Club Board of Governors authorizes additional short-term staff furloughs

The following is a letter from National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews:

Dear Members and Staff,

It’s been one year since the Club was first impacted by COVID-19. The virus has had an overwhelming impact on the financial health and culture of our institution. Our goal has always been to secure the health, safety and continued engagement of members, staff, and guests.

With the vaccine rollout underway, we are looking forward to when we can return the Club to full operations, but we aren’t there yet, and our monthly budget shortfalls continue to be challenging.

Here are the actions that the Board of Governors has taken thus far to respond to the financial impact of the pandemic:

• In 2020, the Board approved using a $2 million line of credit for Club operations and payroll. To get us through what remains of 2021, the Board recently has approved the application for a $1 million extension of that line of credit.
• The Board has approved using a portion of the Rockwell Fund (capped at $5 million) as collateral for the line of credit.
• The Board has approved a plan of nine targeted short-term staff furloughs. Club staff received eight weeks’ notice to prepare and will continue to receive health insurance during this time.
• The Board has authorized management to apply for a second Paycheck Protection Program loan. The first PPP loan was received and forgiven, and we expect the same for the second PPP loan.

A word about the furloughs and the Rockwell Fund:

As with the 2020 furloughs, this year’s furloughed staff will continue to receive health care benefits from the Club. This is consistent with our past practice to provide all the help we can to our valued staff.  This furlough is an unfortunate but essential step for the Club's continued financial well-being.

Regarding the Rockwell Fund, the Club strategy has been to keep the funds invested during this market and use low interest loans to operate through the crisis. This action follows the advice of financial advisors and our original investment policy.

We believe these steps are the best strategy to move the Club through this transitional period and into what we expect will be a much-improved business climate. While it is painful to temporarily be separated from some of our staff in this way, we look forward to improved health and economic conditions in the future so we can welcome them, and each other, back to the Club.

If you are able, please consider supporting our furloughed staff with a contribution to the employee relief fund. I want to thank the Board, our staff and members for their support and good stewardship of the Club throughout the pandemic and political unrest of the past year.

Let’s keep the train moving.