Foundations and other organizations have started setting up “rapid response” funds to help nonprofits deal with the fallout from the coronavirus.
Many of the funds so far are located in the Pacific Northwest, which so far has suffered a disproportionate share of coronavirus cases in the United States.
The Seattle Foundation pulled together philanthropy, government, and business partners to create a fund that will provide one-time operating grants for “organizations in our region working with communities who are disproportionately impacted by coronavirus and the economic consequences of this outbreak.”
Money available so far totals $9.2 million, and the foundation is seeking additional donations. Contributors include Amazon, Microsoft, and the Starbucks Foundation.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation also is calling for donors to support its regional response fund for Bay Area charities.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is accepting donations for its response fund to support preparedness, containment, response, and recovery activities for those affected and for the responders.
The Heising-Simons Foundation, based in San Francisco, created a $400,000 rapid-response fund for its current grantees. The fund will provide grants of up to $25,000 each.
Meanwhile, Candid, a foundation research group, has updated it’s tally of worldwide philanthropic funding to combat the coronavirus to $1.3 billion.
Stimulus and Tax Breaks
A coalition of 35 national nonprofits and charity advocacy groups sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to include nonprofits in any stimulus package enacted in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Nonprofits must be expressly included in tax and other relief targeted to small businesses,” the letter states.
The letter also urges lawmakers to provide increased funding to help nonprofits like food banks and shelters, where the demand for services may increase.
Signatories on the letter include the American Red Cross, Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Feeding America.
“Most nonprofits don’t have endowments or even large rainy-day funds to tap,” said Tim Delaney, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, one of the signatories on the letter. “Too often, legislation turns an inadvertent blind eye to nonprofits, not factoring in that they cannot tap certain tax credits or deductions.”
Delaney issued a statement of support for the relief package the House passed early Saturday morning, which President Trump indicated he would sign.
“Congress wrote the legislation in a way that ensures nonprofits can use the tax credit to cover paid leave for their employees,” Delaney said.
The letter also calls for Congress to boost giving by enacting a temporary “universal deduction” for all taxpayers, regardless of whether they itemize, to get a tax break for giving “to nonprofits responding to, or suffering from, the coronavirus.”
Nonprofits have long sought a universal deduction, especially since the tax law of 2017 roughly doubled the standard deduction. The legislation passed by the House doesn’t contain the provision.
