A: Applications are received by request through social workers from partner hospitals across the U.S. At this time the TRF does not accept unsolicited requests. We invite pediatric cancer families to contact their hospital social worker to inquire about the TRF and grant opportunities.
A: The TRF provides grant money for families with a pediatric cancer child, ages 0 months – 18 years of age who falls in the middle income range as defined by the *federal government.
Additionally, families who can demonstrate undue financial duress like a parent losing employment or single-parent households generally are weighted higher (having the greatest need) in the online application. Selected families must also demonstrate a willingness to work with, and adopt, fiscally responsible practices and other required stipulations.
A: There are many, worthy organizations including churches and hospital nonprofits that can help families pay for hospital and other medical bills. The TRF fills other associated gaps that many families face. Pediatric cancer families almost always experience a major income deficit when a parent is forced to quit work to provide full-time care for their sick child. This severely affects household income so that common things like paying rent/mortgage, replacing well-worn tires on a vehicle, install a water heater, or buying school clothes for siblings goes by the wayside.
A: Families are invited to apply for a TRF grant by trained social workers in six partner hospitals across the United States. Once the application is filled out and proper release forms are signed and documentation obtained, the social worker submits all of the paperwork to the TRF corporate headquarters. The family information is then placed into a form that assesses family need based on the weighted ratios of other applicants. At that time the applications are sent to the TRF Family Selection committee for review and acceptance or non-acceptance.
A: Imagine Dragons and the Robinson family decided from the beginning that they were more interested in making a significant, long-term investment in a family’s fiscal health and recovery. This means that grants are considerable – up to $36,000 over a three-year period.
A: Each family is paired with a professional financial advisor who volunteers their time to meet with a family and make recommendations about how best to return the family to financial viability. Additionally, the financial advisor creates a budget, debt elimination plan, and other programs that the grantee family agrees to adopt and follow.
It is essential to note that TRF grantee families are not given funds directly. All family invoices and bills are paid directly to the vendor or creditor by the TRF.
A: This grant program began in December of 2014, when TRF leadership was looking for a way to spread holiday cheer to pediatric cancer families through random acts of kindness. This became the Immediate Impact Grant project. Partner hospital social workers select pediatric cancer families to receive a no-strings-attached $500 Visa gift card to spend on their loved ones. Today TRF staff, Board Members, Advisory Board Members, and others are invited to deliver the “surprise” Visa gift cards to families twice a year; in December and August.
A: Great question. At its inception, Imagine Dragons did not endow the TRF with a large sum of money. Instead the Grammy-winning band has opened many doors to obtaining corporate and individual donations throughout the world. There are more than 50,000 new diagnosis of pediatric cancer each year and many of these families are struggling against incredible emotional, physical, and financial odds. That’s why your donation, no matter the size, matters a great deal. Please give. We have so much work to do… together.
A: Although the TRF is the public charity of Imagine Dragons, it does not have the ability to connect individuals with the band or to forward messages or other requests. Contact may be made by going to the Imagine Dragons’ website.
The Tyler Robinson Foundation does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. TRF is an equal opportunity employer.
*Middle class is defined as an annual household income of between $20,600 and $102,000 as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau’s middle 60% of incomes.