The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES” Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020. This stimulus package contains four key provisions relevant to church and ministry leaders, including an unprecedented forgivable loan (think grant) available to churches, Christians schools and other ministries. In other words, your ministry could apply for and obtain a loan/grant in the amount of 2.5 times your monthly average payroll in the one-year period before the loan (with some qualifications) and have the loan forgiven if the loan amount is used for payroll costs.
For example, if ABC church paid a total of $240,000 in qualifying payroll costs from March of 2019 to February of 2020 and averaged $20,000.00 ($240,000/12=$20,000) in payroll costs each month, the loan/grant amount would be: $20,000 x 2.5 = $50,000.00.
We have written an Ebook that summarizes the Payroll Protection Loan/Grant Program and sets out how to analyze this program for your ministry. If you are not on a church staff, we encourage you to share this with your pastor or church leadership team.
You can download this Ebook — The Cares Act & Your Church: 4 Key Provisions that Can Help in the COVID-19 Crisis by following this link.
Thanks! Great info! I’ve been researching looking for such information.
Welcome, and thanks for commenting!
Josh, This is Ken Ritchie (Former photographer for the Madison Courier. I now pastor at Warsaw Baptist Church (www.warsawbaptist.com). Are their “strings attached to this loan/grant?
There are remarkably few conditions. That said, I am concerned that there is no explicit statement which prevents a loan participant (and especially an educational institution) from being considered a “recipient of federal funds.” Several organizations are seeking clarification on this, and I will provide an update when I know more.