NearFaith Care — Eligibility & Award Policy

NearFaith Care is a private, religious benevolence program serving Christians through their local churches. It expresses the Christian practice of caring for members of the body of Christ, and its eligibility rules follow from that religious purpose: assistance is available only to Christians with a genuine, verifiable connection to a local Christian church. It is not a public benefit, a government program, or a general-purpose charity open to the public, and participation is not offered as a public accommodation.

Faith itself cannot be inspected, so the program applies it through the one test a program can honestly run: church verification. An applicant’s local Christian church must confirm that it knows the applicant and their connection to the congregation. No church connection, no verification — and without verification, no application proceeds, without exception.

Assistance is available by application only, and every application is manually reviewed and decided by the appointed NearFaith Care Review Board (see the Review Board Charter). Applying does not mean receiving. Meeting every criterion on this page, passing every verification step, and receiving church confirmation together create no entitlement, expectation, promise, or contractual right to assistance. The Board may decline any application for any lawful reason, and fund availability alone may end the answer.

You may apply if all of the following are true:

• You are 18 or older and live in the United States.
• You are a Christian who attends, or has a genuine ongoing connection to, a local Christian church that can confirm it knows you. The church does not need to be listed on NearFaith yet, but verification is fastest when it is.
• You are applying for yourself or your immediate household — not on behalf of a third party.
• You have no other Care request currently open.

Care exists for small, concrete, one-time needs where a defined amount solves a defined problem. Qualifying categories: textbooks, school supplies, groceries, utility bills, transportation, car repair, gas, interview clothing, work equipment, childcare, new-baby needs, funeral expenses, temporary housing, disaster recovery, household essentials, and other needs of the same character.

The strongest requests name a vendor — the utility company, mechanic, school, or store — because where practical, assistance is paid directly to the vendor, not to the applicant.

Assistance is never awarded for:

• gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or recreational drugs;
• weapons;
• political donations or campaign expenses;
• luxury or discretionary purchases;
• cash advances or anything structured as a loan or repayment of one;
• unrelated personal debt, fines, or penalties;
• requests that cannot be verified, or that misstate the need or the applicant’s identity.

• Maximum request: $500. This cap is absolute — the application form, the review system, and the underlying records all refuse larger amounts.
• One active request per person at a time.
• At most two awards per rolling twelve months per person or household. Any exception requires a documented Review Board override.
• Limits may be tightened when the fund is low; the program may pause new applications entirely rather than take requests it cannot meet.

Every application passes through the same pipeline: identity verification (email, and phone where needed) → church verification → manual review and decision by the NearFaith Care Review Board. Nothing is approved automatically or by software. Church verification is described in the Program Terms of Use; the Board’s composition and process are in the Review Board Charter. Meeting every criterion on this page makes a request eligible, not entitled— the Board’s decision is discretionary and final (subject only to the single reconsideration in the Terms), payment of an approved award is carried out by the administering church or charitable partner, and everything depends on available funds.