Sexual Assault Victim Assistance Fund

The priority area of funding is to establish and maintain rape crisis centers that provide trauma-informed sexual assault services and meet the components of a rape crisis center.

Allowable activities and costs are those that support the operations and services delivered to victims of sexual assault statewide. These activities include:

• 24-hour crisis line and 24-hour on-call advocate to respond onsite to hospitals and other locations where a victim presents.
• Direct services to victims, including informational and referral services, advocacy, legal advocacy, and case management.
• Counseling or therapy services for victims, including support groups.
• Emergency flexible funding for victims, including, but not limited to, emergency transportation, shelter, clothing, and food. Note: Funds may not be used as a direct payment to any victim; thus, the sexual assault program would have to pay the cost directly to a third-party vendor. Subrecipients should have an established policy in place to make these funds available to all program participants; to ensure these funds meet a reasonable, basic need.
• Expenses associated with providing services to victims, including travel, phones, interpretation, equipment, printing of materials, and training costs.
• Overtime for grant-funded staff is an allowable cost, but to claim the increased rate, there must be a separate line item in the budget that includes the overtime rate of pay.

Administrative Costs

Administrative costs are an allowable expense but are limited to 10% of the total grant-funded budget.  Administrative costs include time to complete SAVAF required time and attendance sheets and programmatic documentation, reports, and required statistics; and administrative time to collect and maintain satisfaction surveys and needs assessments used to improve service delivery within the SAVAF-funded project.

Travel Costs

Travel for direct services is allowable.  All non-essential travel is currently excluded under state policy.  Expenses and reimbursements for in-state and out-of-state travel must follow the most current Indiana Department of Administration State Travel Policy or the subrecipient’s travel policy, whichever is more restrictive. Learn more on the State Trave Policy here and the travel guidance provided here.

Program Costs

In order to be eligible for reimbursement, program costs must meet the following criteria:

1. Costs must be necessary and reasonable for the stated purpose of the grant.
2. Costs must be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Learn more.
3. Costs must be consistent with policies and procedures of the SAVAF grant program and applied uniformly.
4. Costs must be adequately documented with supporting materials including receipts, invoices, timesheets, paystubs, etc.  ICJI supporting documentation policy can be found here.

The following budget items listed below are ineligible and will not be supported by this program’s funding:

• Direct financial assistance to a client such as cash or gift cards.
• Food and beverages except emergency food and beverage for victims.
• Lobbying.
• Fundraising (including financial campaigns, endowment drives, solicitation of gifts and bequests, and similar expenses incurred solely to raise capital or obtain contributions) and time spent procuring funding including completing federal and state funding applications.
• Purchase of real estate.
• Construction and physical modification to buildings, including minor renovations (such as painting or carpeting).
• Purchase of vehicles.
• Indirect cost rate and/or de minimis rate.

For purposes of this solicitation, please be cognizant of the following definitions:

• Trauma-Informed: a holistic approach that recognizes the impact of trauma and seeks to create safe and supportive environments that promote healing and recovery for individuals who have experienced trauma. Trauma-informed service comprises six core principles:    safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, humility and responsiveness, collaboration and empowerment..
• Victim-Centered: a systematic focus on the needs and concerns of a victim to ensure the compassionate and sensitive delivery of services in a nonjudgmental manner. A victim-centered approach seeks to minimize re-traumatization by providing the support of a sexual assault victim advocate, and empowering victims as engaged participants in the process
• Rape Crisis Center: an organization that provides a full continuum of services, including hotlines, victim advocacy, and support services from the onset of the need for services through the completion of healing, to victims of sexual assault. Core components of a rape crisis center include the following:
• 24-Hour Helpline/Crisis Hotline: A telephone service available on a 24-hours a day/7 days a week basis to connect victims/secondary victims of sexual violence with a trained advocate.
• Hospital/Medical Advocacy (On-Site Response): 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on-site response to the local hospital/sexual assault treatment center for the Medical Forensic Exam (MFE). Providing the victim/secondary victim with accurate information about the physical impact of sexual violence and about the resources and options available to the victim to address healthcare needs.
• Advocacy: A trained individual whose role is to help victims/secondary victims by providing them with support, information, and help to ensure that they are aware of their rights and options. Advocates seek to ensure the ongoing safety of victims and answer questions. They provide emotional support and crisis intervention at any stage in the victim’s healing process.
• Criminal Justice/Legal Advocacy: Acting on behalf of and in support of the victim/secondary victim navigating the legal system by ensuring that the victims’ questions are answered, interests are represented, and rights are upheld.
• Community Awareness/Outreach: Providing accurate information about sexual violence, and individual, organizational, and societal strategies that promote the elimination of sexual violence in the community; and ensuring the community is aware of the RCC, its services, and how to access those services.
• Information and Referrals: Providing timely, relevant contact information to a victim for community resources that address the needs of the victim that the RCC is not equipped to effectively address, which may include professional therapy, legal services, or services indirectly related to sexual violence.
• System Coordination, Collaboration, and Case Management: The development and maintenance of professional partnerships with service providers, organizations, and groups in the community that serve or otherwise impact victims. Partnerships may be formal or informal and are necessary to ensure a victim’s access to the variety of both core and enhanced services available in the community. Case Management is the coordination of the services available to a victim.
• Support Groups: Victim and/or secondary victims meeting in a safe, supportive, non-judgmental environment on a regularly scheduled basis to share information, relate personal experiences, share coping strategies and techniques for problem solving, listen to and accept others’ experiences and feelings resulting from sexual violence victimization, and provide support through the healing process.
• Professional Counseling or Therapy for victims of sexual assault (this service may be referred out): The healing relationship negotiated between an individual who is in compliance with state licensure rules and regulations pertaining to social worker, mental health counselor, or psychologist, and victim that addresses emotional, behavioral and/or cognitive issues using therapeutic modalities to process origins, triggers, and impacts of presented issues to facilitate change.
• Primary Prevention: Primary Prevention involves developing comprehensive strategies that prevent violence before initial perpetration or victimization. Primary prevention includes building an environment that encourages well-being and healthy choices.
• Trauma Informed Sexual Assault Services: Victim centered care, acute medical care, or forensic medical services that address the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of sexual assault victims for the duration of their life span. Trauma informed sexual assault services address the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of sexual assault victims for the duration of their lifespan.