What We Do
The Emergency Fund provides quick help to PYM members in acute financial needed, wholly funded by grants from the John Martin Trust. It supports quick, one-time grants of up to $2,000 to assist members of PYM Meetings in meeting basic needs (including but not limited to housing, food, employment, and medical difficulties) during times of personal financial crisis. The Fund cannot support ongoing grants or non-crisis assistance.
Who We Are
The Emergency Fund does not have a committee; decisions are made by the General Secretary of PYM and handled quickly and confidentially. Reports are made periodically to the John Martin Trust summarizing use of grants and listing Meetings requesting them without naming individual recipients.
Contact
Nicholas Gutowski
Director of Grant Making
NGutowski@pym.org
(215) 241-7218
How To Apply
☞ n.b. – The maximum grant size was raised in January 2021 from $1,500 to $2,000. The information sheet linked below has not yet been updated to reflect this fact.
Clerks of PYM Meetings or Clerks of Care, Counsel, and Overseers committees should consult the Emergency Fund Information Sheet [PDF]. Requests must be made by Clerks of Meetings or Clerks of Overseers, who are responsible for determining that the need is real. Requests are handled quickly and confidentially by the General Secretary. Clerks requesting funds should write to the Director of Grant Making at NGutowski@pym.org, and follow up with a brief and concise letter of request describing the need and individuals involved. Individuals cannot apply and beneficiaries must be PYM members; because of trust restrictions, it cannot support attenders of Monthly Meetings who are not members. There are no deadlines — applications are processed as they are received.
Funds
The Emergency Fund was established in 1999 at the suggestion of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia, acting on behalf of the John Martin Trust in order “to supplement the assistance of Meetings [to their members], not supplant it.”