Citizen to Citizen Fund Disbursement Rules Page

Adopted May 10, 2007

I. The Citizen to Citizen Fund

Through the use of public contributions, the Tennessee Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (Tennessee VOAD) has established an account it has named the “Citizen to Citizen Fund”. Tennessee VOAD has further taken steps to register the Citizen to Citizen Fund with the Tennessee Secretary of State and the Internal Revenue Service as a charitable fund, contributions to which are tax deductible as covered in Section 501 (c) (3) of the United States Tax Code.

II. Purpose of the Citizen to Citizen Fund

The fund has been established to provide means for two activities:

A. To provide “start-up” grants to county, area, and regional Long Term Recovery Committees, to assist these groups in their organizational and initial fund raising efforts, and

B. To provide limited grants through established Long Term Recovery Committees to individuals and families who have suffered serious losses due to disaster; and for whom all other sources of assistance have been exhausted; and for whom serious unmet needs still exist.

III. Contributions to the Fund

Tennessee VOAD does not generally make overt efforts to seek contributors to the fund. Any activity that would lead to contributions which would normally accrue to a member agency of Tennessee VOAD being made to the Citizen to Citizen fund should be avoided.

Rather, the Citizen to Citizen Fund is designed to be a location where individuals interested in generically assisting Tennessee disaster victims, can make a financial contribution if they do not wish to make their contribution through a Tennessee VOAD member agency.

Further, the fund can serve as a repository of monies collected by a Long Term Recovery Committee, but left unused after the last case being actively worked by the Committee is closed, and the Committee liquidates its assets.

IV. Limits On Disbursements

Start-up grants to Long Term Recovery Committees may be made in amounts not to exceed $1,000.00.

A grant for the purpose of aiding an individual or family being served by a Long Term Recovery Committee shall not exceed $2,500.00.

V. Procedure for Requesting Grants

No disbursement of grants from the Citizen to Citizen Fund shall be made until / unless these steps are followed:

A. The Chair or President of the long term recovery group must request a start-up grant in written form, indicating the amount being requested, the membership of the group, the approximate number of families that will be served, and the county or counties to be served.

B. In the instance where a grant is being requested to aid in the recovery of an individual or family being served by the group, the Chair or President of the long term recovery group must request an assistance grant in written form, indicating the amount being requested, the circumstances of the family or individual, the record of previous assistance provided, and from what sources. The request must also explain what unmet needs will be addressed by the grant, if it is provided.

VI. Procedure for Authorizing Disbursements

No disbursement of funds from the Citizen to Citizen Fund shall be made until / unless the following steps are followed:

A. The Executive Committee of the Tennessee Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, will review all applications for assistance.

B. The Executive Committee may at its discretion:

1. approve the application as presented,

2. approve the application while reducing the requested grant to an amount that it deems sufficient,

3. disapprove the application, or

4. take no action on an application until additional information on the use of the grant can be established, or further justification for the grant can be obtained.

C. Actions of the Executive Committee will be determined by a vote of the members, with a simple majority of those voting constituting the will of the Executive Committee.

D. For purposes of considering applications for assistance, a quorum for activity shall be established if three or more Executive Committee members review the grant application and are eligible to vote on the issue.

E. Executive Committee members who are also members of the long term recovery group submitting the application for assistance, must recuse themselves from both the discussion and review of the application and the vote on its disposition.

F. The action taken on all applications for start-up grants or assistance to individuals and families will be addressed in correspondence to the requesting long term recovery group within five (5) days of the decision of the Executive Committee.

G. All requests for assistance and records of the action of the Executive Committee shall be maintained by the Tennessee VOAD Treasurer, for a period of three years.

H. All disbursements from the Citizen to Citizen fund shall be made by a Cashier’s Check made payable to the requesting long term recovery group within five (5) days of the decision of the Executive Committee.

I. Actions of the Executive Committee on applications for grants are reviewable by any TN VOAD member agency. At the request of the reviewing agency, the grant application will be placed on the agenda of the next regularly called TN VOAD membership meeting for further review and discussion.

Decisions by the Tennessee VOAD Executive Committee to deny an application, to approved the application but to reduce the amount of the requested grant, or to delay processing of an application are subject to change by a 2/3 majority vote of the TN VOAD Sustaining Membership.

Applications that have been previously approved and paid at the requested grant level by the TN VOAD Executive Committee, may be reviewed by the TN VOAD membership, but are not subject to being changed.

J. All applications for assistance, and records of the Executive Committee or the TN VOAD membership in regard to applications will be held in confidence, and are not subject to discussion or material release to outside parties other than the requesting Long Term Recovery Committee.

VII. Maintenance of the Citizen to Citizen Fund

The Tennessee VOAD Treasurer shall maintain the Citizen to Citizen Fund in a savings account which assures easy access to the funds, with no encumbrances on access to, or on the liquidation of the account.

VIII. Dissolution of the Citizen to Citizen Fund

At such time as the Citizen to Citizen Fund is considered depleted by the Executive Committee; the Tennessee VOAD membership shall be notified, and at its direction the Treasurer of TN VOAD may close the account.

VIII. Implementation and Alteration of the Citizen to Citizen Fund Regulations

Upon approval by the TN VOAD membership, these regulations supersede any previous regulations covering the establishment, operation, or use of the Citizen to Citizen Fund. These policies may be amended by a 2/3 majority vote at any regularly called Tennessee VOAD meeting, subject to normal quorum rules.