$0 - $25,000

Emergency Support for Small to Mid-sized Nonprofits (500 Employees or Fewer)

The bill creates a new Emergency Small Business Loan program within the SBA 7(a) loan program. To be eligible, nonprofits or for-profits must have been in existence on March 1, 2020 or earlier and have 500 or fewer employees. An important provision: under this new program, loans are forgivable if the nonprofit or for-profit keeps staff on the payroll between March 1 and June 30. This, in essence, turns the loan into a general operating support grant. Forgivable loans of this type can be taken out for as much as $10 million and can be used to meet payroll and associated costs (including health insurance premiums), facilities costs, and debt service.

The SBA currently has Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). The existing program provides loans of up to $2 million at an interest rate of 2.75 percent for nonprofits. These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.

But we’re hearing reports from the field about conflicting messages from SBA offices.

The relief bill would change the EIDL to eliminate creditworthiness requirements and eligible nonprofits with 500 employees or fewer are supposed to be able to get checks for $10,000 within three days.