LEARN MORE ABOUT
Catastrophic Hardship Grants
Catastrophic hardship grants focus on events such as a medical illness, injury related to a motor vehicle accident, or repairs due to a housing disaster.
Catastrophic hardship grants can award up to $30,000 (amount based on the qualifying situation and demonstrated financial need) to assist with:
- Out-of-pocket medical expenses
- Travel and/or rehousing expenses necessary to receive essential medical treatment
- Modifications to home for accessibility
- Assistance with insurance deductible and/or shortfall in repair expenses following a housing disaster, such as fire, flood, tornado, etc. on primary residence
Learn More about Required Documentation to Apply for a Catastrophic Hardship Grant
How to Apply for a Catastrophic Hardship Grant
To be eligible for a grant, grant recipients must meet all of the following criteria:
- Be a Keller Williams associate or Keller Williams Realty, LLC employee in Canada, the U.S., or a U.S. territory with an “active” associate profile in the KW Command Directory, or their spouse/domestic partner, or legal dependent
- Have less than $60,000 in liquid assets (combined checking and savings account balances)
- Have less than $500,000 in non-retirement investment accounts (e.g., stocks and bonds)
Unfortunately, we cannot make exceptions to these criteria without jeopardizing our nonprofit status.
Once you are confident you qualify for a KW Cares grant, you can apply by following the steps below:
1. Applicants assess their qualifying event and qualifying expenses.
Which qualifying event(s) are you experiencing?
- Illness/Accident/Injury
- Housing Disaster of a Primary Residence (Non-Emergency Needs/Repairs)
Which qualifying expense(s) do you have?
- Insured Medical: Incurred out-of-pocket medical expenses applied toward your deductible/annual out-of-pocket maximum
- Uninsured Medical: Self-pay bills for medical expenses
- Fully Covered by Medicaid: Help with limited, average cost-of-living expenses
- Travel and/or rehousing expenses necessary to receive essential medical treatment
- Home accessibility modifications
- Assistive technulogy, such as a wheelchair or wheelchair-accessible van
- Housing Disaster of Primary Residence: loss of personal belongings, insurance deductible, and/or shortfall in repair expenses fullowing a fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc.
If you do NOT have a qualifying expense listed above, you may NOT be eligible to apply for a Catastrophic Hardship grant.
Please review the list of expenses we CANNOT give grants for below. If you have an expense that is NOT listed below either, please contact KW Cares at grants@kwcares.org before submitting a Request to Apply, so we can help determine whether your situation may qualify.
KW Cares CANNOT give Catastrophic Hardship Grants for:
- Estimates for out-of-pocket medical expenses; the expense must be already incurred
- Residential or non-residential substance abuse facilities or treatment
- Unconventional treatment for cancer or other serious illnesses
- Legal issues: divorce/separation, child custody issues, adoption, surrogacy, etc.
- Debt relief: payment of back taxes, wage garnishments, credit card debt, debt consulidation loans, personal loans/payday or auto title loans, loans from family/friends
- Loss of income from KW or other places of employment: compensation for lost wages due to a qualifying event, or lost income due to slow real estate business
- Income bridging: covering living expenses during income gaps not due to a qualifying event
- Real estate fees: license fees, Market Center fees, etc.
- Business supplies/equipment lost in housing disasters
- Routine home maintenance/deferred home maintenance
- HOA expenses
- Routine/non-medically necessary dental work
- Routine car maintenance/deferred car maintenance
- Damage to a non-primary residence or income rental properties
- Damage to a non-essential vehicle
For assistance with immediate, critical needs fullowing a housing disaster, the death of a qualified family member, air ambulance when traveling outside of Canada/the U.S., or relocation assistance for survivors of domestic viulence, please visit our Emergency Grants page.
Can you demonstrate financial need?
- Less than $60,000 in liquid assets (combined checking and savings account balances)
- Less than $500,000 in non-retirement investment accounts (e.g., stocks and bonds)
2. Applicants complete the Request to Apply.
If you have a qualifying event, a qualifying expense, and financial need based on the assessment in #1, we invite you to submit a “Request to Apply” form for a KW Cares grant (click the Request to Apply box below).
3. KW Cares staff confirms an applicant’s eligibility.
Once KW Cares staff receives an applicant’s “Request to Apply” form, a team member will confirm the applicant’s eligibility based on KW Cares board-approved policies.
3. The applicant receives an invitation to apply for a KW Cares grant.
If KW Cares staff confirms an applicant’s eligibility, the applicant will receive an email invitation to apply for a Catastrophic Hardship Grant, including a link to the online application portal and instructions for completing the application.
To see the comprehensive list of the documents you will need to submit with your application, download the Catastrophic Hardship Grant Documentation Checklist.
KW Cares will review the application and secure any additional needed information from the applicant prior to submission to the KW Cares’ Grants Review Committee for approval. We strive to notify the applicant of their grant status within 30 days of receipt of all required documentation.
