Information About OVW’s Financial Assistance for Victims Survey
Updated August 2025
Purpose of the survey
The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)’s Congressional Appropriations for FYs 2023 and 2024 include a combined $8,000,000 for “an initiative to provide financial assistance to victims, including evaluating the effectiveness of funded projects.”1 OVW issued grant awards under this initiative early in calendar year 2025, supporting flexible financial assistance programming for victims of domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The planned data collection is a short, optional survey that grant recipients under the Financial Assistance for Victims Program will make available to victims who receive flexible financial assistance. Grantees will include aggregated survey results in their twice-annual performance reports submitted to OVW. This data will be used to inform future programming and share information to stakeholders, including Congress, about the effectiveness of the OVW Financial Assistance for Victims Program.
OVW anticipates the survey will take about 10 minutes to complete.
Questions the survey aims to answer
What is the impact of flexible financial assistance on victims?
What financial needs and economic impacts of domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking do victims report?
How does flexible financial assistance impact victims? What else do they need?
Survey questions under consideration
Item text
Which, if any, factors limited or impacted your ability to pursue safety, justice, and healing?
This might look like: leaving an abusive relationship, going to the hospital, going to therapy, telling a friend, leaving an unsafe work environment, or reporting to law enforcement.
Response format/options
(Select all that apply)
I didn’t have a job
I was unable to support myself on my income
I didn’t have another place to live or was unable to afford housing
I had no money to physically leave
I wouldn’t have had health insurance coverage without my partner
My credit was too low to get the resources that I needed
I wouldn’t have been able to pay for my schooling or job training
I would have had problems affording childcare or meeting my children’s needs
I would not have had access to transportation
Getting help from the justice and courts system was too costly
I was worried I would lose my job
I was unable to meet my basic needs
Other (please specify) _________________
None of the above
Don’t know
Prefer not to answer
---
Item text
We would like to know if you experienced any of the actions listed below from any current or former partner or partners.
Has a partner ever kept you from having access to a job, money, or other financial resources?
Yes
No
IF YES, how often did this happen in the past 12 months?
Not in the past 12 months
Once
A few times
Monthly
Weekly
Daily/almost daily
--
Item text
During your experience with sexual violence, domestic/dating violence, or stalking, did you incur any of the following costs? If so, please estimate the cost.
Response format/options
(Select all that apply and give your best estimate in USD ($) of the costs for each).
Relocation and housing (including rental deposits, moving fees, transportation, fixing broken locks, and other related costs). About how much did you spend on relocation?
_____ More than $1 but less than $500
_____ $500-$999
_____ $1,000-$1,999
_____ $2,000-$5,000
_____ More than $5,000
Court and justice related costs, such as attorney fees or lost time at work to get a protective order. About how much did you spend on court and justice related costs?
_____ More than $1 but less than $1,000
_____ $1,000-$-4,999
_____ $5,000-$9,999
_____ $10,000--$14,999
_____ $15,000-$19,999
_____ $20,000-$29,999
_____ $30,000-$50,000
_____ More than $50,000
Financial services, such as services for credit repair or debt management. About how much did you spend on financial services?
_____ More than $1 but less than $500
_____ $500-$999
_____ $1,000-$1,999
_____ $2,000-$5,000
_____ More than $5,000
Replacing damaged, destroyed, or stolen property such as a cell phone, car, computer, clothing, or jewelry. About how much did you spend replacing damaged, destroyed, or stolen items?
_____ More than $1 but less than $500
_____ $500-$999
_____ $1,000-$1,999
_____ $2,000-$5,000
_____ More than $5,000
Out of pocket healthcare costs (counseling or therapy, rape kit, STI testing, pregnancy-related care, medical care related to experience with violence)
_____ More than $1 but less than $500
_____ $500-$999
_____ $1,000-$1,999
_____ $2,000-$5,000
_____ More than $5,000
Replacing or accessing essential items related to experience with violence (purchasing food, toiletries, new clothing)
_____ More than $1 but less than $500
_____ $500-$999
_____ $1,000-$1,999
_____ $2,000-$5,000
_____ More than $5,000
Other (please specify) ________________About how much did you spend? ______dollars
I did not experience any costs
Don’t know
Prefer not to answer
--
Item text
For what purposes did you receive flexible financial assistance, and about how much in each category?
