If you are a small business or a nonprofit with less than 500 employees, you can get a “loan” from the government. The loans can be for up to 250% of an employer’s average monthly payroll. If the employer maintains its payroll for an eight week period, the loan is forgiven. The loan can be used for payroll, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities—all of these costs will be forgiven. The maximum loan is $10 million.

As an example, if you are a school with 40 employees who are paid an average of $30,000 a year including benefits, you could receive a loan of $250,000, which will be forgiven if you keep all of your employees on the payroll for eight weeks after receiving the funds. 

There are no personal guarantees on this loan and there is no required collateral.

If your school is accounted for under the non-profit of your church and if your church and school together have 500 employees or less, then the entire non-profit would be eligible. 

These funds must be accessed through banks or other financial institutions.  

Please click here for the application for this program. It is very simple. If you are a non-profit, where it asks for “Owner Name”, just leave it blank.

Here is the documentation you need in addition to the application:

1. Your most recent filing with the IRS
2. Documentation of your number of employees and your monthly payroll costs
3. Documentation of your rent, mortgage payment, and utilities if you intend to use the funds for that purpose in addition to payroll 

Once you have completed the application and gathered the documentation, please send it to your existing bank.

We urge you to contact your existing bank quickly if you are going to take advantage of this program. There is certain to be a very high demand for the program. Good luck.

Need Help Finding a Bank?

We have located a bank that has indicated they are interested in working with private schools in the state of Florida to help them access the Paycheck Protection Program, even if the school is not an existing client of the bank: City National Bank of Florida. Reach out to your local banker with City National Bank for more information, or you can contact Richard Rippy at Richard.Rippy@CityNational.com for more information and how to apply. Please be sure to note in your email that you work with Step Up.

– Joe Gruters is an Orlando-area CPA who has offered to assist schools in finding a bank with whom to partner.  You can contact him at joe@robinsongruters.com.

– If you currently use the following banks, you can use their direct portals to apply:

• • – Ameris Bank: https://www.amerisbank.com/sbarelief
  • – Center State Bank: https://www.centerstatebank.com/paycheck-protection-program/
  • – PNC Bank: https://commercialstore.pnc.com/PaycheckProtectionProgram/contact
  • – Synovus: https://www.synovus.com/covid-19/paycheck-protection-program/interest-form/
  • – BB&T, SunTrust or Truist: https://www.truist.com/coronavirus-response/banking-solutions/business
  • – Valley National Bank: https://www.valley.com/coronavirus/relief-programs/sba-paycheck-protection-program

– If you are in the Tampa Bay area, First Home Bank in Tampa has been helping our schools with this process.