[akspudua]

My husband and I worked all evening on getting an adoption grant application filled out and ready to submit...They have a deadline of the 15th of this Month. Anyway...our question is: How do we know that this really is a valid grant and not a scam? They are asking for a copy of our tax return and then we are sending them a $25 application fee. We just starting wondering if this was smart...it is a lot of personal information to give out if they aren't who they say they are. But at the same time if they are who they say they are then it makes sense that they want to validate your income to decide your need. What do you all think? Would you do it? Have you done it? Is there anyway to check? It is "Grants for Adoption Foundation (A National Heritage Foundation)". Their website has an email and on the application there is an address, but it is a P.O. Box. No names or phone numbers...Please PM me if the information you are sharing is specific to this foundation. I think/hope any other advice should be OK.

Thanks for all your help!! We were going to try to send it tomorrow- so I need your help soon!

[lmvsmom]

The only advice I would give is to ask your homestudy social worker. They are supposed to be very familiar with this stuff. Hopefully someone on the forum will have some knowledge of this as well.

[Mindybeth6]

All I can tell you is that we also sent an application to them. I sent it off last week.

Hugs

[Stacytoadoopt]

I looked at a number of the grants that were online, but decided against even applying for the same reason. I was surprised by the information they were requesting. I did e-mail one of them and they said that no one had ever questioned it before...

Decided I would rather be save then sorry - and will just make payments

[kerrib]

I only applied to organizations that were listed on web sites such as Wendy's that people recommended. My agency also gave me a list so I am assuming the organizations on the list are legitimate.

I think it's perfectly normal to give them a copy of your tax return, though. It's really the most efficient way to verify whether your financial information is accurate.

[gdbe]

Even giving them a tax return, I would probably white out the SS #'s as this is too much info. The thing that bothers me, is if it is a need based grant, I would think there wouldn't be an application fee!!!


Gail

[allido]

Originally Posted by gdbe

Even giving them a tax return, I would probably white out the SS #'s as this is too much info. The thing that bothers me, is if it is a need based grant, I would think there wouldn't be an application fee!!!

Whiting out the SS#'s is a great suggestion. At least then, you'd only be partially screwed if it is a scam- and they'd have a limited amount of info. to steal. You might also want to make sure that any bank account #'s are not visible. Maybe you could ask them if you can just send the sections of the tax forms that list your financial data instead of the whole tax return?? Gail's point about application fees is also well taken. Probably, if they are legit, they'll either understand your reluctance to share ALL your info OR contact you to ask again. Scammers probably wouldn't take the extra time to double check. Good luck!

[stillxling]

one of the grants that we applied for even told us to be sure to white-out our ss #'s. I would think that would be a very good idea for any and all grants.

[akspudua]

Thank you for all your advice!!! It is a great idea- marking out the social sec.# s. Also I think we will pay it with a cashier check instead of one with our bank account numbers. I also decided to ask my agency this morning after reading some of your responses and she gave me a website where you can check non-profit organizations. I'll check it out, but I think we have decided to risk it, we'll just be very careful with our info.


Thanks again!!