Advocacy Alert: 08/04/2020

​How will School Closures or Virtual Learning Impact your Organization?

Throughout Idaho, school districts are in the process of deciding what the year will look like for both students and parents. All of these changes and uncertainties can create anxiety for your employees, wondering how they can manage childcare and/or support at home online learning if they are still having to work.

We wanted to make sure that we share the changes to the FMLA specifically from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act as it pertains to employee leave related to COVID impacts.

The Department of Labor requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave. Specifically if the employee is ill, has to care for an ill family member, and/or they are unable to work due to school or childcare closures. Click here to read more

Nonprofits with fewer than 50 employees may qualify for an exemption from the requirement to provide leave due to school closings or child care unavailability if the leave requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a growing concern. 

​Both full time and part time employees are eligible for certain kinds of leave so please be sure you review your policies and ask questions if you are unsure. You may review our internal policy if it’s helpful to you.  

You can also ask your payroll processor, back office support, or another HR professional in the sector for further guidance if you don’t feel you have the expertise to implement this in your own organization.

We strongly encourage our nonprofit friends to dust off your work from home policies (if you’ve returned to the office), review the feasibility of certain employees taking on tasks that can be done from home, and allow for greater flexibility in working hours for employees who need to help care-take or have children at home.

If you don’t already have a membership to TechSoup, consider one today.  TechSoup is a great resource for nonprofits to purchase technology infrastructure at nonprofit rates to better enable a variety of work situations, including remote.

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HEROES vs. HEALS Acts

You may have heard about two competing pieces of legislation that have both been introduced at the federal level recently. The first is called the HEROES Act (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act) introduced by the U.S. House of Representatives.  

The second is called the HEALS ACt (Health, Economic Assistance, Liability and Schools Act) that has been introduced by the U.S. Senate. There are both similarities and vast differences in these bills and thankfully our friends at the National Council for Nonprofits have laid them both out in a side by side comparison for better visual understanding of what each is trying to accomplish.

Recently we signed on to a community letter that laid out some collective legislative priorities for the more than 4,000 organizations from all 50 states. Those priorities are:

• Continue Emergency Funding Programs: (1) Extend and expand the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) by enabling a second round of funding for all nonprofits and modifying the eligibility criteria pertaining to 500 employees; (2) Enact and expand grant and funding programs, such as the proposed WORK NOW Act or the Employee Retention Tax Credit, to help nonprofits retain employees, scale service delivery, and create new jobs; and (3) Appropriate funds for federal grant programs that enable nonprofits to advance their missions of serving communities.
• Provide Low-Cost Loans to Mid-Size and Larger Nonprofits: (1) Authorize and require the Federal Reserve to quickly finalize a nonprofit lending facility under MSLP that is tailored to accommodate mid-size nonprofits including language similar to H.R. 6800 that offers a loan forgiveness option; and (2) Extend eligibility of PPP to all nonprofits of all sizes similar to H.R. 6800 and lift the loan cap to appropriately reflect the operational needs of these nonprofits.
• Strengthen Charitable Giving Incentives: (1) Expand the above-the-line or universal charitable deduction in the CARES Act by enacting the provisions in S. 4032/H.R. 7324 increasing the amount to one-third of the standard deduction; and (2) Extend this and the giving incentives enacted in the CARES Act through 2021.
• Provide Full Unemployment Benefit Reimbursement: Increase the federal unemployment insurance reimbursement for self-insured (reimbursing) nonprofits to 100% of costs.

Join us in contacting Congressman Fulcher and Congressman Simpson and asking them to sign on to the new Moulton/Fitzpatrick letter to House leaders calling for inclusion of nonprofit provisions in the next COVID relief package. You can use the following message and social media prompts:

• Dear Congressman Fulcher and Congressman Simpson,
  
  Please join Reps. Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Moulton (D-MA) in sending an updated letter to House Leadership requesting that charitable nonprofits on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response receive critical relief in the next COVID-19 relief legislation. The deadline to sign the letter is COB Tuesday, August 4. Please contact Olivia Hussey with Rep. Moulton or Joseph Knowles with Rep. Fitzpatrick if you would like to sign on or have any questions.
  
  
  

• Email (Representatives, Senators) and tweet to your Representative and Senators any of the following:
  • The new Nonprofit Community Letter
  • The New York Times article: Providing a Pandemic Safety Net, Nonprofits Need Their Own, July 25, 2020.
• ​​​Retweet messages from @NatlCouncilNPs and #Relief4Charities to your Representative and Senators.

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Mask or no Mask: Where do you Stand?

The Idaho Nonprofit Center wanted to conduct a short pulse pull to see where you stand on mask wearing. Please take just 30 seconds (at most) to complete this 2 question poll. We appreciate your time and dedication to Idaho! ​

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Partial Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act Enacted*

Congress passed and the President signed the Protecting Nonprofits from Catastrophic Cash Flow Strain Act (S.4209) yesterday afternoon. The bill overrides the Labor Department requirement that self-insured nonprofits must pay 100% of benefits costs upfront and get reimbursed by their states later.

The bill is called a partial UI fix because it only corrects the misinterpretation of the CARES Act by the Department of Labor. “The message to reimbursing employers from this new law is ‘Don’t panic, partial relief has arrived,’” said Tim Delaney, President & CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. “The new law is just a partial fix to a serious problem, however, because self-insuring nonprofits and governments still must pay 50 percent of unemployment bills. We urge Congress to fix this second half of the problem this month.”

*content provided by Montana Nonprofit Association and the National Council for Nonprofits

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Level Up at Conference

Join over 300 nonprofit professionals - from board members to CEOs and everyone in between - at the premier event for Idaho nonprofit leaders as they address critical issues and opportunities in the nonprofit sector. 

During the conference, all attendees will have the opportunity to fully participate in their chosen breakout sessions through microphone enabled live Q and As, polls, and text chat features. Also, for those breakout sessions you do not attend live, you will be able to view the recordings after the event has ended. 20+ different topics for just $75! 

Register Here