Supporting associates in times of need.
The St. Louis Community Foundation offers a cost effective Employee Care Program to provide compassionate, short-term financial assistance to associates in need.
Your associates are your most valued asset. We can help you support them in their times of personal need with an efficient, timely and confidential financial assistance program, reflecting your culture of corporate care and employee engagement.
Employee Care Funds are charitable funds established by companies to provide short-term financial assistance to associates impacted by natural disasters or personal emergencies. The St. Louis Community Foundation currently helps companies support over 30,000 associates, both locally and nationally, in times of crises.
We’ve helped companies provide short term assistance in widespread crises such as Hurricane Harvey, and to those in personal need, such as a death in the family or healthcare emergencies.
We help you set the parameters for the assistance your company wants to provide. We provide guidance and objectivity in setting up your company’s fund to align with your corporate culture and meet the specific needs of your employee base.
Benefits of an Employee Care Fund:
- Donations can be made by both the sponsoring company and fellow associates.
- Fund donations are tax deductible for the company and associates
- Assistance is tax free to recipients
- IRS independent & objective determination requirements are met
- Conflict of interest between the company and team member is removed
- Privacy of associates is a priority
- Puts framework in place so crises can be responded to immediately
The Community Foundation provides expert service for Employee Care Funds.
We listen and customize care funds to incorporate a company’s culture and values:
- Work with you to determine the qualifying events such as natural disasters, health crises, financial hardship, and other eligibility.
- Help define minimum and maximum grant amounts and frequency of employee eligibility.
- Help to determine how employee care will be funded: through employer donations, employee payroll deductions, employer matches, and/or vendor contributions.
We efficiently manage Employee Care Fund operations:
- Objectively review assistance applications.
- Notify recipients and distribute payments.
- Maintain grant records and fund activity reporting.
Thank you so much to my company for offering this program. I was in a real bind and not sure how to help myself when I heard about the employee care program. I am so thankful for the assistance and realize how blessed I am to have an employer and employees that are willing to help when times get hard. I will definitely donate to our program in the future. — anonymous recipient