EEAF Program Criteria

Before you apply for the Employee Emergency Assistance Fund, make sure the event and expenses you’ve experienced are eligible and documented.

Review the Checklist 

It can take about an hour to complete this application. Before you begin, we recommend reviewing the criteria in each of these sections:

Are you eligible to apply?	Jump to Eligibility & How Often You Can Apply
Are you applying for a Qualified Disaster grant or a Personal Hardship grant?	Jump to Examples: Qualified Disasters and Personal Hardships
Are your expenses covered?	Jump to Examples: Eligible and Ineligible Expenses
Do you have the required documentation in support of your application?	Jump to Examples: Required Documentation
Do you know the maximum grant amount for your application?	Jump to Maximums & Limits to Grant Awards

View EEAF Criteria translated in Español, 中國官話 (Chinese) or Tagalog

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Eligibility

Stanford and America’s Charities have established the following criteria for applicants:

• You’re scheduled to work in a benefits-eligible position for six consecutive months or more (four months or more for bargaining unit employees)
• You’re part-time (working 50% to 74% time) or full-time (working 75% to 100% time)
• You’re in good standing
• You’re an active employee or on an approved leave of absence

Other criteria to note:

• On the date of the qualifying event, you were a benefits-eligible employee at Stanford
• The qualifying event happened within the past six months
• Your benefits-eligible spouse, domestic partner or child working at Stanford isn’t applying for the same grant for the same qualifying event for which you are applying
• For Personal Hardship grant applications, you must also have a minimum of six months (182 calendar days) of benefits-eligible service with Stanford

To understand how often you can apply, review Maximums and Limitations below.

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Examples: Qualified Disasters and Personal Hardships

Qualifying events are unexpected or unavoidable circumstances outside of an individual’s control that create a financial hardship. These are usually one-time events that cause an individual to spend money budgeted for rent, mortgage or utilities on unexpected bills. To see the types of expenses that can be reimbursed, review the list of Covered Expenses below.

Qualified Disaster Events

A Qualified Disaster (as defined by the IRS in Publication 3833 or IRS Code Section 139) is any event that is:

• A disaster which results from a terrorist or military action
• A Presidentially declared disaster such as a natural disaster
• A disaster which results from an accident involving a common carrier; or
• Any event which is determined to be catastrophic by the Secretary of the Treasury or his or her delegate

Personal Hardship Events

A personal hardship is defined more broadly to include unexpected events that result in financial stress on you and your immediate family. These lists are non-exhaustive.

Local or Natural Disasters & Personal Emergencies

• Disasters not covered by a federally declared event, such as a devastating flood, ice storm, hurricane, tornado, earthquake or fire
• Loss or damage to the primary residence from a natural or localized disaster which results in the employee’s primary residence destroyed, rendered unlivable, or otherwise in need of costly repairs in excess of insurance
• Short-term personal emergencies, such as a house/apartment fire or flood resulting in a loss of basic needs such as food, clothing or shelter

Financial Hardship

• Medical/dental/hearing/vision care for an employee and/or immediate family member that is not covered by insurance, or other non-routine medical expenses. (Immediate family member is considered to be your spouse or domestic partner, child, sibling, parent, grandparent and grandchild. This includes stepparents, stepchildren and stepsiblings, adoptive and foster relationships.)
• Accident or illness of employee and/or immediate family member resulting in loss of work; care and resources for a critically ill immediate family member resulting in loss of work
• Death/funeral for spouse or domestic partner, child or parent or other immediate family member
• Spouse or domestic partner’s layoff or unexpected loss of income
• Non-routine vehicle or home repair that restricts your ability to care for yourself and your household
• Military deployment or deployment of immediate family member
• Domestic or physical abuse
• Being a victim of violent crime
• Accident not due to negligence, recklessness or intent of employee

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Examples: Covered Expenses

The EEAF reimburses actual expenses arising from qualified events, so you can recover quickly. Below are non-exhaustive lists of bills, costs, payments and other expenses that are eligible, as well as a list of expenses that are not. For all covered expenses, you must submit certain required documentation as listed below.

