AcroSports was fortunate to receive a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan in mid-April. A component of the CARES Act passed by Congress, the PPP loans are fully “forgivable,” as long as their expenditure falls within certain parameters, with the emphasis being to employ as many people as possible, thus lessening the burden of the growing rolls of people on Unemployment. Your tax dollars at work!
The real challenge with this funding was to find ways to keep our staff employed, as fully as possible, despite not offering any of our regular programming. Quite a predicament! Luckily we are never short on creative ideas around here, and got moving immediately on a number of special projects.
Along with paying riggers to install a new truss, as noted in Dorrie’s update, we also used our PPP funds to finish an overhaul of our website, and launch a short-term series of online AcroSports classes. While we have now had to put the live classes on hold (more about that below), a number of short videos and other content were created during our loan period that will continue to be a regular part of AcroSports’ presence on social media.
Given that we were part of the very first round of PPP recipients, however, we intentionally used up our loan quite quickly. The initial stipulation had been that these loans needed to be expended within 8 weeks, and we did a fantastic job of doing just that. Congress did not approve the extension of the deadline from 8 to 24 weeks until early June, at which point we were already near the end of our planned spending trajectory. The free online classes many of our students enjoyed during the time of our loan unfortunately had to be suspended once our PPP funds ran out in June; we attempted a “pay as you go” model for a few weeks beyond that point, but ultimately decided to refocus our limited remaining resources on plans for reopening.
Thanks to all our reps in Congress who made the CARES act possible! The PPP loan we received was really a win-win, allowing us to employ some of our amazing staff for another two months, while simultaneously facilitating vital projects we may not have been able to complete otherwise.
