Nonprofit Relief Fund
Nonprofit Relief FAQs
Grant disbursements are occurring on a rolling basis beginning in November.
No, your nonprofit does not have to be member organization to apply.
The Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) is partnering with the State of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to design the grant program and select grantees as well as manage the application portal, grant process, and award payments.
The fund being administered by MNA is designed to provide aid and recovery to nonprofit organizations with an emphasis on those with annual revenues of less than $1 million that were negatively impacted by the pandemic.
Funding is being made available through The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP0127 awarded to the State of Michigan by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It is federal pandemic funding that, through the MI Nonprofit Relief Fund, the State of Michigan intends to utilize to help ensure equitable recovery for small nonprofit organizations statewide.
Please visit https://www.michigan.gov/leo/initiatives/poverty-task-force/opportunities-for-mi-nonprofits for more information!
Nonprofits interested in learning more or staying up to date should sign up for LEO's newsletter at the bottom of the webpage above. The newsletter will announce when the Impact Grant is live.
For more information on ALICE, view this document here.
If your application's fiscal agreement specifies that the fiscal sponsor is responsible for disbursing funds, please provide the fiscal sponsor's VSS number on the award acceptance letter.
If your application's fiscal agreement specifies that the fiscal sponsor is responsible for disbursing funds, please provide the fiscal sponsor's VSS number on the award acceptance letter.
After grant award decisions are made, all applicants will be notified of their award status. Grant scores will be made available upon request. Additionally, all grant applicants will be invited to participate in peer learning circles designed to strengthen the resiliency of nonprofit organizations in Michigan.
Award decisions are currently being processed and announced as they are finalized.
To accept this award, please log in to SMApply at mna.smapply.io, click the green 'START' button, and follow the provided prompts.
In the event a nonprofit organization has submitted applications for both programs, we kindly request that you initially accept the Relief Fund allocation. Should your application for the Impact Grant be successful (congratulations!), we would then require the return of the Relief Fund disbursement to facilitate the receipt of the Impact Grant funds.
While we do not require formal reporting, we believe in the importance of evaluating the impact of our program. To achieve this, we have partnered with JFM Consulting Group to conduct a comprehensive evaluation. This evaluation will encompass both qualitative and quantitative analysis and we anticipate reaching out to you for participation in surveys and focus groups.
Please include your organization's Michigan VSS/SIGMA number in the grant acceptance letter attached to your organization's Relief Fund application in SMApply. Payments will primarily be made via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to the bank account listed in your VSS account. Payments will be made by the State of Michigan (not MNA).
To register, visit https://sigma.michigan.gov/webapp/PRDVSS2X1/AltSelfService.
For assistance with registration, please refer to this brief tutorial: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pS_l3YWfnVajMZT833dIdnfRcpi09Fck/view?usp=sharing. If you need additional help, please contact the State of Michigan (SIGMA VSS) Support Center at SIGMA-Vendor@Michigan.gov or call 517-284-0550. The State of Michigan SIGMA VSS Support Center operates from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, Monday - Friday.
An organization’s Employer Identification Number and bank routing and account numbers are the only items needed to obtain a SIGMA Number. A federal UEI number is not required.
The Michigan VSS system allows you, as a payee/vendor/grantee, to manage your information, view financial transactions, access business and grant opportunities, and more. A SIGMA/VSS Number is required to receive your grant award from the MI Nonprofit Relief Fund.
Upon completion of your grant award acceptance letter, you will receive a confirmation notice through SMApply if you press the green ‘SUBMIT’ button. Click here to view an example of the confirmation. No further action is required by you.
Click the button below to see what your portal should look like if you submitted everything correctly!