FAQ’S

Applications will not be complete without Profit and Loss reports. If you do not have these reports, the application provides a template to download and complete to satisfy this requirement. Please note that all information provided in the report is liable for legal review.

Applying does not guarantee that you, your household, or your organization will receive a distribution from The Oregon Cares Fund.

The Contingent staff are working diligently to create responsive strategies in collaboration with partners across Oregon.

Due to the large number of applications we’re processing with a reduced staff, we do not have the capacity to respond to questions about funding at this time.

Our team will reach out for more information as needed using the contact information listed on the application.

Please periodically check your junk/spam folder for any emails coming from [email protected] regarding your application status.

Grants will vary in size for individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits, depending on the information submitted in the application. Individuals and families may be eligible to receive grants of $1,000 or $3,000, depending on financial impacts of COVID-19 and family size.

Businesses or nonprofits with employees will receive grants based off of the amount of lost revenue due to COVID-19 and additional COVID-19-related expenses.

No. We anticipate a significant number of applications for this program.

Please submit only one application for you, your household, or for your organization.

The Oregon Cares Fund is a sub-grant from the U.S. Treasury’s disbursement of Coronavirus Relief Funds received by the State of Oregon under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

We are reviewing applications in three application periods. Due to the high number of applications under review, funding notifications will take time.

Once your application is submitted, it is our goal to have all decisions made and funds distributed within two to three weeks of the respective period closing.

Grant funds that are awarded with be deposited directly into the applicant’s bank account via ACH Transfer. An applicant will have an opportunity to connect a valid bank account where the applicant is a named owner of the account to their approved application.

An approval email containing a unique link will be provided after grant decisions are made by the Council of Trust. Please check your junk/spam folder periodically as we will be contacting applicants using the email address listed on the application as needed.

The Oregon Cares Fund has received thousands of applications. We are reviewing applications as quickly as possible and will be in touch via the email you used to apply when a decision is made.

It will take several weeks for that process to be completed. Once an applicant is approved, it is the applicant’s responsibility to enter bank account information into our secure portal using a unique link that is emailed, and then it will take additional time to process in order to deposit funds directly into your account.

All grant decisions about The Oregon Cares Fund are made by an 11-person Council of Trust. Made up of 11 trusted Black leaders from across Oregon, the Council of Trust works with The Contingent to assure equitable administration of the Fund. Every grant will be reviewed and awarded by the Council of Trust.

Grant disbursements will all be processed via ACH direct deposit to any eligible account owned by the grant recipient. To be eligible for direct deposit, accounts need to have a routing and account number. Grant recipients can establish accounts through a bank or financial institution of their choice. A few options are below.

• Heritage Bank
• Umpqua Bank
• US Bank
• Bank of America
• OnPoint Credit Union
• Walmart Money Card Checking

Accounts can be opened online, or in-person. Due to COVID-19, banks are currently requiring appointments which can be made online. Please note two forms of unexpired identification will be required for account opening both online and in-person. This can include a State ID or Driver’s License, US Passport, utility bill from last 30-days, cell phone bill from last 30-days, social security card, etc. Additionally, an opening deposit may be required.

• For grants to individuals and families, grants from The Oregon Cares Fund generally would not be federal taxable income, provided that the Internal Revenue Service recognizes the grants as qualified disaster relief payments paid as a result of a COVID-19 for reasonable and necessary personal, family, living, or funeral expenses arising from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the extent the grants are used as intended pursuant to the application,
• For businesses, the grants would generally be federal taxable income and not excluded from the business’s gross income under the Internal Revenue Code and therefore is taxable.
• For nonprofits, if the nonprofit is a tax exempt organization described in Section 501(c) of the Internally Revenue Code, the nonprofit should ‎generally be exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Nonetheless, ‎a payment received by a tax-exempt nonprofit from the Oregon Cares Fund may be subject to tax under Section 511 of the Internal Revenue Code if the payment reimburses the ‎nonprofit for expenses or lost revenue attributable to an unrelated trade or business ‎as defined in Section 513 of the Internal Revenue Code.
• There may be exceptions to the general rules discussed above based on an individual, family, or organization’s specific situation and additional guidance from the Internal Revenue Service.

