WARSAW — The Beaman Home in Warsaw received some alarming news recently — the nonprofit organization was given notice that federal grant money they receive may be cut by 50-75 percent over the next two years.

If the funding cuts do occur, it could potentially amount to a reduction of $100,000 – $125,000 per year in funding for the agency that provides assistance and shelter to victims of abuse.

“Obviously this is problematic for us,” said Beaman Home Executive Director Jennifer Hayes. “It costs us on average about $350 a night to keep the shelter open, and another $100 a day to feed everyone when the shelter is full, not to mention the $10,000 a week to provide the security, advocacy, programming and operations staff salaries to keep everything running.”

According to Hayes, they received an update on Sept. 3 from the Criminal Justice Institute Victim Services Division stating that CJI was informed by their Victims of Crime Act administrators that funding is expected to decrease between 50-75% over the next two to three years.  

“While that information does give us some time to plan for the cut, the very slow processing of grant claims for the previous year is causing Beaman and other domestic violence shelters to have cash flow issues now,” Hayes said. 

Those delays, said Hayes, are in large part due to the new grant processing platform, staff turnover at CJI and the delayed release of federal funds earlier in the year.

“At the end of the day, all these issues have a cumulative effect on our ability to keep our doors open for those in need of our services,” said Hayes.

CJI has offered sustainability training to nonprofits to assist in planning for the future, said Hayes. 

Beaman Home’s federal money comes from the Office of Victims of Crime, which is then administered at the state level.

Beaman Home receives about 50 percent of its funding from contracts with government agencies. This is down from 62 percent the previous year, she said.

While the Beaman Home Board of Directors decided to continue providing emergency shelter to domestic violence victims in a three-county service area, they will reduce the amount of outreach offered by the agency.  

Although Beaman Home is looking at more fundraising options in light of the potential funding cuts, Hayes said more fundraising is not necessarily the answer.

“Any fundraising we do competes with other nonprofits in the area for that pool of donor dollars,” Hayes said. “We have taken many steps in the last year to become more self-sustaining.”

Those steps include opening a thrift store, Mary Ann’s Place; cutting their budget for 2019-20 by $400,000; and planning to use long-term cost-cutting measures such as solar power and utilizing more volunteers.  

They are looking for additional ways to collaborate with other nonprofits in the area to provide services that Beaman can no longer provide, including a recent partnership with Combined Community Services to offer residents additional case management through the Hand-Up and Project Independence programs. This partnership will allow Beaman case managers to focus on their “housing first” model and find long-term housing solutions for our clients.

Beaman Home will be starting a campaign, to run in conjunction with its 35^th year of service, to build an “Angel Fund.” This fund will be used to support operations during times when reimbursements are delayed or individual donations are down.

According to Hayes, a domestic violence shelter in Marshall county closed recently due to funding issues and several other shelters in the Fort Wayne area have had to rely on donation drives in order to continue operations while waiting on government grant distributions.  

“We are very appreciative that we have individual and corporate donors in this community that will step up to help us continue offering refuge to those fleeing domestic violence,” Hayes said.

Beaman Home began services in 1985. The staff took more than 1,000 crisis calls in their last fiscal year and served 277 victims in their emergency shelter — 102 of those victims were children. 

Those interested in making a donation may do so by using this link. Anyone who would like to volunteer may fill out an application on the site.