Drink while you pour.
It’s something I tell my colleagues at Independent Sector almost daily. We must take care of ourselves so we can take care of others. We wake up in a world where almost every day is different and where the gravity of what we are facing continues to sink in. In a span of a week, my conversation with members went from worrying about business continuity to dealing with death of staff due to COVID-19. Some of us will have to face this trauma and loss acutely, and others of us feel it more collectively. But it is trauma and we will have to heal from this together.
And yet, in the midst of the loss and pain, there are bright spots. Organizations are stepping up in ways that are commendable and unprecedented. From funders like William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and Ford Foundation, who have joined a pledge to release grants from restriction, to nonprofits like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, who have opened their now closed local facilities to care for children of front-line, essential workers like our first responders and medical staff.
Every week, I say it and every week it’s true. We are in uncharted waters. We are glad to have you as a community as we all chart a path forward. And while you all are doing your part to ensure we get through this crisis, we want to ensure you know we are here doing the same.
On Friday, President Trump signed the $2 trillion relief package known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act. We provided an overview all the details in our Monthly Policy Update webinar, a member benefit we have opened to the entire U.S. nonprofit sector during this time.
Since then, our sector has been scrambling to understand which nonprofits are eligible and how to apply for these emergency funds. We quickly mobilized the team to put together a resource to help. Please use, share, and give us feedback on this new resource. We will continue to update it as more information is available. We also will have a webinar on Thursday at 2 pm ET to walk through our CARES Act resource and give an update on what else might be coming up in the federal policy space. We hope by Thursday, we may have additional information to share from the Small Business Administration on how they will be administering the emergency loans to nonprofits, which we know are highly anticipated.
Please continue to check our website at independen1stg.wpengine.com/covid19 for more resources, webinars, and information. And if I may ask, if your organization is not already a member of Independent Sector, please consider joining us. Having your partnership at this time is critical to our ability to continue to provide information, analysis, and collective action on behalf of the health of the whole sector. Thank you for all that you do.
