Today, my friend Dan Cardinali, the CEO and President of Independent Sector, released a powerful statement on the Stories We tell. I encourage you all to read it. I believe Dan’s message and the learnings he’s taking from Oregon leaders like Sarah Kastelic, CEO of the National Indian Child Welfare Association help us all to better understand the ways in which we engage with each other, with the “truths” we tell ourselves, and the ways in which we pass down legacies in our families. Much like many of us, as he pondered the past 10 months of changes and challenges, Dan asks:
“What are the stories that we will tell ourselves, our communities, and what will become of our national narrative? Whose stories will get told? Who will be our heroes? Who our villains? Who will be forgotten because it is too painful to remember or deemed unimportant? Which stories may never get told and will have to be doggedly pursued to be brought into our narrative? And what is the responsibility on us, as civil society leaders, to balance all of that?”
I encourage us all to ask ourselves the same, and keep in mind the native land on which we will break bread this Thanksgiving. Keep in mind the bounty that we have taken from this beautiful land, and think of the ways in which we can both be grateful and give back as we head toward the end of what has been a terribly difficult year for many of us.
Have a safe, restful and reflective holiday,
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Jim White
NAO Executive Director
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NAO News
Equine Outreach is the lucky winner! NAO nonprofit member Equine Outreach is the lucky recipient to receive six months of pro bon reputation management support in 2021 from NAO Business Verified Affiliate Member ReputationUs! Equine Outreach in Bend, was selected in a live random drawing held this morning! This is the second year in a row that ReputationUs, a communications and reputation management firm is providing this great pro bono work valued at $14,000 to a NAO nonprofit member. Thank you to everyone who applied and don’t forget that ALL applicants will be invited to a reputation management webinar in early 2021. A big THANK YOU to Casey Boggs, President of ReputationUs and his team for their generosity!
Anthony Veliz and the Oregon Latinx Leadership Network highlighted in latest NAO’s The Public Space podcast episode: Last week we released our latest episode of NAO’s The Public Space podcast – How the Oregon Latinx Leadership Network Galvanized a Statewide Latinx Movement with Anthony Veliz, Founder of the Oregon Latinx Leadership Network. Anthony joined NAO’s Lilisa Hall to discuss the transformational work OLLN is doing bringing positive change in the Latinx community and beyond. Be sure to check out all our episodes that drop on the third Thursday of every month – subscribe to The Public Space wherever you get your podcasts!
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At the Federal Level
Status of Stimulus Negotiations: The top three Democrats in the country met on Friday to discuss COVID relief legislation. According to a Biden spokesperson: “They’re in lockstep agreement that there needs to be emergency assistance and aid during the lame-duck session to help families, to help small businesses.” There were rumors yesterday that President-Elect Biden may be pushing for a smaller package, but his media people worked feverously to quash that notion. Reports are Biden, Pelosi and Schumer agreed that a package must include priorities such as small business aid, money for state and local governments, expanded unemployment benefits and “affordable health care for millions of families,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by Biden's transition team (Politico). Separate from COVID relief, there’s talk in the appropriations negotiations of including expanded unemployment insurance, a national eviction moratorium, and student loan forbearance in the omnibus spending bill. None of this is certain, but it still instills hope.
County leaders from both sides of the political aisle and all across the country gathered on a National Association of Counties call yesterday and stated that partisan politics at the federal level are harming their ability to respond to the coronavirus public health crisis. “This is not an issue related to politics, it’s an issue related to the public health,” said Mark Poloncarz, the Democrat county executive of Erie County, New York. “We continue to see too much politicization of a public health care crisis.” You can read more of the discussions and pressures that county leaders are ramping up here: County Leaders Urge Bipartisan Deal on Federal Covid Relief.
PPP Necessity Certification
Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 25, is the deadline for submitting public comments on the new SBA Form 3510 (nonprofit borrowers), a questionnaire requiring nonprofits to show PPP “loan necessity.” The form is for borrowers with PPP loans worth $2 million and above. Even though most nonprofits in our network won’t have to complete the form, we’ve joined in expressing concerns about the overly intrusive SBA Form 3510 that asks questions that will likely be used by SBA when auditing lower-valued loans. Please make your comments before the deadline tomorrow.
