Funders Stepping Up

This week’s NMAC Hangout is with leaders committed to ensuring that funding is stepped up to support the HIV infrastructure during and eventually after the COVID-19 outbreak. NMAC is very worried about what is happening to HIV services. Thursday’s webinar includes the following guests:

Registration (space is limited)

Thursday, April 16th @ 10 AM (Eastern)
Thursday, April 16th @ 2 PM (Eastern)

Elton John Foundation
Gilead

John will give an overview of funding for HIV organizations during COVID-19. He will share some of the resources Funders Concerned About AIDS has developed. He will also discuss his agency’s report on the Philanthropic Support to Address HIV/AIDS in 2019.

Kali and Darwin will talk about their respective organization’s efforts to support the HIV infrastructure during COVID-19. Each organization has rapidly developed funding opportunities for current grantees to help them through these difficult times.

There will be time for questions and answers; however, please don’t ask specific questions about your nonprofit. This is a space for general questions.

For full disclosure, NMAC has been a grantee of both the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Gilead. We are grateful for their support; however, it is important to understand that their contributions do not impact any NMAC policies. NMAC intends to apply for support from Gilead’s COVID-19 initiative, but we are not eligible for the Elton John AIDS Foundation relief program.

Two weeks ago, I put forth a challenge to HIV funders to dramatically increase the financial commitment to supporting our community. Now more than ever, HIV service organizations need their support. Thank you to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Gilead for stepping up. We hope others will join them.

NMAC will host a webinar for any donor who steps up to help HIV nonprofits during this difficult time. COVID-19 has put all of our futures at risk. When 2020 started, it was all about building plans to end the epidemic. Now it’s about the survival of the HIV infrastructure.

Yours in the struggle,

Paul Kawata

Payment Protection Program Webinar 1




HIV Prevention and Care in the Time of COVID 19 Webinar




Payment Protection Program Webinar 2




Caring for Our Communities during COVID-19 – 4/8/20

While NMAC has faced serious challenges due to the COVID pandemic, we know that our community based partners are facing enormous pressures.

Jason Kirk, Director of Development and Marketing at Palmetto Community Care in Charleston, SC, recently shared this with us:

At Palmetto Community Care, it has been a major adjustment to maintain services with staff all working remotely to continue to provide services to our HIV-positive clients. Costs incurred to continue normal business operation include procurement of additional laptops, internet service support for staff, increased IT usage and demand and phone service upgrades. Each additional expenditure is an added and unplanned cost that we will need to fundraise for or make budget adjustments to continue to complete our mission. In addition, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our HIV and STI testing services and encourage those who believe that they have recent exposure to work with our state health department in an emergency. We are looking out for the health of our staff and those who seek testing due to the close proximity needed for testing. Overall, we are doing our very best and additional funding and donations would help alleviate shortfalls from delayed or cancelled events and fundraisers.

“I think that clients are anxious and some are concerned about getting their medications in the future; MCMs have been reaching out to all clients to check on them but it has been hard adjusting to working from home. MCMs are working their hardest to ensure that clients’ needs are continuing to be met in every way possible. Our Specialized Medical Case Manager is getting all medications delivered to her house instead of to our agency, and our outreach team are delivering medications via car. I think we take technology for granted and obviously we are working on personal computers and adapting best we can. I think that we will get better at working from home in the near future.

“Clients are continuing to call and it is business as usual in that respect. I think we need more technology and guidance from funders. HOPWA and SC DHEC have been rather vague in regards to what is being required for MCMs to have as far as signatures, consents, etc in order for us to ensure that clients can continue to have access to everything. For example ADAP recerts need signature and proof of income and it is hard to request those from clients who may not even have a cell phone and we are social distancing.“ – Jennifer Benvenuto, Medical Case Management Program Manager

Overall, this is new territory and we are using unfamiliar technology and systems, but we are working our hardest to ensure that our clients are not forgotten and do not fall through any cracks left by this pandemic.

Checking In

It’s been a rough couple of days at NMAC. Multiple family members of staff have passed and, as you can imagine, we are devastated (please read Ace’s story about his family). As we learned during the HIV epidemic, the work continues.

Mark your calendars for the weekly NMAC check-in. This week we are meeting on Thursday, April 9, at 10 AM and 2 PM ET. You will need to register in advance:

10 AM (Eastern) Registration
2 PM (Eastern) Registration

Last week we ran out of slots, so this week we’ve doubled the number of openings.

