CRITERIA AND INSTRUCTION GUIDE

Thank you for your interest in applying for a Crisis Relief grant from The MOAA Foundation. Please review the following information carefully, as it pertains to your eligibility and responsibilities for grant award consideration. 

Please note: Due to increased demand and an influx in applications, application processing will be delayed. We are working as quickly as possible to review and judge all eligible applications.

Who is Eligible?

The Crisis Relief Program offers financial assistance to those falling under one or more of the below categories: Currently serving (including National Guard and Reserve), spouses of currently serving, veterans (with an honorable discharge), surviving spouses (whose spouse held an honorable discharge), and caregivers of the same who are experiencing financial setback due to an unexpected current crisis. Open to all ranks and U.S. uniformed services. 

Due to extremely limited funding, we will only accept applications from veterans, surviving spouses of veterans, and caregivers of veterans whose discharge is either Honorable or General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions. We cannot accept the following discharge statuses:

• Other Than Honorable (OTH) Discharge
• Bad Conduct Discharge
• Dishonorable Discharge

What We Help With?

Applicants experiencing a crisis by natural disaster deemed a national emergency by their local City or State and are experiencing extreme financial hardship as a result of this crisis. We welcome those experiencing any unique crisis situations so long as specific information is provided when applying. The crisis in which an applicant is submitting an application for must have occurred no more than 90 days prior to the date of the application submission.   

• Housing (rent, mortgage, housing assistance, repairs, etc.) 
• Auto loan/lease/car repair
• Utilities (electric, water, heat, internet/cable, cell phone, groceries)
• Credit card bills
• Medical bills
• Insurance bills
• Miscellaneous (must specify on application)  

*We will not assist with legal fees or child support payments.  

Additional Information

Ensure you have thoroughly read through these instructions and all points within the application. Failure to provide necessary information and complete responses in your application will result in your application being incomplete and it will not be considered. 

If it is determined that your application is incomplete, you may submit a new and complete application. You will be alerted of your application’s outcome via email once it is reviewed. 

If awarded, these grant funds can only be provided to one individual per household. Applications submitted multiple times if already awarded funds will be disqualified. Once a decision has been made regarding an application, The MOAA Charities Team will send you an email via SurveyMonkey to confirm the decision.

For auditing purposes, if you are awarded a grant, you MUST upload into your applicant portal, a copy or copies of any bills you have paid as a result of receiving grant funds from The MOAA Foundation’s Crisis Relief Program in the entirety of the grant you were given. This proof must include what was purchased/paid for, the date the item(s) were paid for, name of the applicant, the company in which the purchase or bill is for, and the amount paid (Ex: If you are awarded $500, we require proof that you used this $500 to pay for what you noted needing assistance with in your application). This proof of use of funds must be uploaded in SurveyMonkey within 30 days of receiving grant funds.

Note: that processing and response times may vary depending on demand, but our team is working hard to process requests.   

Grant Disbursement 

Once awarded a grant, applicants will be required to set up a separate account with our disbursement platform, Tipalti, in order to receive grants.

REMINDER: MOAA will NOT ask you to provide your Social Security number or bank information over the phone or in response to an email. DO NOT provide this information unless asked for through a secure link or via SurveyMonkey. A MOAA staff member will only ask for this information and provide you a secure link to send if you are being awarded a grant, and the request will come directly from relief@moaa.org.

Contact Us

Please email relief@moaa.org or call the MOAA Member Service Center at (800) 234-6622 if you feel uncomfortable about a request and would like to verify authenticity, or if you have any questions about the program.