The Foraker Group

Your organization may be eligible for several upcoming federal grant funds. Check out the two opportunities below and stay up to date on other opportunities at akfederalfunding.org. Nonprofits and tribes are eligible to apply for Denali Commission funds focused on housing, broadband, workforce development, energy, and more in rural Alaska. The deadline to apply is May 13. The Anchorage Assembly has issued a call for proposals for the second round of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. The Assembly has set four priority categories for the money: child and family support, housing, economic development and promoting a healthy workforce. The application can be found here. The deadline to apply is May 20…. Read more »

In partnership with the Alaska Municipal League, Alaska Federation of Natives, and through support from the Municipality of Anchorage, The Foraker Group is taking part in a Federal Grant Symposium on April 12 from 9am – 4pm at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage following events hosted by Senator Murkowski on April 11. Nonprofit leaders are encouraged to register to attend. The event is free and offers learning opportunities focused on federal grant compliance, preparing to apply for federal grants, and opportunities to network and engage with community development projects being planned at the regional and local levels. While the presentations will be in the context of the federal funding coming to Alaska through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed earlier this year, this symposium is an opportunity to collaborate with community members, organizations, and leaders from… Read more »

Nonprofits from all 50 states have signed a letter to the President and congressional leaders calling for “urgently needed pandemic and workforce shortage relief that will enable charitable organizations to fulfill their roles in our nation’s relief, recovery, and rebuilding.” The letter identifies nonprofit-specific policy solutions that would provide disaster relief, address nonprofit workforce shortages, and promote volunteerism. The letter is open for all charitable organizations to sign and circulate for others to sign to show Congress and the White House that nonprofits in local communities throughout the country support these priorities. Join us in signing on. … Read more »

In November, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a standard requiring employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their employees are vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed that requirement on January 13. This means that the court hasn’t struck down the standard but only put it on hold pending further action in lower courts. In other action, the court lifted injunctions against CDC rules that require vaccinations for all applicable staff of employers receiving payments under Medicaid and Medicare programs. Litigation in this case also continues, but the vaccination mandate is no longer blocked. We encourage Alaska nonprofit employers to continue examining their vaccination and testing policies to determine what is in the best interest of their staff and the people they serve…. Read more »

On November 4, 2021, OSHA released Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) regarding vaccine mandates for employers with 100 or more employees. Since last week’s release, the ETS has been challenged. Although a federal appeals court issued an order to stop the ETS, we encourage nonprofits with 100 or more employees to prepare to implement the ETS by its first deadline on January 4, 2022. The National Council of Nonprofits prepared a summary intended to answer most questions and provide assistance to nonprofit employers seeking to determine whether their organization is covered by the mandate and if so, to comply with the standard…. Read more »

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is directing significant funds to Alaska. There may be an opportunity for your nonprofit to apply for federal funds. In this video, Foraker’s Rachel Morse will walk you through how to find details about the funds in order to determine if your organization is eligible. You can contact Rachel directly at rmorse@forakergroup.org for specific questions on ARPA funds. We also encourage you to sign up for the Alaska ARPA email alerts and updates to stay in the know. As a reminder, one of the funding opportunities currently available is through a partnership with the State of Alaska and The Alaska Community Foundation. The ARPA Nonprofit Recovery Fund will have two rounds of applications – the first round is due November 19…. Read more »

Thursday, October 21, 2021 (Anchorage, AK) – Today, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) announced a partnership with the Alaska Community Foundation (ACF) to distribute $20 million to Alaska’s nonprofit sector. The Alaska Legislature appropriated $20 million from the State’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds towards a nonprofit grant program to be administered by DCCED, now known as the ARPA Nonprofit Recovery Fund. With the guidance of the DCCED, statewide funders, and regional leadership, the ACF will administer the program, including processing applications, distributing grant funds to eligible organizations, and managing grantee reporting. “COVID has had negative economic impacts on almost every industry sector and our nonprofits are no exception as they continue to persevere and provide services to Alaskans.  said DCCED Commissioner, Julie Anderson…. Read more »

Responding to a number of inquiries from Alaska nonprofits, Foraker has been in productive discussions with leadership of the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services to reduce the financial impact from a recent cyberattack. We commend department leaders who are working to navigate fallout from the incident, which has resulted in late disbursement of grant funding to many nonprofits, some of whom have been waiting for several months to receive their funds. Understandably, this has caused financial difficulty for them. Foraker is working with the department to identify organizations that are facing significant financial hardship and have had to or are considering actions such as tapping into dwindling reserves, accessing and/or pursuing a line of credit to cover payroll and other expenses, letting staff go, or at the most… Read more »

To be 100% clear, we believe that every person who can be vaccinated should get vaccinated. We stand with science and public health. We stand for health and the economy as one and the same. We stand with our whole community and say: “we care.” We also understand that health disparity is deeply rooted in our country and in our state. This means that while we all might be floating in the same ocean we were never sitting in the same boat. At our last advisory board meeting, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders from around the state engaged in conversation on this topic. We reminded ourselves that while some are choosing to be unvaccinated, many others want the shot but have difficulty accessing it. Let me share one example of thousands… Read more »

Returning to the workplace is the conversation we are all having both formally and informally with our friends, our peers, and our attorneys. Protocols, policies, and expectations abound, and in it all is a great amount of hesitation and uncertainty about what it looks like to do the right thing for the people on our team and the communities where we live. To be sure, we are not “just going back to work” ever again. Our collective conscience has shifted and individuals feel different about the workplace. So pretending that it will all just “be normal” or “as it was” is likely an unhelpful place to start when it comes to meeting your whole team where they are. The recent decision by the CDC, which is largely based on trusting… Read more »