Flexible Financial Assistance for Victims: Quick Reference

This page has information about the purpose of OVW-funded flexible financial assistance (FFA) for victims, how it should be administered, and the correct way to include it in a budget submitted as part of a grant application under notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) that permit FFA as a budget item. The information is presented in question-and-answer format. If you have questions not answered below, ask your OVW grant manager or the contact listed in the NOFO under which you are applying.

What is the purpose of FFA?

FFA supports victims in achieving safety, stability, and healing by paying for necessities that are not easily supplied by traditional service providers and with the flexibility to fulfill victims’ self-identified needs quickly.

What questions should grantees ask themselves when considering FFA requests?

• Is it a victim-identified need?
• Is the cost of the request comparable to similar costs in the geographic area?
• Does the request meet the intent of supporting victim safety, stability, and healing and is the cost reasonable in supporting this aim?
• Is the request for an allowable use of FFA?

FFA disbursed to victims must be tracked separately from dollars for the rest of the grant-funded project.

Example:

Hope is receiving OVW Rural Program-funded services after leaving her abusive boyfriend. Hope’s ex-boyfriend broke her glasses during an argument. She tells her advocate that she gets headaches from wearing an old pair of glasses and has to call out of work, but she does not have the money to replace the broken pair and her insurance will not cover it.

Hope identifies replacement glasses as something she needs. Her advocate determines that providing Hope with money to replace the glasses is an allowable use of OVW-funded FFA. Hope recalls having spent about $300 on her last pair of glasses and reasonably estimates the cost will be similar for a new pair. Hope’s advocate provides her with $300 to replace her broken glasses.

The advocate records disbursement of the $300 in accordance with the agency’s policies and procedures. The agency tracks that $300 against the grant budget’s line item for FFA, treating it separately from the funds for the Rural Program grant-funded services.

How should recipients administer FFA?

FFA should be administered in a manner that is consistent with fiscal best practices and well-documented policies and procedures. Recipients should work with victims to consider the most contextually appropriate manner of payment while maintaining victim confidentiality. This can include but is not limited to: pre-paid cards, cash transfers, and/or third-party payments.

How should I present FFA in my application budget?

Follow instructions in the NOFO. Include FFA as a distinct line item under Other Costs in the proposed budget and write a justification. Avoid identifying specific categories of FFA costs, as costs should be driven by individual victim needs.

Example:

Flexible financial assistance is to provide approximately $7,500 per year in support to victims that allows the program to respond quickly to needs that traditional funding streams typically cannot cover. These funds are reserved for victim-identified needs, ensuring support is directed to what the victim determines is most urgent for their safety, stability, and recovery. Allowable uses include but are not limited to: direct cash assistance, gift cards, debt relief, furniture, vital documents, school supplies, employment training, clothing, medical debt, moving and storage costs, wellness expenses, security cameras, temporary hotel stays, transportation, and minor repairs for non-program-owned housing units or buildings.

How should recipients track FFA?

Recipients who get OVW funds for FFA must have a policy governing the administration and tracking of it. Unless otherwise stated in the NOFO, the FFA itself and any portion of the FFA funds used for staff time to administer it must be tracked separately from the rest of the grant funds. The reason is to comport with regulations on the allocability of grant funds (see 2 CFR 200.405, allocable costs), since the FFA dollars come from a different source than the rest of the grant funds.