British Rape Crisis Center deals with financial instability

From England, the story of a rape crisis center that may have to close its doors due to the worsening financial situation.

There was a London rape crisis centre until about six or seven years ago that closed down when they lost their funding. They closed down without a blip of protest from the public. No one seemed to notice. It was very difficult to bring it to the public’s attention. Who is interested in rape crisis centres unless they’ve been raped? It’s a terrible situation.
We need £250,000 a year just to tick over. The Home Office bailed us out last year with £63,000, and £1m was set aside for similar organisations across the country, but there is no long-term security. We have no stability. We survive only through these ad hoc grants, so we can’t plan ahead. We don’t know if we will still be here in four years’ time. This is a tragedy for women.

This is a problem for similar non-profits and NGOs globally. These organizations usually work off of one or two year grants, meaning that there has to be constant time and energy put into fundraising. It’s difficult to plan, or hire staff, when budgets are inconsistent.
As the financial situation has unfolded, we’ve already seen layoffs at many non-profits. Two national reproductive rights organizations that I know of laid off almost a third of their national staff recently. Some of these layoffs are preemptive, in anticipation of a more difficult fundraising climate in the years to come. Some are necessary for the organizations to survive and deal with budget shortfalls. The most difficult part is that as the economy continues to decline, public services are even more important. Rates of domestic abuse have been shown to rise when unemployment rises–often partners under stress from money issues take it out on their partners. Not to mention that more people lose their health care coverage and face food insecurity and homelessness.
My hope is that the stimulus package President Obama is working on will help to mediate some of these affects on the public sector, at least in the US.
Via The Guardian

Join the Conversation