Blurb about why Forefront rocks, caption for photo

COVID-19 POLICY UPDATES

Forefront is speaking daily with policymakers on local, state, and federal levels to advocate for the social impact sector and provide our community with the most up-to-date information on governmental response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We will continually update this page as new developments occur and resources are available.

To get in touch about policy response and Forefront’s plan of action, contact Bryan Zarou, Director of Public Policy, at bzarou@myforefront.org.

Recent Updates

Tuesday, May 26:Forefront, in partnership with Illinois Partners for Human Services and the Jewish Federation of Chicago, sent a letter to Governor JB Pritzker urging him to sign an executive order to protect nonprofits who are self-insured for unemployment benefits. Right now, these nonprofits are required to pay 50% of all insurance claims due to COVID-19-related unemployment. To learn more, read the letter here.

Thursday, May 15: The House passes the historic HEROES Act. As the legislation is being negotiated in the Senate, Forefront will keep you updated as news becomes available.

Thursday, May 14: Funding Nonprofit Work in Communities: Tomorrow, Senators Klobuchar (D-MN), Brown (D-OH), and Wyden (D-OR) plan to introduce the Work Opportunities and Resources to Keep Nonprofit Organizations Well Act (the WORK NOW Act). The bill seeks to inject $50 billion into frontline nonprofits over the next 6 months to generate employment for laid-off workers and to address the skyrocketing needs in communities for COVID-19 relief and recovery. Senator Tammy Duckworth has signed on and endorsed this bill, as has Forefront.

Wednesday, May 13: Yesterday, the House introduced The HEROES Act. Read the House's summary of the bill, and view a preliminary analysis of what is in the HEROES Act for nonprofits.

Tuesday, May 12: The House has introduced The HEROES Act. This $3 trillion 4th stimulus package will involve funding for state and local governments, more direct payments to individuals, money to expand testing and contact tracing, provisions for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, student loan relief, and funding for elections. Forefront will analyze the act and release information important to the sector soon.

Monday, May 11: Forefront is continuing our push to change the ruling from the Department of Labor mandating that nonprofits pay 100% of unemployment insurance benefits and be reimbursed 50% at some later date. We are engaging with our national partners to help alleviate this new regulation.

Wednesday, April 29: The Department of Labor issued guidelines advising states to push burdensome unemployment benefit costs onto nonprofits. Read the National Council of Nonprofits' statement condemning the guidelines.

For updates dating back to mid-March, view our complete COVID-19 policy timeline.

Illinois Developments & Resources

Although the Illinois State Legislature is not in session, Forefront is in constant communication with members of the General Assembly to advocate on behalf of the sector.

Policy Director Bryan Zarou participated in a webinar with Congressman Brad Schneider and the Small Business Administration on Thursday, April 9, sharing statewide policy updates. View the recording here.

Forefront has spoken with community organizations, legal organizations and the funder community to organize solid recommendations to our state leaders. Some of the topics include, but are not limited to:
- State Grants and Contracts
- Unemployment Insurance
- Extending Small Business assistance to Nonprofits
- Support for Charitable Giving
Governor JB Pritzker has issued a “stay at home” order from Saturday, March 21 at 5pm until April 30.
The State Treasurer’s office has suspended any grants through their Charitable Trust Program until April.
Chicago’s Nonprofit Lobbying law will NOT be implemented until July. Negotiations are still taking place to reduce the burden on nonprofits. Once we have more information, we will update this page.
Cook County is initiating a series of measures waiving various County fines, fees and deferring tax collections to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the measures here.

Federal Developments and Resources

Nonprofit Access to Small Business Disaster Loans
The Small Business Administration announced it is extending disaster relief loans to small businesses, including nonprofits, to help alleviate economic injury caused by COVID-19. Working with state officials, SBA will be offering loans of up to $2 million through the  Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. Learn more by reading our SBA loan fact sheet.
The Small Business Administration is also offering Payroll Protection loans through the Paycheck Protection Loan program. Learn more about the loans and how to apply on the Treasury’s website.

Federal Grants Flexibility
The federal Office of Management and Budget has posted  instructions allowing federal agencies to issue exceptions to the grants rules in the OMB Uniform Guidance to remove administrative impediments on services necessary to carry out the emergency response related to COVID-19. The Memo (M-20-11) encourages flexibility in processing renewals of grants, allows looser reimbursement and purchasing standards, and more.

To access additional Forefront resources, as well as webinars, reports, free tools, and other information from across the country, visit our COVID-19 resources page.

Newsletter Sign Up

Name
First Last
Title
Organization Name
Email
Address
Street Address Address Line 2 City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code Country
I work at a
- Nonprofit Organization
- Grantmaker Organization
- Advisor/Consultant Organization
- Other
- I would like to receive @the Forefront newsletters.
Comments
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.