COVID-19 Resources and Links:

On December 27, 2020 new federal legislation was enacted to provide more assistance for individuals, businesses and organizations impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. This legislation included a new round of funding for the Paycheck Protection Program loans. Churches are again eligible to participate in the program – either for first-time loans or for a second loan. In January, the Foundation hosted a couple of brief, informational webinars for church leaders. Here is a link to the recording of one of those sessions: VIEW WEBINAR and here are the summary slides that accompanied the webinar: VIEW SLIDES The US Small Business Administration (SBA) published guidance for the new round of loans on its website: sba.gov The rollout of the new loans is slated to begin January 11, 2021 and run through the end of March.

General information:

Among the key United Methodist information sources are the following: The Missouri Annual Conference Covid-19 resource page. Wespath, the UM pension and health benefits administrator, maintains a library of resources. Another great resource is the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) of the UMC.

In addition, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is a key website for information about the first round and the new second round of PPP loans for churches.

An outstanding source of information for all sorts of topics relating to stewardship is Horizons Stewardship. Their Giving 365 resource library is a treasure trove of timely and informative resources, including printed materials, videos and a free e-newsletter. Topics include e-giving, year-round stewardship, web-based communications, along with the full range of capital campaign consulting and stewardship services. Horizons is a ministry partner and preferred provider of capital campaign consulting services for the Foundation.