Servant Leader Care Fund (SLCF) is intended to provide limited short-term financial assistance to eligible applicants experiencing unexpected hardship or emergency that creates an immediate financial need.

SLCF may be modified, paused, limited, or discontinued at any time based on available funding, administrative capacity, legal requirements, or program evaluation.

Applying for assistance does not create a guarantee of future funding, future eligibility, or continuation of the program.

Funding for SLCF primarily comes from voluntary employee contributions, employer matching contributions, and any other approved donations received by SLCF.

All awarded grants are subject to funds available at the time an application is reviewed. Pledged, anticipated, or future donations will not be treated as available funds for purposes of approving assistance.

SLCF is intended for eligible employees only, unless SLCF expressly announces an expanded eligibility category in writing.

Applicants must meet any eligibility requirements established by SLCF, which may include employment status, documentation requirements, and proof of qualifying hardship.

SLCF may consider applications involving serious and unexpected financial hardship. Examples include but are not limited to:

• Sudden illness or medical emergency
• Funeral or burial expenses
• Fire, flood, storm, or other property loss
• Domestic violence-related relocation or safety needs
• Housing instability caused by an unforeseen emergency
• Other comparable urgent financial hardships approved under SLCF guidelines

Assistance, if approved, will be provided as a one-time grant, paid by check, and does not need to be repaid, unless SLCF determines that the application contained false, misleading, or incomplete information that materially affected the approval decision.

SLCF reserves the right to set minimum and maximum grant amounts, to approve less than the amount requested, and to limit the number of grants awarded to the same applicant within a specific time period.

Applicants must complete the required application form and provide any supporting documentation requested by SLCF by clicking the "Request Assistance" button on the homepage.

Incomplete applications may be delayed or closed without action if the requested information is not provided.

Applications will be reviewed by SLCF Board Members within established application windows & review periods. Review decisions will be made in accordance with SLCF's governing criteria, conflict-of-interest standards, and any applicable legal or tax requirements. SLCF may prioritize applications involving immediate health, safety, housing, or other urgent needs.

Applicants may be required to provide documents supporting the hardship and financial need, such as bills, estimates, notices, police reports, medical documentation, repair invoices, lease notices, or similar records. It is advised that all supporting documentation be redacted to conceal the applicant's identity.

Failure to provide requested documentation may result in application denial or delay.

Any false, misleading, incomplete, or fraudulent statements or documents may result in denial of the current application and disqualification from future applications.

The application and review process for SLCF has been designed to increase anonymity for the applicant. Each application is assigned a case number once submitted and the identity of an applicant is not revealed during the review process until after a grant has been awarded. Access to application information and supporting documentation is limited to only SLCF Board Members during the review and decision process.

While mechanisms are in place to conceal identity, applicants should understand that supporting documentation may reveal identity to SLCF Board members if not redacted. Redacting documentation prior to submission is the applicant's responsibility. For this reason, SLCF cannot guarantee absolute confidentiality.

Any SLCF Board Member with a personal, family, supervisory, or other conflict of interest involving an applicant must disclose the conflict and recuse themselves from the review and decision process.

SLCF will aim to review and communicate decisions within 60 days. Response times may vary depending on application volume, completeness of documentation, availability of the Board of Directors for review, and available funds.

Emergency requests will be considered as quickly as feasible, but expedited review cannot be absolutely guaranteed.

If approved, grant payments will be made directly to the applicant via check.

SLCF Board of Directors' review decisions are final. In some extenuating circumstances, SLCF may, but is not required to, reconsider an application if the applicant provides significant new information that was not available at the time of the original review.