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Support funds

© Keystone/Gaetan Bally

Support funds

The Swiss Refugee Council manages funds earmarked for specific purposes. The organisation's aim is to provide rapid and direct assistance to refugees in difficult situations.

Financial support is available in the following cases:

Education and training

e.g. school costs, enrolment/examination fees, school materials (including computers), translation costs, language courses.

Emergency situations and special cases

e.g. travel costs (domestic), accommodation costs, immediate medical and psychiatric treatment, special emergencies.

Project contributions

e.g. training, integration, leisure and cultural projects.

Apply for funds

An application for educational support, a grant in an emergency situation or in a special case can only be made via the appropriate social service department or via a welfare organisation. Only individuals are eligible to apply.

We accept direct applications for project contributions from individuals or legal entities.

Submit a request

Applications must usually reach us before the start of a training course, a project or a requested activity. We decide on the cases received four times a year:

  • Mid-March
  • Mid-June
  • Mid-September
  • Mid-December

In urgent cases, we can also decide on an application once the deadline has passed. The application form and information on the details and documents required can be found here:

Review of the application

Once we have checked that the application is complete we review its content. If necessary, we will take further clarifications. Incomplete applications will be rejected and must be resubmitted. Applicants will receive an acceptance or rejection letter explaining our decision.

An application for Swiss Refugee Council funds can only be made if there are no other sources of funding, or if you can present us with the relevant rejection decisions. For amounts over CHF 2,500.00 we expect the applicant to approach other funds or institutions as well.

Our resources are limited. A well-reasoned application has a greater chance of being approved than one that contains insufficient reasoning. However, we may need to reject reasonable requests due to lack of financial means. Any support we provide is optional and there is no legal entitlement to access these funds.

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