State aid infuses more than 1,400 nonprofits with financial boost after pandemic
FOX 2 (WJBK) - The pandemic put a lot of non-profits in a pinch and even now, years later, many of them still aren't seeing their funding bounce back.
It's especially hard for organizations working to keep people fed, clothed and healthy - but a new lifeline might just be the saving grace they need.
"Covid hit us, this pandemic, this plague, and a lot of nonprofits started to struggle because we were losing funding," said Steve Spreitzer, Michigan Roundtable.
Nonprofit funding during the pandemic shrank.
"It was pretty rough, cutting our office in half, moving to a smaller office, losing two staff, and having to cut pay in half for two to three months."
About $35 million has now been funneled to organizations like the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion – founded in 1941 to mediate religious differences. It has evolved its mandate to take on religious and cultural differences.
This particular nonprofit got a grant of $25,000.
"It’s huge when you’re looking at your line of credit and trying to keep your doors unlocked," Spreitzer said. "The $25,000 is helpful."
"What people need to know, is that nonprofits are the safety net for communities across Michigan," said Tammy Pitts.
Pitts, of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, along with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, announced more than 1,400 nonprofits in Michigan got this money.
In Metro Detroit, 607 were awarded one-time grant funds ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 from the Nonprofit Relief Fund.
The money helps those organizations catch up.
"This money is extremely important to keeping no profits up and running," Pitts said. "Communities cannot function without nonprofits. During the pandemic, the economic impact of the pandemic, nonprofits were reporting fundraising events were down as much as 53 percent with individual donations down 46 percent.
"This grant funding is strengthening nonprofits,it’s helping many of them stay afloat."
