As any advocate knows, the most compelling pitch to policymakers includes a combination of compelling stories and hard facts. We could use your help with some of those hard facts. As Independent Sector and our advocacy partners continue to talk to policymakers about the need for additional COVID-19 relief and recovery legislation, we are helping to lead and promote two surveys to help us collect important data to make the case.
COVID-19 Impact on Mid-Sized and Large Nonprofits
If you lead a mid-sized or large nonprofit (500 or more employees), we need your help in gathering critical information on the impact of COVID-19 on your organizations. Working with our partners at Washington Council Ernst & Young, we have created a survey for you to complete on how the pandemic is impacting your organization’s finances, employment, and operations. We will analyze results and develop some simple advocacy products, such as a summary paper and infographic, that can be used to advance our efforts on Capitol Hill.
The survey is confidential to enable you to provide complete answers to survey questions. However, we know that our storytelling on Capitol Hill is always most effective when we can attach the name of an organization to the story. If you are willing to publicly share your organization’s experience to support advocacy efforts, please share contact information in the survey and we may follow-up.
Deadline: Friday, June 5, 2020
Unemployment Insurance Survey for Self-Insured Nonprofits
Is your organization one of the 100,000 or more nonprofits or governmental entities that has elected to self-insure under your state unemployment compensation system? Is your organization now facing burdensome payments to the state due to coronavirus-related layoffs and furloughs? The broad nonprofit community is advocating for relief from crippling unemployment costs and we ask your help in identifying the problems and solutions. Please take the confidential survey organized by the National Council of Nonprofits.
The federal and state unemployment insurance was not designed to absorb the enormous job loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress recognized this fact by enacting the CARES Act which waives many state restrictions, extends and expands benefits, and holds many employers harmless. However, not all employers are treated the same. Most employers are required to contribute into the state unemployment trust fund, but some charitable nonprofits and governments have opted to self-insure, meaning they don’t pay in advance, but receive bills from the state for the unemployment benefits paid out to their former employees.
In normal times, the system works well, but these are not normal times. Congress provided partial relief in the CARES Act for self-insured employers covering 50 percent of the costs, but guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor may cause states to send bills demanding immediate payment for 100 percent of these unemployment costs. The results from this survey will help nonprofits advocate for legislative and regulatory fixes that benefit organizations and their missions.
