Last year, several nonprofits alerted the Center of recent problems they have experienced with: (a) the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and other state agencies being late in issuing contracts or making payments; and (b) overly complex application and reporting requirements for state grants and contracts. This week, a state legislator told the Center that they want to help address some of these issues during the 2022 short session, which begins in two weeks. On Monday, the Center plans to share with the legislator examples of challenges nonprofits are facing with state grants and contracts.

Please let us know today (or by Monday morning if you don’t see this email on Friday) if your nonprofit has had challenges with late contracts, late payments, overly complex application or reporting requirements, underpayment for indirect costs, or other problems with grants or contracts from DHHS or other state agencies in the past two years. It would be helpful to also let us know the state agency/division with which your nonprofit has a contract and whether you are comfortable with the Center including your nonprofit’s name when we follow up with the helpful legislator.

Before you vote in the primary election, take a few minutes to find out where the candidates on your ballot stand on issues of importance to nonprofits. The Center sent a questionnaire on nonprofit issues to all North Carolina candidates for Congress and the NC General Assembly and is posting candidates’ responses. Share these candidate responses with your staff, board, volunteers, donors, and clients.

If some of the candidates on your ballot have not yet completed the questionnaire, we encourage you to ask them to complete it. The Center has tips and a short sample email for how to invite candidates to complete the questionnaire.

We all have busy lives; even if we’re aware of the 2022 primary election and have researched the candidates on our ballot, it’s easy to forget to actually vote! People are more likely to participate in an election if they have a plan for when and where they will be voting. Friend of the Center Lisa Hazirjian has written a blog post with tips to help you make your plan for voting, including easy-to-use printable voting planners to share with your nonprofit’s staff, board, volunteers, and clients to help them make their own voting plans.

One of the easiest ways nonprofits can help promote the 2022 primary election is by giving your staff time off to vote during Early Voting or on Election Day. The Center is sharing its policy (below) allowing staff to take time off to vote or to volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers. Feel free to borrow this language and adapt it to fit into your organization’s personnel policies.

Have you been wondering what types of election-related activities your nonprofit can and can’t do between now and the May 17 election? You’re not alone. The Center has been fielding many questions about what’s legal and what’s advisable, and posted answers to some of the most common questions we’re hearing. Let us know of other questions you have about your nonprofit’s engagement in the 2022 election.

This week, the NC Budget & Tax Center released its Living Income Standard (LIS), a measurement developed to show what it takes in 2022 for families in every North Carolina county to pay for their basic needs. LIS gives a more accurate and comprehensive picture than more traditional measures like the Federal Poverty Level. In addition to the tables of data for every county that BTC normally releases, there is now a county dashboard to make it easy to see what it takes to make ends meet in your county at glance.

The goal of the LIS is to help working families document the story of what they face on a daily basis and set a benchmark for what a basic income needs to be. Even in the most affordable counties in NC, it now takes at least 140 hours a week working at the minimum wage to make ends meet for a family of four. The LIS can be helpful for nonprofits in identifying the needs of families in their county – and can also be helpful for nonprofits in ensuring that they are providing living wages and benefits for their own staffs.

On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on Laws and Enforcement of Political Activities of Tax-Exempt Entities. The hearing focused on partisan political activities of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations. Unlike 501(c)(4) organizations, 501(c)(3) nonprofits are prohibited from making partisan political expenditures and from endorsing or opposing candidates for office or political parties.

During the hearing, one witness encouraged Congress to ban 501(c)(3) nonprofits from funding or carrying out nonpartisan voter registration or get-out-the-vote work. The Center would strongly oppose any legislation that would limit the ability of charitable nonprofits or private foundations to engage in or fund nonpartisan voter registration, voter education, or get-out-the-vote activities. Nonprofits are trusted messengers with their staff, volunteers, clients, and communities, and research has shown that people who receive services from nonprofits – regardless of their political affiliation – are more likely to vote when nonprofits encourage them to register to vote and go to the polls during Early Voting or on Election Day. This type of nonpartisan civic engagement is legitimate, appropriate, and important work for nonprofits.

The week, the NC Department of Revenue (DOR) opened Phase 2 of the Business Recovery Grant program. Some nonprofits are eligible to apply for financial support through this program. The Business Recovery Grant program provides economic recovery grants to businesses in the entertainment and hospitality industries and to other businesses that have not previously received federal or state relief for economic harm from the COVID-19 pandemic. While the program is designed to provide support for businesses (and not to nonprofits), 501(c)(3) nonprofits that pay state unrelated business income tax (UBIT) are eligible for grants if they meet one of the following criteria:

DOR is accepting applications from eligible businesses and nonprofits through June 1. Grants will be awarded for up to 10% of lost revenue for organizations that have previously received federal or state COVID-19 support and 20% for organizations that have not received government COVID-19 aid. The maximum grant award is $500,000. Some nonprofits that received less than $500,000 in Phase 1 Business Recovery Grants may be eligible for an additional grant in Phase 2 (although the total amount of their grants can’t exceed $500,000). Additional information and applications are available at the DOR Business Recovery Grant program website.

The Center provides Nonprofit Policy Update each week as a benefit to its nonprofit members. However, to help all North Carolina nonprofits respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we're temporarily providing this newsletter to non-member nonprofits. Don’t miss out – become a member to ensure you continue receiving these updates along with many other valuable benefits.