Info for Applicants

Grants

Application Deadline for Winter 2024 Programs:  Application and accompanying documents submission deadline is March 15, 2024. Applicants must register for their desired program prior to applying for Gift of Identity Fund grant.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria:

  • International adoptees of any age.
  • Adoptee must be traveling to their birth country with a Ties Flagship, Ties Lite, or Next Gen Program.
  • Applicants must register for their desired program prior to applying for Gift of Identity Fund grant.
  • Applicants must be U.S. citizens (required by law).
  • Preference will be given to adoptees who are traveling for the first time. They may be traveling with their nuclear family, e.g. adoptees traveling with parents, siblings, or other extended family or they may be traveling solo as an adult. 

Gift of Identity Fund Policies:

  • International adoptees may apply only one time per trip to their birth country.
  • If there are multiple international adoptees in one family, each international adoptee may apply.
  • Amount of funding will vary according to the amount in the fund at time of distribution.
  • Financial need considerations include median income by state and family size as well as extenuating circumstances.
  • Click here for Median Family Income By State and Number in Household,
  • If the participant must cancel his/her homeland journey, the recipient will be responsible to reimburse the Gift of Identity Fund, Ltd.
  • Should it be determined that the funds are being used in violation of the intended purpose, the recipient will be responsible to reimburse the Gift of Identity Fund, Ltd. and the recipient will no longer be eligible for future funds.
  • Officers of the Gift of Identity Fund Ltd. and employees of The Ties Program are not eligible.
  • Gift of Identity Fund recipients will receive his/her grant no later than the due date for the final payment of their specific trip.
  • In the event that a Ties Program does not operate in the year the award was granted for, the grant will be held for a second year.
  • With your application, please mail pictures of the applicant at the time he or she joined your family, as well as a current picture. (This request is optional, but will help us share how the Gift of Identity Fund makes a difference in the lives of those who are grant recipients.)