Assistance Grant Policy
Defined Terms
For purposes of this grant policy:
An Applicant is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross or the spouse (including widowers and widows, but not divorced spouses) of a graduate.
A person’s Household includes
the person’s spouse or domestic partner,
the person’s children (including foster children), and
any other immediate family members – grandparents, parents, siblings, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren – of the person that are economic dependents of the person or the person’s spouse or children.
A Recipient is a member of an Applicant’s Household for whom the Applicant has requested assistance.
An Expense is an urgent cost in unexpected circumstances that has arisen for a Recipient for which the Applicant has requested assistance.
A Grant is a payment by CCF to an Applicant or to a vendor satisfying, in whole or in part, an Expense described in an application.
Rules
Applicants must submit an application describing the Expense and their Household’s financial information. Applications will be reviewed to determine whether the Applicant has demonstrated sufficient financial need. If any information on an application is later found to be false, CCF can require the Applicant to immediately repay any Grant paid, including to a vendor.
Grants are limited to (i) $4,000 per Grant, (ii) $6,000 per Applicant Household per year, (iii) $20,000 total per Applicant Household.
Grant payments should be made directly to vendors when possible, but can also be paid directly to the Applicant.
Process
A selection committee appointed by the Board will review an application and its calculated Grant (see below), and determine if any additional information is requested. If so, the Applicant will be contacted to provide additional information.
The selection committee will confirm that the Applicant is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross or the spouse of a graduate.
Every so often, the selection committee will meet to review complete applications.
Applications may be approved or denied at the selection committee’s sole discretion by majority vote. The committee may authorize payment of a Grant up to the limitations in Rule 2 or the amount of the Expense, whichever is lower. Reasons for denial of an application or changing the amount of a Grant from the calculated amount (see below) should be recorded.
Approved applications will be sorted in a priority order, which shall generally reflect the chronological order in which the applications were completed, although the selection committee may by majority vote change the priority, although reasons for such change should be recorded in the minutes.
Grants for approved applications will be paid in the priority order so long as CCF funds are available. The Board can determine that a certain reserve must be kept unless the Board approves an exception by majority vote. Any approved applications whose Grants are not fully paid may be paid once additional funds are available.
Payments will be made to vendors where feasible, and to Applicants otherwise.
Grant Calculation
For IRS purposes, the committee can only approve Grants where the Recipient demonstrates a need for assistance. An objective formula should be the starting point to determine this need, and the following is a suggestion that is accompanied by examples in an Excel spreadsheet. The rules and numbers can all be changed as determined by the Board.
The Recipient should be trying to pay the Expense from their own funds. We assume that, given the urgent nature of the Expense, they would be able to pay (i) 10% of their Household’s income above $80,000 and (ii) 25% of their available cash (including checking and savings accounts).
In order to take into account suddenly changing circumstances, we can average their Household’s income from the prior year and the current year to get a fair measure of the income.
Once we have their total expected payment, we subtract it from the Expense, and CCF can offer a Grant of the remaining amount of the Expense up to $4,000.