With their doors closed right now, a lot of nonprofits in Virginia are struggling to keep going.
There is some help coming, though.
Virginia Humanities has received more than $500,000 to distribute to nonprofits around the state.
The money is coming from the CARES Act passed by Congress in March.
It’s specifically for nonprofits that focus on public humanities - such as history, literature and philosophy - which are facing financial difficulties due to the pandemic.
"It's tough and I think especially those that rely on ticket sales, on front door registrations, things like that - that’s revenue lost every single day," said Exec. Dir. Matthew Gibson, "Some have had to make hard choices to lay off people and furlough employees."
Gibson says they're trying to make the grant application as easy as possible.
Organizations just need a DUNS number, which is used by the government to track federal spending.
If your organization doesn't have one, you should be able to get one in just a few days.
Gibson says they plan to start accepting applications on Monday, April 20. Organizations will have about ten days to get their applications in.
Virginia Humanities will then decide where the money will go. Gibson says they hope to release the money by mid-May or early June.
"If we don’t do something and do something quickly, both us and other forms of aid... you’re going to see some of these folks not be able to recover through this, and what we’re trying to do is make sure that doesn’t happen," said Gibson.
Gibson says he knows the money they have won't be enough to help everyone, but they're hoping Congress will allocate more funding in the future.
