Grant Application Guidelines & Instructions
The mission of the Broadcasters Foundation of America (“BFOA” or the “Foundation”) is to
improve the quality of life of television and radio broadcast industry employees and their
families who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in acute financial need. More
specifically, the Foundation conducts nationwide outreach to identify cases where television
and radio industry employees find themselves in financial distress as the result of critical illness,
accident, hardship resulting from natural disaster, or other serious misfortune which the
Foundation determines warrants assistance to the employee or the employee’s survivors.
improve the quality of life of television and radio broadcast industry employees and their
families who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in acute financial need. More
specifically, the Foundation conducts nationwide outreach to identify cases where television
and radio industry employees find themselves in financial distress as the result of critical illness,
accident, hardship resulting from natural disaster, or other serious misfortune which the
Foundation determines warrants assistance to the employee or the employee’s survivors.
Eligibility Requirements
To be considered for a grant from the Foundation, an applicant must have been employed for a
consecutive five (5) year period by one or more radio and/or television broadcasting companies
(whether currently, or during the course of his or her career). For purposes of eligibility under
this paragraph, a radio or television broadcasting company is one that provides free over-the-air
broadcasting utilizing full-service television and/or radio licenses issued by the Federal
Communications Commission (“FCC”). In addition, eligibility for a grant from the Foundation
shall be extended to individuals who have been employed, for a consecutive five (5) year
period, by (i) a media representative firm that sells media time or space on behalf of radio
and/or television broadcasters, or (ii) a state broadcast association. Except as provided below,
emergency grant recipients must be currently employed by one of the companies listed above.
Independent contractors serving the radio and/or television industry do not qualify.
Eligible broadcasters may submit an application to the Foundation for a Monthly Grant, or an
Emergency Grant as described below. In addition, where a broadcaster meets the eligibility
criteria set forth above, the Foundation will consider applications for limited assistance, subject
to the processes detailed herein, as follows:
- An eligible broadcaster may apply for a Monthly Grant if his or her dependent child suffers from a severe, prolonged illness that is causing acute financial hardship for the family;
- An eligible broadcaster may apply for a Monthly Grant if he or she is required to be placed into assisted living and the attendant costs are causing acute financial hardship for the broadcaster and his or her family;
- Upon the death of an eligible broadcaster who was receiving a Monthly Grants, the surviving spouse may be eligible for continued assistance as described below
- Upon the death of an eligible broadcaster who was not receiving a Monthly Grant, a surviving spouse may apply for a Monthly Grant within three (3) months of the eligible broadcaster’s death.
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Emergency Grants
Emergency Grants are designed to provide one-time financial assistance to individuals currently employed in the broadcast industry who are otherwise eligible for a BFOA grant and who have suffered sudden and significant financial hardship as the result of a disaster (e.g., hurricane, tornado, extreme flooding, wild/house fires), such as loss of housing, transportation, or other major adversity, as determined in the Foundation’s sole discretion. The broadcaster must submit, within thirty (30) days of the disaster’s occurrence, an Emergency Grant application, certified by his or her General Manager or Controller. In addition, the surviving spouse of an otherwise eligible broadcaster may submit, upon the broadcaster’s death, an application for an Emergency Grant to cover funeral expenses where such expenses result in acute financial distress for the family.
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Submittable File Upload Instructions:
- Click “Choose File”.
- Locate the document on your computer.
- Double click on the document to begin the upload.
If you recently downloaded the file from an email attachment, it might be saved in your “Downloads” folder or on your “Desktop”. If you only have paper documents available, we recommended you take a photo of the document with your phone (be sure the photo is clear and legible) and send it to yourself as an email attachment. Then, save the document to your computer and follow the upload instructions above.
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Submittable Software Guidelines:
- You will need to create a free Submittable account, or sign in with Google or Facebook credentials in order to submit to these forms.
- If you need to make changes to your form, please withdraw your submission and resubmit. If anything changes with the information you submitted, please request to edit the submission
- If you aren’t doing so already, please use a laptop or desktop computer, as file uploads may not work on some mobile devices. Submittable works best on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Internet Explorer is not supported. Please make sure you are using a supported browser, and that the files are valid file types. You can find the acceptable file types under the “Choose File” button on the application. If you continue to be unable to upload the files, please try a different browser.
- We will follow-up with you about your submission by email. Please be sure to add emails from Submittable to your mailing list and check the email you used to sign up for your Submittable Account regularly.
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Visit the Submitter Resource Center for help videos and articles or contact Submittable’s Customer Support team with any technical questions.