COVID-19 Relief Aid(s): USA
Standstill.
The world has come to its knees in the name of COVID-19 with its impact being felt across geographies, economies, and social strata. Apart from the high number of positive cases across the world, and the economic recession scare creeping slowly but surely into the global innovation and investments ecosystem, have had the stakeholders shaken out of their stupor.
The global economy is in hoarding mode, right from resources to the treasure chests. However, one cannot deny the fact that there is a dire need of an olive branch in terms of extension of helping aid(s). Ecosystems right from investments to startups, government bodies to private enterprises across the globe are acknowledging the need to step up by coming forward with various aids both monetary and policy-based.
In this series, we will concentrate on various geographies and understand their response kit to this pandemic.
Kicking it off with the USA.
Economic Funds
1 Trillion Economic Stimulus
The US Senate Republicans unveiled a $1 trillion economic plan to provide funds directly to American business and public in four categories: small business rescue; rebates and tax breaks; health care issues; and targeted financial assistance.
$50 million working capital revolving loan
EXIM approved the guarantee of a $50 million working capital guarantee loan facility from JP Morgan Chase Co. to Zeeco, Inc., Headquartered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and with U.S. facilities in Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, and Texas. The loan facility will
- support the export of $125 million in US equipment to various overseas buyers.
CoronaVirus Relief Package
Bipartisan Families First Coronavirus Response Act will provide $1 billion in emergency grants to help states expand unemployment insurance benefits. Also, the new coronavirus economic stabilization law provides about $300billion for cash payments and $260 billion for enhanced unemployment assistance. Along with
- Free testing
- Paid emergency leave for workers
- Unemployment insurance for those impacted by coronavirus
Policy Based
Delay in federal tax date
The US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service announced that the tax filings and payments for all taxpayers and businesses will have additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties. The taxes due on April 15, 2020, will now be due on July 15, 2020.
Employee Retention Credit
The Employee Retention Credit is designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50% of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted.
Establishment of facilities to support American workers, households, and businesses
Three new facilities will provide liquidity to the financial system and support the flow of credit to American workers, households and businesses including the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility, and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. They will likely provide up to $300 billion in new financing.
Paycheck Protection Program
The law appropriates $349 billion to be used to support small businesses to maintain their payroll and some overhead expenses through the period of emergency. Companies can also reach out to banks, including lenders who already process SBA loans as well as other institutions opting into the program. The money is intended to provide eight weeks of cash-flow assistance to small business employers who maintain their payroll during the pandemic.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, small business owners in all U.S. states, Washington D.C., and territories are eligible to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan advance of up to $10,000. This advance will provide economic relief to businesses that are currently experiencing a temporary loss of revenue. The program has the following eligibility factors
- any small business with less than 500 employees (including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed persons)
- private non-profit organisation
- 501(c)(19) veterans organisations
Startup Aids
SparkCognition
Austin-based AI startup SparkCognition is working with UT Dell Medical School and a group of other organizations to 3D print and donate masks for an initiative called COVID-19 ATX Exchange (created by UT Dell Med). The startup is also donating its computer power (such as spare computers and servers at the office) to Folding@home, a crowdsourcing project to research COVID-19, to discover the virus’s vulnerabilities.
Give InKind
Seattle-area female-founded startup platform Give InKind aims to enable volunteers across the country to organize efforts and allow communities to come together to donate tens of thousands of meals to their local hospitals overwhelmed by the coronavirus.
Juni Learning
Edtech startup Juni Learning says it is actively hiring hundreds of university students as instructors for its online learning platform for kids. The startup is also donating $150,000 in tuition waivers to families of hospital workers on the frontlines of COVID-19 who can’t be home to help with their children’s education.
Corporate Aids
The company has donated $25 million in ad credit to the WHO and government agencies, with a promise of extension if needed across the year. Google.org and Googlers have donated over $1 million to support relief efforts, which will go towards
- organizations working to purchase medical supplies
- provide frontline workers with food and lodging
- support the construction of temporary hospitals
- help with long-term recovery efforts.
The company is also working with governments around the globe to help them promote authoritative public information about COVID-19 through our Google Ad Grants crisis relief program.
Facebook has dedicated $100 million to prop up news organizations pummeled by the financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Just two weeks ago, the company announced it would devote $1 million to aid local newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada covering the crisis.The tech giant announced a plan to offer $25 million in emergency grant funding for local news outlets through its Facebook Journalism Project. The remaining $75 million will be funneled to publishers globally through Facebook ad spending. Facebook will try to ensure that the dollars keep flowing to those news organizations that are hardest hit at the moment that we so desperately need them.
Amazon
Amazon announced it’s creating a $5 million Neighborhood Small Relief Fund to provide cash grants to local small businesses in need during the novel coronavirus outbreak. The fund will be directed towards small businesses with fewer than 50 employees or less than $7 million in annual revenue, and with a physical presence within a few blocks of Regrade and South Lake Union office buildings.
Apart from the efforts mentioned above, there are region wise aids, with exemptions and crowdsourcing initiatives spread across the nation. While there are trying times ahead, the mobilization against this pandemic has come as a ray of hope for everyone reeling from the same.
In case you are aware of additional initiatives or resources based out of the USA, both private and otherwise, please leave them in the comment box below enabling us to develop an exhaustive list.
Next week, we shall concentrate on Asian Sector and their relief strategies in place, being the hotbed of the outbreak from day one.
Sources:
https://www.tmf-group.com/en/news-insights/coronavirus/government-support-schemes/
https://news.crunchbase.com/news/covid-19-pandemic-startups-giving-back-in-a-time-of-crisis/
https://marketrealist.com/2020/03/inside-googles-800-million-covid-19-relief-package/
https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject/programs/grants/coronavirus-local-news-relief-fund
