Emergency Assistance Program Establishment and Grant Approval Percentages

EAF continues to enhance its services to support each Disaster and Relief Fund’s sponsoring employer. Once a fund is established and open for grant making, EAF utilizes three effective elements when reviewing fund performance. This three-stage approach helps the sponsoring employer to make their fund successful. Below are brief descriptions of each stage in the process.

Program establishment is the starting point for most employers. Once the mechanics of the fund are up and running smoothly, it is important to fully embed the fund in to the hearts and minds of your employees. This requires a concerted effort over time. While the time may vary depending upon the employee base, it can take up to three years for full adoption.

An important aspect that is necessary to make sure that the program is fully established is the fund sponsor’s participation in a review with EAF of its Fund‘s quarterly report. As part of this agreement the fund sponsor agrees to participate in the initial four quarterly reviews in year one, and in years two and three may voluntarily participate as appropriate.

* Year 1 – The Start Up and Implementation Stage where EAF helps your staff understand the reports and identify where you can better communicate with your employees about the fund benefits of donation and grants.

* Year 2 – The Steady State Stage where awareness of the fund exists and EAF helps you to identify opportunities for growth.

* Year 3 – The Sustaining and Renewal Stage where EAF helps you to sustain growth and renewal of the fund within the employee base.

Each year corresponds with one stage in the process, where review, evaluation, and resulting revisions to the program are made in order to maximize fund performance. These quarterly reviews are essential to ensuring as many qualified grants as possible are made.

Author: Doug Stockham, President

Emergency Assistance Foundation