March 30, 2020

New Federal Temporary Wage Subsidy Program and T3010 reporting

Hi Project Directors,

 

As always, I hope this email finds you and your families safe and healthy. It’s been a week filled with government announcements, new office procedures and many, many conversations about support for projects within Tides Canada too. Please see below for the  weekly update.

 

  • Prime Minster Trudeau spoke this morning about the changes to the Federal Temporary Wage Subsidy Program that will increase the subsidy from 10% to 75% of an employee’s salary. While the previous limit of $25,000 per employer seems to have been lifted, there is new criteria as businesses will have to demonstrate a decrease in revenues of at least 30% due to COVID-19. We know that charities are eligible for the program, however we don’t know yet whether the 30% decrease in revenues will apply to charities or how that will be calculated. Therefore, we don’t know enough yet to say whether TCI will be a fit for the program. We’re expecting further details to be announced tomorrow and Wednesday, and the People & Culture team is prioritizing analyzing this information as soon as we have it. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have something concrete to share specific to TCI.

 

  • In the meantime, Tides Canada is also pursuing other options for funding to support projects. I’m working closely with our Partnership Development team to explore alignment between project needs and funder interest, which we’re working to turn into a fund dedicated to supporting projects who have been impacted by COVID-19. I know that projects are experiencing the pandemic in different ways, and I’ve heard about a variety of creative solutions for those of you who are in a position to do so, and I’m looking forward to sharing how this new fund could best support you. Outside of this fund, Tides Canada continues to advocate to funders for greater flexibility during this time.

 

  • The Vancouver, Toronto and Yellowknife offices are now all closed, and all Tides Canada staff are working from home. As a result, many of our usual processes are being disrupted and projects can expect to experience delays. Below is an update on what we know:
    • Asking vendors to move to EFT. Finance is contacting all vendors not yet set up for EFT to help them transition. If you are submitting invoices from new vendors, please complete and attach the Vendor EFT set up form. Cheques will only be sent in exceptional circumstances.
    • Encouraging funders to move to EFT. We will work with Foundation funders as appropriate and on a case by case basis. Your support encouraging donors to give online would be much appreciated.
    • Cash donation drop-off. Please don’t mail cash to our offices. If you have cash payments, contact your Project Specialist and Finance Specialist who will discuss how to support collection and deposit on a case-by-case basis. You can mail in cheques, though there will be a delay in receiving and posting them (see next).
    • Delayed cheque deposit. Where funders mail in cheques, there are likely to be delays throughout the process, from their payment process, to mail delivery, to our mail forwarding. We are set up for e-deposit now, so once the cheque arrives deposit times should be typical.
    • Hard copy funder notifications. We will be having mail forwarded, but it is always preferable to receive funder correspondence electronically. It is faster and saves us having to scan things and results in better image quality. We will communicate that in our conversations with funders, and ask that you please do the same.
    • Hard copy signatures. If your project has an agreement that absolutely requires a hard signature, the process will be time-consuming and will likely involve multiple couriers and/or signing in counterpart (particularly for amounts over $100,000). Please allow extra time for us to finalize proposals and reports that require hard signatures to accommodate these logistical challenges.

 

  • Many of you will have already seen that the Charities Directorate is extending the T3010 filing deadline to December 31, 2020, in recognition of the fact that charities will be focused on deploying their resources to address the effects of the COVID-19 virus situation. We are thankful for this extension and appreciate the flexibility that this provides all of us during this time.
    • I will add that if (and only if) you do have capacity to submit your activity reports earlier, there are definitely benefits to doing so. Activities will be fresher in your mind, and you’ll avoid having to double report in December (for both end of this fiscal year and middle of next fiscal). This is particularly important for those projects who did not submit a mid-year report last year and have a full 12 months of reporting outstanding. Your Project Specialists will be in touch with you in the next few weeks to determine the best reporting timing for you and your project.

 

 

  • For those of you haven’t seen it, you can find the public statement from Tides Canada on how we are responding to COVID-19 on our website.

 

However you, your projects and your communities have been impacted by COVID-19, the Shared Platform is here to support you. If there’s anything you’d like to see added to the online manual or included in my conversations with the TCI COVID-19 Working Group, please let me know.

 

Safe and healthy wishes to you all,

 

Lizzie