State Grants Programs
Implicit Bias Training EO
A letter was sent last week to the Biden Transition signed by fifty national nonprofits, including the National Council of Nonprofits, has now been posted online for ease of resending. The gist of the letter: “We urge the incoming Administration to immediately rescind this Executive Order (EO) and encourage you to continue working with the nonprofit sector to strengthen the implementation of diversity and inclusion as well as equity training.” The letter, and an earlier version sent to the President, were spearheaded by the YWCA USA.
Unrelated Business Income Final Rule
The UBTI rules are relevant because a tax-exempt organization generally pays income tax (also referred to as unrelated business income tax or UBIT) with respect to UBTI. So what is UBTI? UBTI refers to the income of a tax-exempt organization from business activities that are unrelated to its tax-exempt purpose.
Until the 2017 tax law, nonprofits were treated the same as for-profit businesses when it came to taxable business income – revenues and expenses were aggregated and taxes paid on the excess. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act added Internal Revenue Code Section 512(a)(6) singling out nonprofits with unrelated business income for a punitive tax by requiring charitable organizations to calculate each “trade or business” separately, and pay income taxes on each separate business line.
This final Silo UBTI rule allows nonprofits to group their unrelated business income into 20 or so broad buckets, or silos, based on the first two digits of NAICS codes. For instance, all types of accommodations and food services fall into one category (72). The final rule includes additional guidance on how to calculate UBTI, however, it does not include a de minimis test that many accountants had requested or provide any clarity on the allocation of expenses between exempt activities and unrelated business.
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NAO thanks all of you who are responding to so many crises and disasters in our communities. We have curated a set of resources and links with our COVID-19 resources and Oregon Wildfire Response Resources pages that we’ve created to help you and your organizations navigate these difficult times.
If your nonprofit is responding to communities impacted by the fires, please be sure to connect with your FEMA coordinators (called VALs), Regional Solutions, local Office of Emergency Management, United Ways and County/Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COADs). A coordinated disaster and recovery response is imperative! Please be part of the solution by sharing what you’re doing.
You can connect to the Oregon Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (ORVOAD) by clicking this link and connecting to these other groups.
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Upcoming Online Sessions
How to Read Financial Statements, Wednesday, December 2, 3 – 4:30 p.m. PT: Erin Zollenkopf, CEO at Susan Matlack Jones & Associates presents this session on how to read financial statements. More details and registration information here.
Effective Supervision Practices for Advancing Equity and Inclusion – Session 2, Thursday, December 3, 3:30 – 5 p.m. PT: Session 2 of a two-part series with Cliff Jones, Consultant Partner at Capacity Building Partnerships will continue to explore the most essential elements of a supervisor’s role with a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. Attendance at Session 1 is not required. Details and registration information here.
Revenue Recognition: Topic ASC 606, Wednesday, December 9, 10 – 11 a.m. PT: Join Jessica Yoder, Shareholder and Jeffrey Lester, Senior Assurance Manager, both at McDonald Jacobs for a webinar on reviewing examples and best practices for implementing new revenue recognition standards on topic ASC 606. More details and registration information here.
Preparing for a Federal Audit, Thursday, December 10, 10 – 11 a.m. PT: Join Neville Wellman, Team Member at CFO Selections and Mark Kajitani, Director of Human Resources at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization for a session on preparing for federal audits. This webinar is designed for board members, executive directors, and other staff members who need an introduction to federal audits. More details and registration information here.
Virtual Project Impact Cohort, February 16 through August 17, 2021: Join Steve Patty, Ph.D. from Dialogues in Action for a Project Impact Cohort consisting of seven virtual half-day graduate-level sessions over seven months, individualized coaching for each organization, resulting in qualitative and quantitative findings to demonstrate and improve impact. There are openings for up to 12 teams. The deadline to apply is January 15, 2021. Learn more and apply here.
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Thank you to the following SUPPORTERS and SPONSORS who are supporting NAO’s online events and communications during these challenging times. Their support is vital in helping NAO to bring much-needed resources and information to Oregon’s nonprofits – thank you. |
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