Payroll for Staff of CRCNA Ministries Boosted by Government Grants

Denominational ministries of the Christian Reformed Church in North America have received help from U.S. and Canadian government grant and loan programs set up to help businesses and organizations weather the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a charitable institution in Canada whose revenues have been affected by the pandemic, the CRC in Canada received support from the Canadian government to continue paying its employees through the past several months.

Terry Veldboom, director of Finance & Operations (Canada) for the CRC, said the benefits, which totaled CDN $1,065,910, were provided to support payroll for employees of Back To God Ministries International, CRCNA, Resonate Global Mission, and World Renew. He said the money came from the programs Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Temporary Wage Subsidy received through July 4, 2020.

"We are extremely grateful to have received this support from our federal government," Veldboom said.

John Bolt, director, Finance & Operations (U.S.) said, “We were able to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program provided by the U.S. government through the banks and the Small Business Administration. The program is designed for organizations with less than 500 employees and is intended to help cover payroll costs to help avoid layoffs and cutbacks of staff. We received approximately $4.2 million as a low-cost loan.”

Bolt further said the denomination would apply to the Small Business Administration to have “a significant part” of that loan declared a grant, supplying documentation of “how the money was used to meet payroll and related costs.”