Grantees of the Oregon Cares Fund may be audited to ensure funds are expended in compliance with the CARES Act and may be required to submit reports or other documentation on how the funds were spent, upon request.

All approved applicants will receive an email with the subject line: “ACTION NEEDED – Your Application has been Approved” from [email protected]. Please check your Junk/Spam or “Promotions” folders, or search your email inbox for an email from The Oregon Cares Fund.

You must have a bank account in order to receive funds. If you do not have a bank account, we encourage you to set one up. The name on the bank account must match the name on the application. If it does not, we will not be able to fund you at this time. (Example: It cannot be a family member or friend’s name on the bank account. It must be your name as it appears on your application.)

If you have had trouble creating a bank account in the past, we would recommend either contacting Umpqua Bank or Heritage Bank to discuss obtaining a “second chance” type of bank account, or set up a Walmart Money Card Checking account in order to connect that account to your approved application.

Yes! We highly encourage applicants to set-up a bank account with one of the listed financial institutions below. This way if your application is approved, you can immediately connect your bank account with the application. Many have received funds through major banks such as:

• Chase Bank
• Bank of America
• Wells Fargo
• OnPoint Credit Union
• Umpqua Bank
• Walmart Money Card Checking
• US Bank
• Heritage Bank
• KeyBank
• Unitus Community Credit Union
• Capital One 360 Checking

Application processing can take several weeks, depending on the level of detail in the application and whether you applied as an individual/family or as a business/nonprofit. If any information is missing, you may hear back via email from [email protected] to gather any additional information to process your application.

Once your application is approved, you will be contacted via email from [email protected] with link to connect your bank account to your application.

When your bank account is successfully linked with your approved application, our team will need to verify the named account owner matches the named applicant or funds will not be disbursed and the applicant will be contacted with further instructions.

Once the named account owner matches the named application, it will take several business days for an ACH Transfer to be initiated from The Oregon Cares Fund.

Should your account be closed/frozen or otherwise unable to receive funds, our team will review the transaction to issue a new approved app link for you to connect another bank account to your approved application.

Thank you for your patience as we work to ensure these funds are distributed in accordance with the U.S. Treasury Guidance.

We will only contact you via phone call, text message or email from [email protected] to provide a status update on your application or if we need additional information.

We may call, email or text an applicant only if they are either missing information that needs to be completed for processing, or to let them know their application has been approved, pointing them to their approval email in their inbox for further instructions.

If you receive a phone call or text message, PLEASE do not share this phone number. Due to the tens of thousands of applications we have received, our team can only make outbound calls.

First log into your online bank account to make sure everything is working with your online banking login credentials. At which time, you can then try these troubleshooting tips:  

1. Log in to your financial institution’s Online Banking Portal. To receive your grant award, you must have online banking login credentials and your bank account must be in good standing.  If you have recently opened a bank account, you must first log in to your financial institution’s Online Banking Portal via your bank’s website in order to accept terms and conditions or any disclosures prior to linking your account to your application. 
2. Try updating your device’s operating software. If there are pending updates available, you may encounter difficulties connecting your bank account to your approved application. 
3. Try updating your internet browser. Thousands of applicants have successfully linked their bank accounts to their approved applications using Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari.  
4. Try using an Incognito or Private Browsing window
5. Restart the phone or computer and try again
6. Clear your cache
7. Come back to the website at another time.If the website is overloaded withvisitors, a 504 server error may pop up, in which case please try opening the page again in a few minutes.

NO! Please do not ever share your account number and routing number on the phone, via text or email (with us or anyone for that matter 😊).

The Oregon Cares Fund uses Plaid, the engine behind Venmo and many other financial service platforms to connect your bank account with your application.

Currently, the only method of doing this is via your online banking login credentials being connected to your approved application by directly using the unique link provided on your approved application email. These online banking login credentials are never stored or accessible by The Oregon Cares Fund, and are secured at the highest level of security standards.

Please do not ever email, text, or leave a voicemail with your bank account number or routing number, and especially never tell this to someone over the phone as none of our team members are able to do anything with this information in relation to your application with The Oregon Cares Fund.  
 
If you receive a phone call, email or text message from one of our team members and are concerned with the validity of the reason they are contacting you, please refer to all of the FAQ’s on this page as we explain the entire process and ways we will be contacting applicants.  
 
Thank you!