Safe Harbor Family Services

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Executive Summary

Safe Harbor Family Services is a nonprofit in Arizona that supports survivors of domestic violence. Trained advocates help survivors make safety plans, understand and use the legal system and build financial independence so that leaving an abuser is possible. All services are free and confidential.

Domestic violence is a leading cause of injury and homelessness for women and affects people of every gender. Many survivors stay because they cannot afford to leave or do not know their legal options. With this grant we will pay for a legal advocate and an economic empowerment coordinator. We keep survivors' locations and information confidential and we never promise that any plan will guarantee safety. If you or someone you know is in danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $359,500. We are asking for $80,000 from a county safety fund to Legal Advocate and Economic Empowerment Coordinator salaries. The rest of the budget comes from other grants, sponsors and donors that are listed in the funding section. Every dollar amount in this plan is an estimate and none of it is a promise of any result for the people we serve.

Company Description

Safe Harbor Family Services is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes survivors. The board meets monthly, approves the budget and oversees the executive director. A new organization without its own determination letter can use a fiscal sponsor, explained in the funding section.

What we believe. Survivors are the experts on their own lives. We believe them, respect their choices and put their safety first. We never blame a survivor and we never share information without consent except where the law requires.

What we do:
- Safety planning. Advocates help survivors create a plan that fits their situation.
- Legal advocacy. Our legal advocate helps survivors understand protective orders and court processes and connects them to attorneys.
- Economic empowerment. A coordinator helps survivors with budgets, credit, job skills and benefits.
- Emergency help. Short-term housing and safety costs are paid directly to hotels, landlords and providers, and never given as cash.

Confidentiality. Our locations and survivors' names are confidential. We keep records locked, do not share information without written consent and use secure systems. We do not photograph survivors or post their stories.

What we do not do. We do not give legal advice unless an attorney is on staff for that purpose, offer couples counseling or mediation with an abuser or promise safety. Advocates are not therapists.

Our board has at least five members, including at least one person who has used our services or lives in the community we serve, and only a minority of board members may be related to each other or paid by the organization.

We keep a written conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a record retention policy, and the board reviews them every year.

Problem & Opportunity

Survivors face serious barriers to safety and independence.

1. Danger. Leaving an abusive relationship can be the most dangerous time.
2. Money. Many survivors have no access to money or credit and fear homelessness.
3. Legal confusion. Protective orders, custody and immigration questions are complicated.
4. Children. Parents worry about their children's safety and stability.
5. Fear and isolation. Abusers often cut survivors off from friends and family.

Why it matters now. Demand for shelter and advocacy often outstrips space, and many survivors turn to advocates for help without needing a shelter bed.

How we know the need is real. We reviewed hotline calls, court filings for protective orders and the number of survivors turned away from shelters, and we asked survivors what would have helped. They said legal help and a plan to afford housing were the biggest needs. The numbers are in the appendix. All information is anonymous.

We update these facts every year using public data, partner reports and what the people we serve tell us, and we change the program when the facts change. If a need turns out to be smaller than we thought, we will say so and put the money where it is needed most.

Products & Services

What the funded project will do. With this grant we will pay the salaries of a legal advocate and an economic empowerment coordinator for a full year.

How a survivor takes part:
1. Contact. A survivor calls our confidential line or is referred by a partner.
2. Safety. The advocate asks if it is safe to talk, explains confidentiality and makes a safety plan.
3. Legal advocacy. The legal advocate explains the court process, helps with forms and goes to court with the survivor and connects them to an attorney for legal advice.
4. Economic empowerment. The coordinator helps with a budget, credit, a bank account and job and benefit applications.
5. Emergency help. If needed, we pay for short-term housing and safety costs directly to the provider.
6. Follow-up. We check in as the survivor chooses.

What the grant pays for. The request covers the salaries of the legal advocate and the economic empowerment coordinator.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that a protective order will be granted or that any plan will guarantee safety. We say so honestly and plan together.

Safety rules. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. We follow the law on reporting child abuse and never contact a survivor in a way that could reveal the contact to an abuser.

We start small, check what works and grow only when we can do the work well. Every few months we review the numbers and the stories from the people we serve and change the plan where it is not working.

We write plain-language handouts for every step so people know what to expect, what it costs and who to call with questions, and we ask each person at the end whether the help was useful and what we could do better.

Market Analysis

Who benefits from this project are survivors of domestic violence in our service area and their children.

Who we serve. Adults of any gender, age, income, immigration status or background who have experienced domestic violence. Most have low incomes and many have children.

