Giving Compass' Take:

• Jeff Williams summarizes the drawbacks and successes of the Paycheck Protection Program in supporting nonprofits during COVID.

• How can we assist smaller eligible nonprofits in accessing the Paycheck Protection Program? What will it take to support employees in nonprofits who are struggling through the pandemic?

• Learn more about how you can help nonprofits persevere through the coronavirus pandemic.

In July 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released dozens of summary data files about organizations — nonprofit and for-profit — that received loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

When we take a look at the full pool of PPP loans, we see that:

1. Nationwide, nonprofits received 3.7% of all loans made under this program: Nearly 182,000 nonprofits received a PPP loan, out of the nearly 4.9 million total loans.

2. Nonprofits received a larger share of the high-dollar loans than all other entity types.

Nonprofits fared better than other types of organizations in their efforts to secure loans over $350,000.

3. Those 181,680 nonprofit PPP loans protected 4.1 million nonprofit jobs.

Using the latest national nonprofit job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics or Johns Hopkins University, this means that nearly one in three nonprofit jobs nationwide was protected by PPP funds.

4. Approximately 40% of eligible nonprofits received a PPP loan.

When we marry these two facts, 1) that nonprofits received a larger share of the $150,000+ loan category than other organizations, and 2) that the number of nonprofit jobs PPP protected was approximately 20% less than expected, we can conclude that while larger nonprofits were successful in PPP, smaller nonprofits may not have applied for loans or have not been successful with applications so far.

In early July, the President and Congress extended applications for the PPP program through August 8, 2020. With $138 billion in funds remaining under the program — and with evidence that fewer nonprofits than expected (especially smaller nonprofits) applied or were successful in Round 1 — the nonprofit sector and its advisors should redouble efforts to reach out to PPP-eligible nonprofits who may need assistance in applying during Round 2.

Read the full article about the Paycheck Protection Program by Jeff Williams at Johnson Center.