Dear Friends in Ministry,
With the passage of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“Cares Act”) on Friday, March 27th, a number of provisions have been included to aid small business and nonprofit organizations. The Paycheck Protection Program is a provision that could provide a significant benefit to your church.
The Paycheck Protection Program provision of the CARES Act will provide forgivable loans to small businesses with less than 500 employees, creating an incentive to keep those employees working. This will essentially function like a federal grant program; and the employer will NOT have to repay the loan as long as the funds are used for the appropriate purposes.
In short the CARES Act / Paycheck Protection Program provisions:
- Cover payroll costs, healthcare premiums and benefits, employee salaries, mortgage interest and rent payments, and other interest payments;
- Cover 8 weeks for these necessary expenses; and
- Pay the Employer a maximum of 2.5 times the average monthly payroll, capped at $10 million.
These loans will be provided through the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) under its existing Section 7(a) business loan programs (https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/paycheck-protection-program). Further details will be forthcoming from the SBA on this program.
The pace at which information is being released is rapid; we intend to provide further information as it becomes available to us. In the interim, the following two links provide a good overview as you consider and develop your financial management plans:
The Conference Treasurer’s office is available to assist with your questions, but may not have all of the answers given the early stages of these programs.
Take care,
Roger White, Conference Treasurer
roger.white@wpaumc.org
724-776-2300 x239