How many people we plan to serve. In Year 1 we plan to serve about 250 survivors with advocacy and about 120 with legal advocacy and economic empowerment. By Year 5 we plan to serve about 450 survivors a year. We chose these numbers from the capacity of our advocates, with more staff in later years.

Where we serve. The county, with a confidential office and meeting sites and phone and video options for people who cannot travel safely.

Who else benefits. Children who are safer and more stable, employers, schools and neighbors.

How we will be careful. All records are confidential, locations are not published, we do not collect more information than we need and survivors choose what to share. Data we report are always anonymous.

We choose how many people to serve from the number of staff, hours and rooms we really have, not from the size of the need. If we reach fewer people than planned, we will report it and explain why.

Competitive Landscape

Other choices in our area.

1. Emergency shelters. Provide a safe place but have limited beds.
2. Legal aid organizations. Provide legal help but are overloaded.
3. Court victim services. Help in court but may not offer long-term support.
4. Faith communities and friends. Offer comfort but not specialized help.
5. Other domestic violence programs in the region.

What makes us different. We combine safety planning, legal advocacy and economic empowerment in one confidential program, and survivors choose what help they want. We work with other agencies and refer when they are a better fit.

How we avoid duplication. We meet with shelters, legal aid and court victim services to share information and coordinate referrals, always with survivor consent.

We keep a written list of every other organization that does similar work in our area and review it each year. If another group can serve a person better, we refer the person and say so plainly. Funders can expect us to tell the truth about overlap, to share what we learn and to work as part of a larger network of help.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How we will reach survivors once the project is funded.

Confidential access. A hotline and a confidential website, with safe browsing tips, explain how to reach us. We never use our name on mail or messages without permission.

Referral partners. Hospitals, police, courts, schools, clinics and faith leaders will refer survivors, and we will train them to respond safely.

Community education. We will give talks to community groups, employers and schools about warning signs and how to help a friend.

Word of mouth. Survivors tell other survivors about us. With permission, we share anonymous stories.

Access. We will provide materials in English and Spanish and, where needed, interpreters, offer evening hours and meet survivors in safe places chosen by them.

Measuring outreach. We will track how survivors heard about us in an anonymous way and adjust our outreach where it is not working.

Marketing budget. Outreach and training materials are part of the program budget.

Most people hear about services from someone they already trust, so we spend more time with partners and neighbors than on advertising. We write our materials in plain language, test them with a few people from the community and fix anything that confuses them.

Operations Plan

How the project will be carried out, in plain terms.

Timeline for Year 1. Months 1 and 2: hire the legal advocate and coordinator, train staff and sign partner agreements. Months 3 to 12: serve survivors, hold legal clinics and run economic empowerment workshops.

Space. Our office address is confidential. We meet survivors in the office, at safe public sites chosen by the survivor and by phone or video.

Partners. Shelters, legal aid, courts, clinics, banks and employers. Each has a written agreement about roles and confidentiality.

Safety, privacy and legal rules. Records are locked and only authorized staff can see them. We do not share information without written consent except where the law requires, such as reporting child abuse. We never meet a survivor in a way that could reveal the contact. Staff are trained in trauma-informed care, safety planning and confidentiality. We call 911 for emergencies and share the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233.

Money controls. Housing and safety costs are paid directly to hotels, landlords and providers. No cash is given to survivors. Two people review every payment.

Records and reporting. We track only anonymous numbers and report to funders each quarter.

Training. Staff receive at least 40 hours of training and ongoing supervision.

We write down every step of the project in a short manual so that any trained staff member can carry it out the same way. We hold a short team meeting every week to review problems, safety concerns and numbers, and we ask the people we serve for feedback at least twice a year.

Management & Organization

The executive director leads the organization and manages the budget and partners. The legal advocate and the economic empowerment coordinator lead their areas, and survivor advocates provide day-to-day support.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5.
- Executive Director: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $70,000 a year each.
- Legal Advocate: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $55,000 a year each.
- Economic Empowerment Coordinator: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $50,000 a year each.
- Survivor Advocate: 2, 2, 2, 3, 3 (Years 1 to 5), about $44,000 a year each.

Governance and money controls. A volunteer board of directors oversees the budget and the executive director. Two people review every payment, the board reviews financial statements every month, an outside accountant prepares the yearly tax return and audit-ready records, and every grant is tracked in its own budget line. We screen staff and volunteers who work with the people we serve, train everyone on privacy and safety and keep written policies on conflicts of interest and complaints.

Staff and advisors. We seek staff with training in domestic violence advocacy, with lived experience welcomed. An advisory group of survivors, an attorney, a banker and a police liaison meets quarterly. We post a clear complaint process for survivors.

