domestic violence agencies, and sexual assault centers. The Center has prepared a comprehensive list of nonprofit funding in the bill, including details on the process for disbursing funds to nonprofits and limitations on use of these funds.

In addition to the significant funding for many nonprofits, the COVID-19 relief bill includes several provisions that could help nonprofits recover from the pandemic. These provisions include:

The bill passed by the Senate and the House with large bipartisan majorities, and Governor Cooper is expected to sign this bill into law in the near future. Many of the appropriations in the bill were made because of strong and effective advocacy by nonprofits. Now is a great time for nonprofits that received funding to thank legislators for their support. 

On Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order No. 163, moving North Carolina into “Phase 2.5” of the re-opening of the state’s economy at 5 p.m. today. Some notable provisions in the Governor’s Phase 2 executive orders for nonprofits include:

On Monday, Governor Cooper issued Executive Order No. 161 , which extends by 60 days two previous executive orders (Executive Order No. 149 and Executive Order No. 136) allowing nonprofits with members to hold membership meetings remotely during the COVID-19 crisis. The order gives boards the flexibility to allow membership meetings to take place by remote communication and through remote voting, even if these types of remote meetings are not expressly authorized in the nonprofit’s articles of incorporation or bylaws. The Center advocated for Governor Cooper to issue the original executive order and to extend it (for a second time) for an additional 60 days. We are appreciative that Governor Cooper has provided this relief to nonprofits, since it will help some organizations continue to take actions that require membership approval during the COVID-19 crisis.

The U.S. Census Bureau is ending its in-person operations at the end of this month. September 30 will also be the deadline for households to self-respond to the Census by mail, email, or phone.

A analysis from Carolina Demography provides more details about why an early end to the Census count is particularly problematic in North Carolina and parts of the state that have the largest undercounts. Currently, nearly 40% of North Carolina households still have not replied to the Census, and only 17.1% of North Carolina households have been counted through the Census Bureau’s Non-Response Follow-Up. A massive undercount could cost North Carolina billions of dollars in federal funding for public schools, childcare, health care, affordable housing, food assistance, and many other programs over the next decade. It also could cost North Carolina a 14^th seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for the next decade.

The call to action for nonprofit staff, volunteers, and board members is simple: Remind everyone you know to be certain that someone in their household has completed the Census questionnaire. For households that have not yet completed the Census questionnaire, there is still time to respond online, by mail, by phone, or through an in-person visit from a Census Bureau representative.

The NC Counts coalition is offering mini-grants to nonprofits to “adopt a tract” to help increase the Census self-response rate in low-response Census tracts in their community. Nonprofits may apply for grants of $1,000 to $2,500 to help get-out-the-count in historically under-represented Census tracts.

This week, the NC State Board of Elections opened its online portal for requesting absentee ballots online. The online application process only takes about three minutes to complete. Voters who request an absentee ballot will receive one by mail and can still choose to vote in person during the Early Voting period or on Election Day instead of submitting their absentee ballot. The online portal for absentee voting also allows voters to check on the status of their absentee ballots.

The Center encourages nonprofits to urge their staff, board members, volunteers, and those they serve to request an absentee ballot now. This will ensure that they receive their absentee ballots with plenty of time to vote by mail before Election Day.

National Voter Registration Day (September 22) is less than a month away! National Voter Registration Day is a great opportunity for nonprofits to ensure that their staff, volunteers, and community members are registered to vote. Sign up to join the nationwide effort to register hundreds of thousands of voters on September 22. As an official partner, your nonprofit will receive a free voter registration kit and access to other opportunities to support your nonpartisan voter registration work.

To prepare your organization for National Voter Registration Day (and for the nonpartisan voter engagement more generally), Nonprofit VOTE is offering a free webinar next Wednesday, September 9 at 2 p.m. with tips on best practices for communicating with potential voters both in-person and online.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many nonprofits to rethink their plans for in-person voter registration and voter education work this year. To help North Carolina nonprofits navigate the changing landscape of nonpartisan voter registration and voter education, You Can Vote launched its Voting Rights Champion program to provide accurate, easy-to-read, bilingual resources on voter registration and the election process in North Carolina. Become a Voting Rights Champion to get access to free resources and support to ensure that voters in your nonprofit’s community can successfully cast their ballots this fall.

You Can Vote also provides Voter FAQs with clear, accurate, and nonpartisan answers to a variety of common questions about the 2020 election process in North Carolina, including absentee voting by mail (it will be very popular this year), the process for requesting an absentee ballot (it’s best to start the process sooner rather than later!), photo ID (not required this year), and voter fraud (it’s extremely rare). The Center encourages all nonprofits to read these FAQs and share them with their staff, boards, volunteers, and the people they serve.

NC Child is also offering a free webinar next Tuesday, September 8 at 4:30 p.m. with tips on ways nonprofit service providers can help their clients vote this fall.

With public schools across North Carolina operating partially or fully remotely (varying by school district) at the start of the school year, many nonprofit employees are finding it necessary to take time off work to manage their children’s education. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) requires nonprofits and other employees to provide two weeks of paid sick leave and 10 weeks of paid family and medical leave (FMLA) for employees who are unable to work for reasons related to COVID-19, including managing their children’s remote education when classes are not being offered in-person. FFCRA also provides refundable payroll tax credits to nonprofits and other employers to cover 100% of the costs of the emergency paid sick leave and emergency FMLA that their employees take during the pandemic. These tax credits ensure that nonprofits don’t bear the cost of necessary paid leave when their employees are out of work due to the pandemic.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued updated guidance with answers to questions about how the FFCRA FMLA applies to parents whose children are engaged in remote learning this fall (see questions 98-100 in the DOL guidance). Notably for nonprofit employees with children in remote learning:

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance implementing last month’s Presidential Memorandum allowing employers to defer withholding and payment of the employee’s portion of payroll taxes. Under the guidance, nonprofits that elect to defer this payroll tax withholding will need to pay these taxes between January 1, 2021 and April 30, 2021, meaning they will have greater payroll tax liability during that period.

As the Venable law firm notes in its summary, the guidance does not address many of the practical concerns that nonprofits and their employees have about the logistics and implications of the payroll tax deferrals. Last month, a group of 30 business associations sent a letter to Congress and the U.S. Department of Treasury raising concerns about the payroll tax deferral and seeking a path forward that provides relief to families without imposing a large tax bill in the future. The associations call the executive order “unworkable” and explain that many businesses “will likely decline to implement deferral, choosing instead to continue to withhold and remit to the government the payroll taxes required by law.”