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At Modest Needs, we offer only three types of grants.
Each type of grant that we offer is designed to address a specific type of situation. Modest Needs cannot help you if you request the wrong type of grant for your situation, or ask for a type of grant that don't offer.
A well-written application must contain specific information about the applicant's situation.
Example of a badly written application, one that is not specific:
This month, my electric bill was more than I expected. I have three babies at home. I don't want to lose my power. Please pay this bill for me.
Basically, this person seems to be saying, "I can't write a budget, so why don't you pay my electric bill?" Anyone who has read our mission statement knows that this isn't how we work or what we do at Modest Needs. With no other information to go on, we would have no choice but to reject this application.
This is an example of a well-written application, one that is specific:
In June, I had to take an unpaid week off from work to care for one of my children who was ill. As a result, I lost $200 of income I normally would earn. This week, I received my electric bill. It was for $212.78, about double its normal amount, because of the extreme heat we've suffered here in Missouri. Normally, I would be able to afford even this higher bill, but having lost that $200 worth of work income, I just can't pay my electric bill this one time. I've never lost my electric power before and would hate to lose it now, especially in the summer, and especially due to a sick child. Can you please assist us with this expense?
This application suggests that the person is clearly struggling with a small, short-term expense because of an obvious and documentable extenuating circumstance (the illness of a child.) The applicant has also gone to a lot of trouble to make the specific reason for this application clear and easy to understand. Provided this applicant has been honest with us and can document what s/he has said, this application would almost certainly be funded.
At Modest Needs, the fastest way to get help is by being honest about your situation.
As a 501 c 3 (tax exempt) organization, Modest Needs is required by law to perform 'due diligence' on the applications we receive prior to making a grant. Before we make an application available for donor review or release any funding, we must have on file documentation to support:
For example, take a look at the sample 'good' application above. If we received that application, in addition to the documents above, we'd also probably request at least a letter from the person's employer, verifying that s/he did, in fact, miss a week's worth of work due the illness of his/her child.
Of course, we never share your documentation with anyone, and we never request documentation that an honest applicant couldn't obtain and fax to us in 48 hours or less. However, an application cannot proceed to donor review or receive funding until we have the documentation to support it.
At Modest Needs, honesty is the most important part of a successful application. We're willing at least to consider almost any situation that falls within our funding guidelines. But people who misrepresent their situations to be better/worse than they actually are cannot provide the documentation we request from them. In the end, persons of this type receive no help from Modest Needs at all.
This organization is called Modest Needs. As you know, "modest" means "small." At Modest Needs, we consider applications for $350 or less to be truly "modest." Of course, we can sometimes fund larger applications. We're happy to do this when we can. But at Modest Needs, small applications will always come first. They will always receive preference over larger applications and will always be our priority. You should keep this in mind when applying for help from Modest Needs.
