QUESTION AND ANSWERS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

You are eligible to register as a social worker with Modest Needs if:

• You are currently employed by a state or federal agency, a tax-exempt non-profit organization, or an entity that provides social service counseling (like a hospital); and

• You are employed as a case manager, social worker, or supervisor within the agency or non-profit organization with which you work.

In order for your application as a social worker to be approved by Modest Needs, you will need to provide scanned copies of:

• A letter from your current employer, on letterhead, verifying your employment, position, and start date.
  
  This letter must be signed by the person who you indicated was your immediate supervisor in your social worker registration form and include that individual's daytime contact information and email address (this document obviously verifies your employment as a social worker / case manager); and

• A copy of your state-issued photo ID, such as your Driver's License.
  
  For security purposes, if you choose, you may 'black out' your personal address and your state ID number. We simply need to see your name and the state that issued your current ID (this document obviously allows us to verify that you are the person referenced in the aforementioned employment letter.) Please note, we cannot accept your work identification card as verification of identity.

You should NOT begin the social worker registration process until you have both of these documents scanned and ready for upload to Modest Needs, as you will need to provide both of these documents at the time that you register with us.

No. In providing a means for social workers to register with Modest Needs and to apply for help on behalf of their own clients who cannot find assistance elsewhere, our goal simply is to expand our services to reach as many people as possible.

Registered social workers may place up to five applications at a time with Modest Needs on behalf of their clients. Aside from the 'five at a time' application limit for social workers, the only restriction with respect to applications placed by social workers on behalf of their clients is that social workers may not place multiple applications on behalf of a single client simultaneously.

Social Workers can manage the applications they've placed on behalf of their clients via their Modest Needs Account Page.

To manage one or more applications, simply login to our system, and then, on your 'Account Page,' scroll down to the 'My Open Applications' section. There, you'll see a list of all of your open applications with Modest Needs, as well as the current status of each application.

To manage an individual application, simply select the application that you would like to manage and follow the directions in the 'My Application Status' section of your Account Page. The 'My Application Status' section of your Account Page will change to reflect the next steps involved in managing the specific application with which you currently are working, so managing multiple applications for help on behalf of your clients really couldn't be simpler.

No. If you would like to apply for help on behalf of yourself or your household, simply create a separate applicant registration for yourself. You may then use this registration to apply for help on behalf of yourself or your household.

No. Instead, you should simply encourage your colleague to create a social worker registration of his / her own. This will allow your colleague to manage his or her own applications.

Simply giving that person your login information will ultimately make you responsible for managing your colleague's case load, and as overworked as most social workers / case managers already are, that's probably not an ideal situation for anyone.

Additionally, giving your colleague your login information would also give your colleague access to personal information regarding your clients. For this reason, sharing accounts with your colleagues would almost certainly violate the multiple state / federal laws governing the confidential information that your clients provide for you during the course of your work.

Unfortunately not. However, if you know of a friend, family member, or neighbor who might benefit from a Modest Needs grant, we would strongly encourage you to tell that person about Modest Needs so that he or she can apply for assistance on behalf of that person or his/her household.

Currently, Modest Needs does not limit the number of persons employed by a single social service organization who may register with Modest Needs as social workers. Again, this is because, in allowing social workers to register with Modest Needs and to apply for help on behalf of their clients, our goal is to expand our services to reach as many people as possible who might not otherwise have access to the services that we are able to provide.

Certainly. All of Modest Needs' contact information, including our telephone number and physical address, can be found on the Modest Needs Contact Us page. Let us hear from you with your question, and we'll do our best to answer it as quickly as possible.

Please note that due to the volume of correspondence that we receive at Modest Needs, we cannot return calls or respond to email messages that ask questions answered on this FAQ or elsewhere on the Modest Needs website.