Unprecedented Grant Funds For Nonprofits and Small Businesses

COVID-19 emergency response funds represent unprecedented philanthropic opportunities for nonprofits and small businesses serving their local communities. The United States government stimulus checks to all Americans who pay taxes or collect social security retirement or disability benefits is a one-time grant to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department of Labor Division of Wage and Hour created a COVID-19 and the American Workplace webpage explaining the application of the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, significant aspects of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and a webinar for employees explaining the FFCRA.

Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program helps small businesses and nonprofits closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic retain and pay their employees for eight weeks. Applying for this grant is the same as applying for an SBA loan, and you can use the money to pay your business rent or mortgage, loans for business equipment or vehicles, and utilities. The SBA will grant forgiveness of the entire loan if you pay your employees for a full eight weeks. A seasonal business or nonprofit that paid employees for at least eight weeks between February 15, 2019 and June 30, 2019 may apply for the payroll forgiveness grant.

COVID-19 Small Business Guidance

Financial resources have been set aside to assist small businesses in ensuring the health and safety of their employees, their clients, and their customers. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers numerous grant opportunities for farmers to increase the availability of markets for their products. The COVID-19 Federal Response Resource Matrix clarifies USDA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Department of Justice opportunities for farmers, emergency first responders, substance abuse programs, community policing, and domestic violence against women.

Community Foundation Grants

Your Community Foundation and local businesses are responsive to the needs of vulnerable elderly, youth, unemployed, and the homeless during times of crisis. Your Community Foundation connects contributors who care with nonprofit charitable endeavors to improve their geographic areas through philanthropy. Your community foundation set aside additional funds to help non-profits meet the needs of vulnerable populations in their communities. Grants may be awarded weekly.

State and Local Economic Development Organizations

State and local economic development organizations facilitate manufacturers capable of assisting health care providers through the Emergency Supplier Database. Museums and historic organizations can take advantage of the additional COVID-19 funds to digitize their collections, create distance learning opportunities that inspire and mentor, and preserve antiquities and interpretative history for future generations. Your state website, digitized further in response to stay-at-home orders, has online tools and menus to help your find appropriate funds for your small business and provide access to emergency small business support through the Federal CARES Act.

Abundant Grants for Those Staying at Home

The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture offers $50,000 grants for published works in the humanities that significantly improve contemporary culture. While you're staying at home, you may be able to get a grant to research and pursue your interests. Past winners are journalists, poets, and non-fiction authors. The Whiting Foundation funds creative nonfiction that advances knowledge in history, politics, science, philosophy, or travel. Funds may be extended for more than one year for the research, compilation, and production of works of interest to the foundation. In-depth critical thinking and new perspectives in biographies and memoires of academic interest written for general audiences are preferred.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency

The FEMA Coronavirus Response webpage is a menu of resources FEMA, HHS and our federal partners are working with state, local, tribal and territorial governments to execute a whole-of-America response to the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the health and safety of the American people. FEMA Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response webpage details resources for health care workers and patients, state and local governments, FEMA assistance for economic support and recovery, and data and prioritizing resources.

Grants Are a Silver Lining of the COVID-19 Pandemic

While you endure the hardship of staying at home, cancelling all your plans, financial difficulties, no school, and empty shelves at the grocery store, the stay at home order is also an opportunity to learn something new, take a few classes, and plan for your future. Enjoy your free time, try some new recipes, or complete your home projects, but plan for a better future.