Nonprofit Update May 2020: Events and Funding Opportunities

The work and impact of San Diego nonprofits is important to advance a vibrant quality of life in the San Diego region. To support your efforts, we’re sharing valuable information every month about upcoming workshops, events, fundraising opportunities and resources with your organization.

COVID-19 Community Response Fund Update

The San Diego COVID-19 Community Response Fund receives donations and makes rapid response grants to nonprofits that are working on the frontlines of the coronavirus public health and economic crisis to provide our region’s most vulnerable communities with assistance. To date, the Fund has received $14.2 million in donations and granted $9.9 million to more than 90 local nonprofit organizations. The San Diego Foundation is accepting applications for COVID-19 Community Response Fund grants from San Diego nonprofit organizations providing our region’s most vulnerable communities with assistance in the areas of food security, other essential living expenses, emergent needs, and rent and utility payment support. Please note that grants to nonprofits are made on a rolling basis. As fundraising continues through the outbreak and recovery phases of the crisis, the Fund will adapt to emerging needs as the situation evolves.

The San Diego Foundation, San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and other partners have also formed a public-private partnership to create the San Diego County COVID-19 Small Business and Nonprofit Loan Program (SBNLP), an initiative that provides interest-free loans to nonprofit organizations and aids in the region’s economic recovery from the coronavirus.

Nonprofit organizations serving or in San Diego County interested in funding can learn more at SanDiegoSBNLP.org.

COVID-19 Related Resources

• The California Association of Nonprofits has an extensive list of resources. You can also view the archive of the virtual town hall for San Diego nonprofit leaders that the association hosted on May 4, featuring Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), Congressman Scott Peters (D-San Diego) and The San Diego Foundation CEO Mark Stuart.
• The Small Business Administration has created a resource to help nonprofits find an authorized lender for the Paycheck Protection Program.
• The University of San Diego Nonprofit Institute has created a useful Facebook group for San Diego nonprofits to share information about needs and resources.
• Law firm Perkins Coie has published helpful considerations for nonprofits seeking to apply for funding under the CARES Act.
• The California Arts Council has created a resource page collecting COVID relief funding opportunities for artists and arts-related nonprofits.
• The Gary Mary West Foundation has collected resources, policy news and analyses for healthcare and community-based providers and policymakers.
• The San Diego Local Government Commission has created a Virtual Engagement Guidebook PDF with best practices for effective virtual engagement.

COVID-19 Grant Opportunities

• The Booz Allen Foundation Innovation Fund is accepting applications for a $1 million dollar grant program for nonprofit organizations, eligible small businesses, and individuals with a new idea for solving a problem related to the pandemic, such as a new system, product, approach, technology, delivery system, or process. The fund is especially interested in ideas and solutions that help build lasting community resilience by protecting vulnerable populations and frontline workers or by providing for the safe return to work. Deadline: June 5, 2020
• Artist Relief will distribute $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19; serve as an ongoing informational resource; and co-launch the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, designed by Americans for the Arts, to better identify and address the needs of artists. Funding will be awarded in cycles. Find out more information regarding the application process and deadlines here.