Nonprofits Likely Will Be Eligible for Main Street Lending Program, Schumer Says

Nonprofits probably will be eligible for the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program, according the top Senate Democrat.

The program, announced April 9, is a $2.3 trillion effort to help small and midsize businesses and local governments weather the Covid-19 crisis. The program will back loans made by banks to businesses with up to 10,000 employees, among other provisions.

Nonprofits had worried they wouldn’t be eligible and were pressing the Fed to include them. The Fed is still working out the details of the program.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a news release that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told him that “nonprofits will very likely be included” in the program.

Also Tuesday, media reports indicated that lawmakers were nearing a deal to add $450 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program and other programs nonprofits are eligible for under the $2 trillion stimulus package enacted last month.