EXAMPLES OF ELIGIBLE EXPENSES

EXAMPLES OF INELIGIBLE EXPENSES

Rent or mortgage payments, if due to injury, illness or unforeseen financial circumstance or unexpected loss of Income Reasonable and necessary personal, family, living or funeral expenses incurred as a result of a qualifying event Reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for the repair or rehabilitation of a personal residence due to a qualifying event Reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for the repair or replacement of the contents of a personal residence due to a qualifying event Essential utility bills (water, heat, electricity, etc.) Medical bills/expenses not covered by insurance; insurance premium payments for Stanford employees that are on approved leave without pay Funeral expenses, including travel expenses Basic living expenses (food, clothing) Credit card bills, auto and other debt that resulted directly from a qualifying event Payment of regular monthly bills you can’t pay due to financial distress caused by a qualifying event Wage garnishments, disconnection notices or eviction notices resulting from qualifying event Adaptive modification to property (e.g. wheelchair ramp) Limited hotel accommodations or shelter Similar expenses as determined by America’s Charities sole discretion

Any expense, bill, payment invoiced or with a due date more than 120 days prior to the date the application is complete Loss of household income due to a reduction in hours or overtime, the loss of a job, a divorce or the loss of child support Credit card bills, auto and other debt, not incurred as a result of a qualifying event Regular monthly bills when the financial distress is not the result of a qualifying event Wage garnishments, disconnection notices or eviction notices not related to a qualifying event Accidental damages due to negligence of applicant Furniture, appliances, electronics Non-essential utilities such as cable television Legal fees Expenses that are or would be covered under medical/homeowners insurance and deductibles (note this is not a replacement for insurance; the EEAF may reimburse for expenses that are not eligible for reimbursement under medical or homeowners insurance) Standard living expenses that do not cause financial stress When other aid or assets are readily available Research-related expenses Expenses due to employee’s lack of adequate financial management Other expenses not permitted as a charitable gift Similar expenses as determined by America’s Charities’ sole discretion

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Examples: Required Documentation

You will be required to provide documentation to substantiate and support your application. The type of documentation is dependent on the individual circumstances of each application. Below is a non-exhaustive list of common documents you may submit:

• Photos of damage
• Personal financial statements (verification of family income and expenses; other available assets
• Insurance claims, explanation(s) of benefits and deductibles
• Police reports
• Repair estimates with readily verifiable contact information
• Receipts of incurred expenses
• Overdue billing statements
• Certification of medical condition
• Certificate of death
• Medical bills
• Funeral costs/estimates
• W-9 of creditor to whom a payment is being issued directly; you must upload a W9 from a vendor or creditor who is an independent contractor, partnership or LLC.  W9s from corporations are not required.

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Maximums & Limits to Grant Awards

Assistance from the EEAF is subject to the availability of funds, the extent of your need, and your satisfactory completion of the application as determined by America’s Charities.

Grant awards are based on financial need and the severity and impact of the disaster or other emergency on you and your family.

• Qualified Disaster grants reimburse up to $1,000 per qualified event, with a maximum of one grant per family household per year.
• Personal Hardship grants for full-time employees reimburse up to $5,000 per qualified event, with a lifetime maximum of $5,000; grants for part-time employees reimburse up to $2,500 per qualified event, with a lifetime maximum of $2,500.
• No more than one grant per category may be awarded to you in a 12-month period (i.e. one for a Qualified Disaster, one for Personal Hardship).
• You cannot apply for the same Personal Hardship more than once.
• Applications will be considered in light of your past applications and disbursements; priority for grants is given to employees who have not received grants previously.
• You may only submit one application per category during any 120-day period (i.e. one for a Qualified Disaster, one for a Personal Hardship).
• If your application is denied, you may submit an application for a different qualifying event in the other category after six months from the date of previous application denial.

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Apply for an EEAF Grant