Join us Monday, November 30 at 6 p.m.
How do you feel about accepting the PPP funding from the government?
In April, we learned about the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), part of the CARES Act, which was available to small businesses and churches. The UUA strongly encouraged all congregations to apply for these funds. The money would be dispersed as a forgivable loan as long as it was used to pay staff salaries. Considering that payroll constitutes 72% of church expenses, this is significant for our budget. There was concern that some of our members may not be able to fulfill pledges for this year (and possibly next) due to the pandemic. We were worried there would be other shortfalls in our income this year, too. We are collecting less building use fees, less weekly collection plate donations, and our special fundraiser meant to raise $5,000 was cancelled. Given all of these factors, Church Council and the Budget & Finance Committee decided to apply for funding through the program. Here is a link to the May newsletter containing some background information:
https://www.uucantonny.org/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2020/04/2020-05-newsletter-.pdf
Sara Trimm, Jenn Whittaker, Rev. James Galasinski and Gwen Cunningham prepared the application through North Country Savings Bank and it was approved on April 29. We received $25,720 which was dispersed in May, and we used the funds to pay our staff during the months of May and June. Following guidelines from a Congregational Finance advisory group, Sara set up a system in QuickBooks to track the use of the funds in order to streamline any reports required for loan forgiveness. We are ready to provide these reports as soon as the government and/or the bank are ready to finalize loan forgiveness.
Some church members have raised concerns about accepting these funds from the government. Both Church Council and the Budget & Finance Committee have reconsidered and discussed these concerns. So far they have decided NOT to return/refuse the funds. We do, however, welcome further discussion and cordially invite all Church Members and Friends to a Listening Session on Monday, November 30 from 6-7p.m. via Zoom.
If you cannot make it to the meeting at that time, please feel free to communicate your ideas, thoughts, and feelings to Sara Trimm at the Church office by email (office@uucantonny.org) so your voice will be heard.
The Zoom meeting invitation is included here. The session will be moderated to allow time for everyone to share. It will also be recorded so that we can refer back to the information.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Topic: Church Council Listening Session
Time: Nov 30, 2020 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/98126942019?pwd=MXMwejAyN0o0eGFEMjVZVDV6QkxuQT09
Meeting ID: 981 2694 2019
Passcode: 773368
Dial: +1 929 205 6099