Victim Services Funding Opportunities
Announcement of Funding Available
Victim Services Grant Opportunity
Questions Related to the Victim Services Application
Criminal Justice Grant Opportunity
Questions Related to the Criminal Justice Application
Training and Technical Assistance Grant Opportunity
Opioid Settlement Grant Opportunity
Additional Resources
The Victim Assistance Section (Section) of the Iowa Department of Justice will release three competitive grant opportunities in 2026 for grants beginning October 1, 2026.
In March 2026, the Section will begin accepting grant proposals from eligible organizations to provide victim-centered and trauma-informed services to victims of violent crimes in Iowa, including those hurt by domestic violence, sexual assault, homicide, and other violent crimes, including sex and labor trafficking.
In April 2026, the Section will begin accepting criminal justice grant proposals from law enforcement offices, the court systems, prosecutors or others who support or encourage the criminal justice system in holding offenders accountable.
In April 2026, the Section will also begin accepting grant proposals from victim service professionals to provide training and technical assistance to victim services organizations, law enforcement, prosecutors and others who work with, or provide services to victims of violent crimes.
Victim Services Competitive Grants
Download the Victim Services NOFO to learn more about the process, requirements, funding priorities and how to apply for a victim services grant. NOFO amended and updated April 2, 2026.
Victim Services NOFO has been updated as follows: (1) clarified SAM UEI registration and UEI only and provided updated URL (page 3); (2) updated grant review due date from June 19 to June 12 (page 4); (3) updated budget scoring criteria to one score between 0 and 10 points for the budget and the budget narrative (page 5).
Victim Services funding opportunity presentation - video
Victim Services funding opportunity presentation - PowerPoint
Iowa's Victim Services Regions and Zones
Victim Services Regions - for comprehensive victim services
Victim Services Zones - for survivors of homicide and other violent crimes service areas
Application Deadlines and Important Dates For Victim Services Grants
March 16, 2026 - Grant applications available online
April 2, 2026 - Letters of Intent due
May 1, 2026 - Grant applications due at 4:30 p.m.
July 10, 2026 - Board makes funding decisions
July 13, 2026 - Applicants notified of funding decisions
July 27, 2026 - Requests for reconsideration due
August 14, 2026 - Board reviews requests for reconsideration and makes final funding decisions
Questions Regarding The Victim Services Grant
Will the same grant reviewer be reading all the narratives from an agency’s application, or do we need to include agency information with each grant question as though the reviewer is learning about the agency for the first time? Do I have to add detailed information about our agency and its programs to each question? Reviewers may not know anything about your organization. Please answer the questions with this in mind. Each reviewer will review your grant in its entirety. If you have already provided general information about your agency in a previous question or application description, you do not have to repeat it unless it’s needed to answer the question you are answering.
Is it possible to include charts and graphs in the narrative sections? No. A table doesn’t line up correctly and table lines/colors don’t show up in a paste and the system will not allow you to add a graph.
The Victim Services NOFO has been updated as follows: (1) clarified SAM UEI registration and UEI only and provided updated URL (page 3); (2) updated grant review due date from June 19 to June 12 (page 4); (3) updated budget scoring criteria to one score between 0 and 10 points for the budget and the budget narrative (page 5).
I see in the organization information page that it is required to upload the Office of Civil Rights Training Certification. Can you tell me more about this or where I would find this? If your project is funded, you will be given additional instruction on how to complete this requirement. UPDATE: The OCR is revising the training and the training vides are not available.
What is a typical award amount? – There is no typical award amount. In the most recent grant year, we awarded 111 grants with an average amount of $212,047. The grants awards ranged from $6,000 to more than $600,000. Pages 4 and 7 of the NOFO provide information on funding distribution. Applicants should apply for grant funding which is reasonable and necessary for the proposed project.
Are award amounts capped by applicant agency? – No.
Can you provide any guidance regarding typical award amounts for Types of Victim Services (i.e. human trafficking, etc.) and/or service area (urban vs. rural area, statewide vs. region or single county, etc.)? The typical award amounts depend on the number of applications received, compared to the amount of funding available. Grants are reviewed, scored and ranked by internal and external reviewers with the final funding decision made by the Victim Assistance Board. See page 7 of the NOFO for information on funding distribution.
