Community Sponsorship Finances

$2,000 for single cases

$3,000 for two adults

$4,000 for a family of four

$5,000 for a family of five or more

This money is to be used to help the family move towards independence and self-sufficiency.

Refugees receive a certain amount of money per adult/child during resettlement, and some

adults continue receiving money for up to eight months after arrival, but the money is only a

supplement, and it will eventually run out.

Budgeting with the Family

Budgeting is an important exercise to do with your family early on.

• List their expenses and any income (government money won’t be there forever)

• Set budget goals together (i.e. our goal at the end of this period is that XYZ)

  • Immediate needs

  • Medium and long term goals

Budgeting as a Team

• As a team, talk about the money your team has raised to help your assigned family.

  • We really encourage you to think about this money as an emergency fund, and to only use the funds for immediate needs, or other expenses that may help the family reach self-sufficiency (i.e. vocational training) after all other avenues have been exhausted.

  • Some immediate needs families may have (especially in the beginning):

    • Rent and/or utilities

    • Medical bills or prescription medicine

    • Groceries (for those families not yet receiving food stamps)

  • The main portion should be for rental assistance until they get a job. Always talk with the family to create a plan for them to be able to pay more and more of their rent as time goes on. The family should not think of the team’s money as a safety net.

  • The team must agree on expenses made on behalf of the team. No money should be spent by any individual without getting approval from the team. All money spent should be from the team as a whole, not any individual on the team.

  • At the end of your time together, RAA staff will meet with you to discuss what to do with the remaining money. We encourage you to use the money to help the family buy something that would help them in their journey to independence (i.e. help them buy a car, help put a deposit on a nicer home or apartment, etc.).

When your team is unsure whether or not you should be spending the money your team raised,

stop to ask yourself these two questions:

• Is it fundamental for the well-being of the family?

• Does this support independence?

Tips

• Before tapping into any of the CST funds, always explore other options.

  • Rental assistance programs

  • Payment plan with the utility company

  • Donations (i.e. clothes, necessary furniture)

  • Local nonprofit that gives resources to low-income families (i.e diapers, formula)

• The goal is to spend as little as possible of the funds you raised because we want to teach

  families to live within their means

  • When you do have to buy something, try not to buy it new.

  • Think about how the families will make these purchases in the future. We might

    not think twice about going to Target to buy something new, but for them that is

    not the best use of their money, so we recommend going to a Goodwill or trying

    to find the item discounted in another way.

• If your team decides it is necessary to use some of the team funds to help the family, the

  family should also be involved in this decision.

  • Always work with the family to see what they can pay towards a bill/rent before

    stepping in to help (i.e. 50% or 75% of the bill/rent and team funds cover the rest)

  • It is expected for CSTs to provide more assistance in the beginning, but as time

    goes on it is important the family is able to pay for everything on their own

• For fun outings - like going to a coffee shop - we definitely encourage outings, but buying coffee is not an immediate need. If you want to practice ordering, think of a way to do it

  for free such as ordering at the deli at the grocery store. If the team agrees this type of

  outing is necessary and important for the family, we highly recommend it be something

  that is not expensive. Team funds should not be used to visit the zoo, for example.

• Decisions surrounding how to spend the money depend a lot on the family context.

  What are their goals and how can we help them get there?

  • Vocational certificate program - what are the expenses? Should we use some of

    the CST money for that?

Spending Team Funds

• When your team decides to use some of their money, the Team Leader should contact

  RAA’s ED. Whenever possible, RAA prefers to make a payment or purchase directly.

  When this is not possible, the team can make the payment or purchase and the

  Admin/Finance Person will complete the CS Reimbursement Request Form and attach

  copies of all receipts. The Team Leader should email this form and all receipts as an

  email attachment to the Executive Director.