Response format/options
_____Childcare (formal or informal)
_____Housing (including rent, security deposit or utilities)
_____Transportation needs (including car repairs, gas, bus tickets, rideshares, plane tickets)
_____Legal assistance (retainer, court fees etc.)
_____Cash assistance
_____Financial counseling
_____Loans
_____ Debt payments/credit card fees
_____Tuition for training/education
_____Supplies (for school or work)
_____Other (please describe) __________
_____Don’t know
_____Prefer not to answer
--
Item text
Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements about the flexible financial assistance you received.
Response format/options
Likert scale, agreement with statement. Item scoring is 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree).
I felt respected while accessing flexible financial assistance.
I was able to access flexible financial assistance in a timely manner.
Flexible financial assistance helped me meet a safety need or access justice.
Flexible financial assistance helped me address a basic need (housing, food, clothing, transportation, medical care).
Flexible financial assistance helped me improve my long-term economic opportunities (such as attend school or keep a job).
Flexible financial assistance made me feel more hopeful about the future.
--
Item text
How do you prefer to receive flexible financial assistance?
Response format/options
Direct cash payment to me
Gift card/prepaid card
Third party payment (vendor payment)
The way I received flexible financial assistance worked for my needs
Other (please describe)
--
Item text
After receiving flexible financial assistance, I am more likely to return to this organization for further services.
Response format/options
Likert scale, agree to disagree
--
Item text
Is there anything you want to share about your service experience receiving flexible financial assistance?
Response format/options
Open-ended, short answer
--
Item text
What hopes and dreams for your financial future do you have, and what, if any, plans do you have for achieving them?
Response format/options
Open-ended, short answer
Highlight the strengths and capacity of survivors/victims
--
Item text
Is there anything else you wish to share about flexible financial assistance and its impact on you and/or your family?
Response format/options
Methodology
Proposed survey questions are based on thorough review of the survey instruments used in the following studies:
Adams, A. & CSAJ. (2022). Economic Wellbeing Survey. https://csaj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/DV__EWB_Study-Service_Provider_Report_FINAL.pdf;
Bomsta, H., & Sullivan, C. M. (2018). IPV survivors’ perceptions of how a flexible funding housing intervention impacted their children. Journal of family violence, 33(6), 371-380.
Hess, C., & Del Rosario, A. (2018). Dreams Deferred: A Survey on the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence on Survivors’ Education, Careers, and Economic Security. https://ncvc.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.11990/1464;
FreeFrom (2022) Support Every Survivor. https://www.freefrom.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Support-Every-Survivor-PDF.pdf.;
Ford-Gilboe, M., Wathen, C. N., Varcoe, C., MacMillan, H. L., Scott-Storey, K., Mantler, T., Hegarty, K., & Perrin, N. (2016). Development of a brief measure of intimate partner violence experiences: the Composite Abuse Scale (Revised)-Short Form (CASR-SF). BMJ open, 6(12), e012824. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012824;
Kim, B.-K. E, Castro, A., West, S., Tandon, N., Ho, L., Nguyen, V. T., & Sharif, K. (2024, July). The American Guaranteed Income Studies: City of Los Angeles BIG:LEAP. University of Pennsylvania, Center for Guaranteed Income Research;
Sullivan, C. M., Simmons, C., Guerrero, M., Farero, A., López-Zerón, G., Ayeni, O. O., ... & Fernandez, A. I. (2023). Domestic violence housing first model and association with survivors’ housing stability, safety, and well-being over 2 years. JAMA network open, 6(6), e2320213-e2320213.
1 See Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459, 4532 and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, Pub. L. No. 118-42, 138 Stat. 25, 143
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Storz, Mary (OVW) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-12-17 |