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Join in Today’s Special Day of Action by Calling on Congress for Nonprofit Relief

Today, September 20, join with nonprofit leaders from across the country in calling on Congress to provide urgently needed relief to help nonprofits serve their communities. The broad national coalition of nonprofit organizations spanning all segments of the charitable community has dedicated today as a special Day of Action for all nonprofits to demand that Congress include relief for charities (#Relief4Charities) in key legislation, most notably the budget reconciliation bill, appropriation measures, and year-end tax legislation.

We urge you to contact your Senators and Representative via social media, email, and telephone to deliver some of the following messages. COVID realities make social media the most effective means of communicating. During this Day of Action, volume of contacts matter, so follow the mantra of our most active social media colleagues: Tweet, Retweet, Repeat! Some sample tweets can be found below and social media graphics can be found here.

Contacting Congress

• Senators: Twitter handles; email; telephone
• Representatives: Twitter handles; email; telephone

The Issues

The issues we are highlighting on this Day of Action are laid out in the recent Charitable Nonprofits Policy Priorities Letter signed by more than 1,200 organizations from all 50 states. They are summarized in this sample tweet (click the Twitter icon to tweet):

We urge Congress to pass #Relief4Charities, including extending the Employee Retention Tax Credit, supporting nonprofit jobs, and encouraging charitable giving!  Nonprofits need each to meet community needs as we recover from the pandemic. https://bit.ly/relief4charities 

1. Employee Retention Tax Credit

Ask: Retain the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) for the fourth quarter of 2021 for nonprofits, extend the ERTC beyond 2021, and modify nonprofit eligibility beyond the current “gross receipts” test to reflect the increased costs charitable organizations experienced as they struggled to maintain or expand services to meet local needs throughout the health and economic crisis

Sample Social Media Posts (click the Twitter icon to tweet):

 Nonprofits, including [your org], are counting on the lifeline created in the Employee Retention Tax Credit for the 4^th quarter of 2021. Please extend the ERTC for nonprofits to help us bring back staff & provide essential services! #Relief4Charities https://bit.ly/ertc-letter

 The Employee Retention Tax Credit has been a lifeline for nonprofits like [your org]. We urge Congress to extend the ERTC to the 4^th quarter of 2021 and beyond to help nonprofits bring employees back to serve our communities. #Relief4Charities https://bit.ly/ertc-letter

Learn More: Go here for further background on ERTC.

2. WORK NOW Act

Ask: We ask that Congress pass the “Work Opportunities and Resources to Keep Nonprofit Organizations Well Act,” or WORK NOW Act (S. 740/H.R. 1987), which would infuse billions into the nonprofit community across the country to get people back to work and make sure nonprofits are able to meet the needs of the populations they serve.

Sample Social Media Posts (click the Twitter icon to tweet):

 We urge Congress to pass the WORK NOW Act, which will infuse needed resources into the nonprofit sector, allowing nonprofits to bring back and hire new staff to serve our communities! #Relief4Charities https://bit.ly/relief4charities 

 Nonprofit employment is down by hundreds of thousands of jobs. Pass the WORK NOW Act (S740/HR1987) to help nonprofits restore staff, provide jobs to help our communities recover from the pandemic. https://bit.ly/relief4charities 

Learn More: Go here for further background on the WORK NOW Act.

3. Universal Charitable Deduction

Ask: We urge Congress to significantly increase the cap on the above-the-line deduction and extend it at least through 2022 to ensure that nonprofits have the resources to serve their communities.

Sample Social Media Posts (click the Twitter icon to tweet):

 Nonprofits stepped up to provide essential services during the pandemic. Congress can support our work by extending the above-the-line deduction created in the CARES Act! #Relief4Charities https://bit.ly/relief4charities

 Nonprofits have been there for our communities throughout the pandemic. Congress can help us continue to provide services through the recovery by expanding and extending the universal charitable deduction  #Relief4Charities https://bit.ly/relief4charities 

Learn More: Go here for further background on the Universal Charitable Deduction.

Looking for More Tips?

Read Making a Day of Action a Day of Reckoning for more tips on securing the greatest impact when communicating with Congress.