March 31, 2020
Many of you are already aware of the potential for financial relief for small businesses, churches and nonprofits through the CARES Act. At MB Foundation, we don’t intend to be the authority on this bill – many others are digging into it more deeply.
However, we want to draw your attention to it and encourage you to act quickly! If your income has been impacted by COVID-19, this is an opportunity for you to apply for a low interest rate loan to cover the following expenses:
- Payroll costs
- Some benefits
- Interest on loan payments
- Utilities
- Rent
- Etc
The best part is that the full amount of the loan may be forgiven, thus becoming effectively a grant, given some parameters!
Here are your action steps:
- Call your bank/loan officer immediately to make sure the bank qualifies in the federal reserve system to give you a loan under the new guidelines. Unfortunately, MB Foundation does not qualify.
- Start the application process and tell your bank to get you in the queue for a loan.
- Have your treasurer or accountant start gathering the information, according to the guidelines, immediately, so you are ready to go. To assist you in gathering the necessary information, a link to a spreadsheet from Vanderbloemen is included below.
I heard today that applications should be available at eligible institutions on Friday and funds will be disbursed within a few days! There is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there regarding the eligibility of churches and nonprofits. So, if your lender tells you that you don’t qualify, don’t take that as the final answer. Go to another lender!
ECFA encourages grant applicants to open a separate checking account in which grant funds would be deposited and approved expenses made. This provides an extra layer of accountability and an easy paper trail.
Here are some links to assist you:
- Spreadsheet template from Vanderbloemen. Click here to download.
- Webinar outline from Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Click here to download.
- ECFA COVID site
- If you need help with the process and don’t know where to turn, here is a link to a firm that will assist you for a fee. This referral comes from Thom Ranier.
- If you haven’t yet attended a webinar on this topic, you may want to join our audit firm, Capin Crouse on April 1 at 3:00 pm CDT. Register here.
A Line of Credit may be available through MB Foundation, but the terms are better on this CARES Act loan, and the possibility for forgiveness makes this option more attractive. But you must act quickly!
Blessings as you continue to navigate these unusual times!
Jon C. Wiebe
President & CEO
MB Foundation