Special Guests

This week’s special guest is Harold Philips from Health and Human Services. Harold is the Chief Operating Officer for the federal effort to End the HIV Epidemic (EHE). Harold will talk about EHE efforts while being physically distant. In addition to Harold, we will also be joined by Moises Agosto, Tara Barnes-Darby, and Ace Robinson from NMAC. Moises will address long term survivors and what they should know about COVID-19, Tara will answer your questions about the 2020 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, and Ace is going to talk about his recent article in The Body “African Americans Are Bearing the Brunt of the Coronavirus Pandemic-Including My Family in Albany Georgia.”

Follow-Up PPP

We will also follow-up on last week’s discussion about the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program and the messy roll-out of the program. As we mentioned last week, many banks were not prepared for this program and the roll-out has left many nonprofits frustrated and concerned. The initiative will run out of money and not everyone will benefit. It is critical that you get your application in as soon as possible.

2020 USCHA

We have not made a final decision about the 2020 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS. The meeting is in October and we want to share our thinking and hear from you. Many meetings are going to a virtual format. Do you think that would work for this meeting? NMAC is very committed to Puerto Rico and we are looking at a Plan B which is to push the meeting to the spring of 2021; however, we want to hear your thoughts.

Long Term Survivors

We invite all people living with HIV/AIDS to join the call and share their experience of living with HIV during COVID-19. I know this is something that HHS and HRSA are tracking. Please join the call to share your concerns with Harold. It’s too soon to have real scientific studies, so we are looking for anecdotes for how PLHIV are coping.

 

Go-To Meetings

NMAC uses Go-To-Meetings for these hangouts. After you register, please follow the instructions and download the software in advance of our check-in. It will take a few minutes to get set-up and the check-in will start and end on time.

Format
Since there are hundreds of people in the meeting, it doesn’t work to have an open mic. Participants will be asked to write their questions or make their statements in the question section of the go-to-meetings tool kit. We will talk everyone through the software to help get you familiar with this program. The purpose of NMAC’s hangouts is to end the isolation of COVID-19, answer questions about pressing HIV issues, and figure out the best ways to use distant learning during these troubling times.These are uncertain scary times. Our hangouts are a place to check-in with your movement. They will happen weekly until we go back to work. We will start and end on time. Thank you for your efforts to end the HIV epidemic. COVID-19 may have forced the “pause” button, but our work is far from finished.
Yours in the struggle,
Paul Kawata

CARES Act Becomes Law

The historic economic devastation caused by the COVID19 pandemic required swift and profound action by Congress.  On Friday, the House passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which will provide immediate relief for most Americans and for our health infrastructure.

U.S. Capitol in SummerWhile the CARES Act provided $90 million for Ryan White Care and $65 million for HOWPA; perhaps the most significant relief will be the $100 billion in direct aid to healthcare institutions, including Medicare and Medicaid enrolled providers.  It’s worth noting that NMAC was proud to have joined with our partners, and worked with Congress to ensure HIV/AIDS related funding was not only reprogrammed, but more importantly, we successfully advocated for increased funding in these health accounts.

This $2 trillion package, while substantial, won’t be enough.  I recognize many of you may disagree – but please try to understand, we don’t yet know the longterm ramifications COVID19 will have on our economy — or more importantly — our health and lives.  While the CARES Act will most certainly aid in the current recovery, we must not be reactive to an unknown future.  Those of us who fight for funding for HIV/AIDS, STI’s, and minority health initiatives, know that the best response to any public health issue, is to be proactive.  The same is true for the COVID19 pandemic.

As Director of Government Relations and Public Policy (GRPP) for NMAC, you have my word that will continue to work with this Administration and Congress as Phase IV of this recovery is being developed.

Also, in an effort to help each of you during these unchartered times, the GRPP Department at NMAC will be scheduling Webinars to help train our local NGO partners with applying for small business loans through the Small Business Administration’s website.  In addition, we will be building out NMAC’s website to include a GRPP section.  There, you will be able to keep up to date on our efforts, as well as learn how you can help us advocate for increased funding as Congress looks to draft a Phase IV response.

Finally, as we enter another difficult week, I’m reminded of the words of Henry Ford: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”  Please continue to follow the guidance of Dr. Fauci and your local officials.

Joe Huang-Racalto
Director, Government Relations and Public Policy
Joe Racalto

Can We Talk?

