Eligibility Requirements and How to Apply

for Emergency Financial Assistance and Disaster Relief for SAG-AFTRA members

Please note: Suspended Payment, Terminated, and Fee-Paying-Non-Members (Fi-Core) are NOT ELIGIBLE to receive emergency assistance from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. If you submit an application and fall into this category, your application will be denied.

Before filling out our online application, you must review the eligibility criteria and be prepared to digitize and upload all required documentation including any correspondence pertaining to the crisis which has caused your emergency financial situation (e.g., copies of bills, a letter from your doctor confirming an illness diagnosis, or other proof of a disaster or emergency). Applications without proper and sufficient documentation will be denied.

Please DO NOT SEND PHOTOS of injuries, surgeries or accidents. Only official medical documents with diagnosis and treatment plans are acceptable for review and consideration.

If you have questions, please email assistance@sagaftra.foundation.

The Following Eligibility Requirements Must be Met In Order to Apply for and Receive Emergency Financial Assistance or Disaster Relief —

  1. You must be paid up on your SAG-AFTRA dues through October 2019; if you joined the union after October 2022, you must be currently paid up on your dues.
  2. You must provide a copy of your current SAG-AFTRA membership ID card or confirmation by SAG-AFTRA membership department – including end date.
  3. You must show documentation of an unexpected life crisis, such as a natural disaster, accident, catastrophic illness/injury, emergency medical bills not covered by insurance, house fire, eviction, evacuation, death in the family, loss of work due to a production shutdown or strike, or any other emergency circumstance described by IRS guidance pertaining to emergency hardship or disaster relief grants to individuals.
  4. If you have a medical or dental emergency you must include all documents pertaining to the diagnosed issue and accompanying bills.
  5. You will be required to show that you have an immediate financial need by providing bank statements, tax returns, bills, and other financial documentation.
  6. You will be required to upload your current lease or mortgage payment as well as copies of bills, unpaid and due. We cannot pay any credit card bills or union dues with this grant.
  7. Emergency Financial Assistance is available for people who are unable to pay their immediate basic living expenses (housing, food, utility bills or health care). If you can cover your expenses for the next few months, we ask that you wait to apply as we are processing the most urgent cases first. 

Tips on Making your Application Process Easier

You should prepare your documents prior to filling out the online application. You will be required to upload your documents at the end of the online application.

If your documents are not already available electronically, here are some suggested steps to create an electronic file for your paper documents.

  1. Search your app store for a free PDF scanner (eg. Evernote Scannable). There are numerous free apps that are available to create electronic files for your paper documents; please use what works for you.
  2. Download the free app to your phone.
  3. When you are ready, open the app and scan documents.
  4. This will create a PDF of your files.
  5. You will need to create one PDF file for each of these categories:
    • 1 file for union card(s) or proof of membership status, if applicable
    • 1 file for last month’s bank statement & tax return
    • 1 file for current lease, rent statement, mortgage/maintenance. (If unavailable, can be substituted with utility/phone bill listing your current address.)
  6. Copies of any bills that you are unable to pay and would use the grant to cover.
  7. Download IRS form W-9 (link provided in application)

If you have questions or problems with submitting your application, please email assistance@sagaftra.foundation.

Begin the Application