How Your Nonprofit Can Get a $10K Federal Grant in THREE days Under the CARE Act

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

Most Nonprofits Will Qualify for Emergency Economic Injury Grants of up to $10,000.

A part of the CARE Act allows nonprofits to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans and receive Emergency Economic Injury Grants of up to $10,000 in three days. To access the grant, a nonprofit must apply for an SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and then request an advance. 

The advance does not need to be repaid under any circumstance and should be considered a grant. Nonprofits can use the advance (grant) to pay for expenses that it could have paid had the disaster not occurred, including payroll, debts, rents, and mortgage payments. 

Almost all nonprofits with either (1) an effective ruling letter from the IRS granting a tax exemption under sections 501(c), (d), or (e) of the IRS Code of 1954 or (2) that can provide satisfactory evidence that it is a nonprofit under state law can apply for and received the grant. The only disqualified nonprofits are those that are principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion or religious beliefs or that primarily engage in political or lobbying activities. The nonprofit must also have been in operation since January 31, 2020. 

The SBA has created a streamlined application for the EIDL, which can be found here: https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/. To apply for the Emergency Economic Injury Grant, you must check the box on the fourth screen of the application that says, "I would like to be considered for an advance of up to $10,000". The SBA has a goal of providing the advance in three days by direct deposit to your bank. 

If you have questions about whether your nonprofit qualifies or about the application, contact your legal counsel or the SBA Customer Center at 1-800-877-8339 or DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov.

About the Author

Stacey Cormican offers Bible-based legal counsel and services to businesses, nonprofits, churches and families. She can be reached at slc@cormicanlaw.com or 210-504-8150