Rape Crisis Center - Funding

Funding

RCCs may receive funding from a number of sources and funding can vary greatly for each RCC depending on its location, if it is affiliated with a host agency, and the type of host agency. RCCs housed in hospitals and county social service and health agencies generally have more funding than those situated in mental health centers, battered women’s shelters, and legal-justice organizations. The funding situation today has changed a great deal from that of the early 1970s when RCCs were just beginning to start up. Operating on small budgets, membership fees and donations from the community made up the majority of early RCC funds. Federal funding sources for sexual assault started to become available from the mid-1970s through the 1990s, which has had implications for how RCCs are organized. To be eligible for federal funding, RCCs have to demonstrate that they had support from the community, organizational stability, as well as the ability to maintain programs beyond initial funding. These funding requirements have been a major force pushing RCCs to become more professionalized and to model themselves on a social service agency structure.

Some of the current major sources of federal funding available to support rape crisis centers are the Violence Against Women Act of 1994(VAWA), the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) and the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant (PHHSBG). VAWA allocated $1.6 billion dollars to states from 1994–2000, with about one third designated for survivors of sexual assault. These funds are administered by the Office on Violence Against Women in the United States Department of Justice. VOCA, also administered by the Department of Justice, established a fund made up of fines paid by offenders. These funds are then allocated to organizations providing services to survivors, with priority going to those addressing sexual assault, spousal abuse, and child abuse. VOCA funds are also available for statewide programs that provide compensation to survivors. The PHHSBG is administered by the CDC to fund a number of preventive health services and programs, such as those involving rape education and prevention. While the bulk of PHHS funds go to chronic disease, sex offense represented 8.5% of the designated funds in 2010, totaling over $7 million. Other federal sources that provide or have provided funding to RCCs are the National Institute of Mental Health's National Center for the Prevention of Rape, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and the Department of Labor’s Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

In addition to federal funding, state or county funding, funding from other non-profit organizations, corporate funding, and private donations represent possible avenues for RCC financial support. Some states and counties have, for example, set up sexual assault funds through tax revenues as a means to express local support for the important services that RCCs provide to their communities. Non-profits that administer grants for a number of social programs, such as the United Way of America, may fund RCCs or other organizations providing services for survivors of physical and sexual violence. Corporations have also stepped up to fund, or attempt to fund, RCCs. For example, the Playboy Foundation was among the most visible corporate donors for the women’s movement in the mid- to late-1970s, but many groups refused this funding for political and ideological reasons. RCCs also rely on the funds that they can generate themselves, through soliciting donations and fundraising efforts. As with many social service agencies, RCCs are virtually in a constant state of trying to secure funding so that they can maintain their program activities.