These are scary times. Can we talk? NMAC wants to hold an online hangout with a purpose, to talk about Coronavirus Emergency Loans for Nonprofits. We are not experts on the topic, but we wanted to make sure that everyone has information about this program.

NMAC will hold two webinars on Thursday, April 2.

The purpose of the webinars is to discuss relief for nonprofits via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. There is $350 billion to help small businesses and nonprofits. We specifically want to discuss the Paycheck Protection Program because of the loan forgiveness component of this program. This program will be administered by the Small Business Administration. Loans will be guaranteed by the federal government, nonprofit need to apply at one of the approved banks.

Who Is Eligible?
A 501©(3) with fewer than 500 employees

How Much Can A Nonprofit Borrow?
Loans through this program can be up to 2.5 times the nonprofit’s average monthly payroll costs, not to exceed $10 million. Your average monthly payroll is the sum of salary, or wages. It includes vacation and/or sick leave, healthcare benefits including insurance premiums, retirement benefits, and state or local tax assessed on the compensation. Compensation of an individual employee in excess of $100,000 annually will be prorated for the period from February 15 to June 30, 2020.

The Loan Can Be Forgiven
Nonprofits are eligible for loan forgiveness equal to the amount they spent on the following items during the two-month period starting on the loan’s origination date:

  • Payroll (prorated up to $100,000 per employee)
  • Rent or Mortgage Interest
  • Utilities (electricity, gas, water, transportation, telephone or internet)

However, loan forgiveness can be reduced if the nonprofit has a reduction in the number of employees or a reduction of greater than 25% in wages paid to employees. These details are still to be worked out.

Registration will be limited to 100 people per session. If the demand exceeds the spaces, NMAC will add additional sessions. NMAC is NOT an expert on this program or the SBA; however, we felt it was important for the HIV infrastructure to consider these loans. We want to thank the US Chamber of Commerce for the information we shared in this e-newsletter.

Yours in the struggle,

Paul Kawata

Open Letter To HIV Donors

Thank you for your decades of support. For all nonprofits, these are scary and difficult times. Now more than ever the HIV community needs our donors to stand with us. Without your continued support, the infrastructure created to provide services and to end the HIV epidemic could be decimated. There is natural inclination to hit “pause” to see where everything falls; however, it could be too late if you wait too long.

Last week the AIDS/LifeCycle was canceled. This is one of the nation’s largest HIV fundraisers. The AIDS Walk of New York is on May 17th and I truly wonder if it can happen. Without these and many other fundraising events, our infrastructure is truly at risk. We need all of our donors to understand that this is not the year to “skip” HIV.

Aids Awareness RibbonI don’t want to pit us against other nonprofits and diseases, because it’s going to be tough for everyone. That is why HIV specific donors are so important to our movement’s survival.  In the past year, we have seen an uptick in HIV service organizations having to close their doors, especially those who specifically serve racial/ethnic minorities. Given the economics of COVID-19, whole industries could go bankrupt in addition to our sister agencies. This is the trickle-down challenge for development. Marriott is going to have a very difficult year. They are a huge supporter of LGBTQ Prides; however, they just let Prides know not to count on them this year. While completely understandable, Marriott’s decision leaves us just starting to sort out the impact on nonprofits. Broadway Cares, a key donor to HIV services, can’t raise money when Broadway is closed.

Not all businesses will be equally impacted. The pharmaceutical industry could come out of this relatively unscathed. Even with the social isolation, people still need to take their meds, particularly people living with HIV. In fact, HHS is recommending that all PLHIV have a 90-day supply of their meds and stay updated on their vaccinations. NMAC is calling on HIV pharma, as one of the industries that will not be destroyed, to step-up and double their 2020 contributions to HIV organizations.

I know there will be some who will be upset about this request, but what is our alternative? Individual donors and mainstream corporations will be pulled in a million different directions and HIV will be one of multiple issues they must address. I don’t believe there is enough money from non-HIV funders to fill the gaps that COVID-19 will cause to our work.

To all of the HIV donors, thank you for your decades of support. If you believe there needs to be infrastructure to support people living with HIV, then stand with our movement and consider the following:

  • Double your 2020 giving
  • Give multiyear unrestricted funding
  • Simplify the application process, and
  • At least for now, minimize the reports that are required.

There will be a time when COVID-19 is a lesson for our history books and our movement will remember who stood with us during these difficult times. I am very concerned about what will be left when COVID-19 is over. We need your commitments now to weather the economic storm that is coming. Thank you.

Yours in the struggle,

Paul Kawata