Feedback and complaints. Anyone we serve can give feedback or a complaint by phone, in writing or in person, and can ask to speak with the board chair. We reply within five working days, keep a log of every complaint and report the themes to the board each quarter. No one loses services for speaking up.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years and how we will measure results. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts (2 to 3 months before the grant starts): hire the legal advocate and coordinator, train staff, sign partner agreements and set up secure systems
- Year 1: serve about 250 survivors with advocacy and about 120 with legal advocacy and economic empowerment. The budget is $359,500.
- Year 2: add a second legal advocate and a safety training for employers. The budget is $363,500.
- Year 3: add survivor peer support groups. The budget is $425,000.
- Year 4: add a second economic empowerment coordinator. The budget is $526,500.
- Year 5: serve about 450 survivors a year and publish an anonymous results report. The budget is $531,500.

How we will measure results: survivors served, safety plans completed, legal clinics held, protective order filings supported, survivors with a bank account or income plan and survivors' own ratings of feeling safer. We report results to funders in the same plain numbers we use here, and we say honestly when a goal was missed and what we changed.

We report to funders every quarter and send a short plain-language summary to our board each month. At the end of each year we review all of the goals, publish a short results report and update the plan for the next year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $80,000 from a county safety fund for Legal Advocate and Economic Empowerment Coordinator salaries, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Legal Advocate and Economic Empowerment Coordinator salaries, $80,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 26% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $359,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $12,700 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grant revenue $302,500; individual donations $35,000; corporate and community sponsors $22,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $70,000; legal advocate $55,000; economic empowerment coordinator $50,000; survivor advocate $88,000; emergency housing and safety costs paid to hotels and landlords about $40,000; legal filing fees and interpretation about $14,000; safety equipment, security and staff training about $8,000; administration and insurance about $20,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $20,000 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $5,200 for secure laptops, locked file storage and a confidential phone line, $3,800 for private meeting room furniture and a safety alarm system, $3,200 for staff safety training and trauma-informed training, $3,200 for confidentiality and safety policy review by an attorney, $2,600 for outreach materials in english and spanish and a confidential website, and $2,000 for opening emergency supplies.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($20,000), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $3,500) and a cash cushion of about $86,300, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $110,000. We start with $20,000 of our own savings and $91,500 in startup support from a local foundation and our board, $111,500 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $359,500 in Year 1 to about $531,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $302,500, $293,500, $342,000, $430,500, $422,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans a small surplus each year, about $12,700, $12,100, $13,700, $16,100 and $15,700 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $99,000, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $17,975 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

After the grant. Individual donors and corporate and community sponsors grow each year, so grants become a smaller share. Local banks and employers may contribute to economic programs and volunteers help with outreach.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- A survivor may be in danger. We follow safety protocols, call 911 and coordinate with partners.
- A privacy breach could harm someone. We lock records, limit access and train all staff.
- A grant may end. We grow donors and sponsors each year and keep savings.
- Demand may exceed staff. We keep clear criteria and refer when needed.
- Staff may suffer burnout. We provide supervision, time off and support.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller with one site or one staff member and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- Your confidentiality and safety policies.
- Partner agreements with shelters, legal aid and courts.
- Staff training records.
- Letters of support from partners.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $302,500 in Year 1, growing to $422,500 in Year 5.
- Individual Donations: $35,000 in Year 1, growing to $63,000 in Year 5.
- Corporate and Community Sponsors: $22,000 in Year 1, growing to $46,000 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: emergency housing and safety costs paid to hotels and landlords $40,000, legal filing fees and interpretation $14,000, safety equipment, security and staff training $8,000, and administration and insurance $20,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year as the program grows.
- Grant and partner payments arrive after we bill, so about $17,975 (5% of Year 1 income) is owed to us at the end of Year 1.
- The program does not pay income tax. Any surplus stays in the program.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real numbers.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Grant: money given for a specific purpose that does not have to be paid back, as long as it is spent as promised.
- Request: the part of the budget we are asking this funder to pay for.
- Surplus: money left over after a year's costs. A small surplus is healthy because it builds savings for slow months.
- Startup costs: one-time costs, such as equipment, paid once before the program runs at full speed.
- Working capital: cash kept in the bank to pay bills while waiting for grant payments.
- In-kind: goods or services given instead of money, such as donated space.
- Fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for a new group and passes the money to its program, usually for a fee.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

How to read the numbers. Every income and cost figure is a plan, not a result. Income rises as sponsors and donors join, costs rise a little each year, and each year's budget is planned to balance with a small surplus. Startup costs are shown separately because they are paid once. If a real number turns out different, we will update the plan and tell our funders why.

Startup Costs