What is the required match percentage? The most match we can require is 25%; however, some match may be waived. If a project is funded, our office will advise the applicant of the final match required.
Can program leaders (Project Director and Assistant Director) and support roles directly involved with the proposed project (i.e. Human Resources, Finance, Central Intake, Continuous Quality Improvement, and Marketing) be included within the project budget? Yes, with proper justification/explanation of why those positions should be charged to grant funding. If a project is selected for funding, our office will likely request a budget revision and could ask for those positions to be removed, reduced or explained in more detail. See page 20 of the NOFO for more information.
Our agency provides services to individuals impacted by a wide range of victimization, including sexual abuse, domestic violence, survivors of homicide and other violent crimes, and human trafficking. We serve clients ages five and older. Given this breadth of services, I am seeking guidance on whether we should select the “Children” category, or if that designation is intended to reflect a different or more specific service focus. Yes, you would mark children and discuss how you serve children through the various service types (DV, SA, survivors of homicide, etc.) throughout the grant.
Our agency provides counseling through counselor advocates. Would this qualify as mental health services for the purposes of the application? No.
If so, are counselor advocates required to hold a therapist license to be considered eligible under this service type? We do not require counselor advocates defined by Iowa Code 915.20A to be a therapist or hold a therapist license.
To check mental health service under type of services, the services would be specific to therapy services conducted by a therapist and does not include a counselor advocate or non-therapist (licensing) role. If your agency is requesting mental health/therapy services through this grant for crime victims, then you would check that and explain these services throughout the application. If your agency is providing counselor advocate defined by Iowa Code 915.20A for a victim service agency then you would not check mental health services.
Is there a scoring rubric to be shared? No. There is no rubric. All narrative questions are scored the same point value. A well written narrative and a detailed budget will help applicants score well.
The NOFO references Iowa Administrative Rule 61—9.56 . Per 9.56(3) An applicant providing services to victims of domestic abuse must also provide or arrange safe shelter for victims and their children when needed at no cost to the victims. To ensure staff training and best practice standards, preference will be given to domestic abuse programs certified by the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Are shelters who are not currently certified eligible to apply? Funding decisions are made by the Victim Assistance board. It would be inappropriate and presumptive of us to predict how the board will decide. The administrative rules give preference, not priority, to agencies trained by ICADV. But our objective is clear: funding is geared towards victim-centered services. Please see our NOFO for eligibility requirements and priorities. We will consider all applicants for funding. We will follow our NOFO, priorities, administrative rules, federal and state requirements /regulations.
Regarding the other priority funding, Will the $3.7 milion in this area be divided across the regions or is this statewide funding? The amount for other priority funding areas is the amount to be distributed across the state. Please see page 7 of the NOFO for more information.
The Victim Assistance Funding Opportunities manual indicates that the application will be available in the "My Opportunities" section of the home page. However, when I log into the portal I'm not finding that section on our homepage. Would you steer me in the right direction? There are three panels you should have on your homepage: 1) Announcement 2) My Tasks and 3) My Opportunities. If you do not have these three panels, from your home page, go to the drop-down arrow near your name and select edit dashboard. When you open a funding opportunity, it moves from My Opportunities to My Tasks.
Criminal Justice Competitive Grants
Download the Criminal Justice NOFO to learn more abut the process, eligibility requirements and how to apply for a criminal justice grant.
Criminal Justice funding opportunity presentation - video
Criminal Justice funding opportunity presentation - PowerPoint
Victim Services Regions - for comprehensive victim services
Victim Services Zones - for survivors of homicide and other violent crimes service areas
Application Deadlines and Important Dates for Criminal Justice Grants
April 15, 2026 - Grant applications available online
June 3, 2026 - Grant applications due by 4:30 p.m.
August 14, 2026 - Board makes funding decisions
August 17, 2026 - Applicants notified of funding decisions
August 31, 2026 - Requests for reconsideration due
September 4, 2026 - Board reviews requests for reconsideraton and makes final funding decisions
Questions Regarding The Criminal Justice Grant
I’m currently funded as a Victim Witness Coordinator (VWC) through Victim Assistance Section grant, do I need to apply under one of the grants and if so which one? All currently funded VWC projects/positions funded with Victim Assistance Section funds end on 09/30/2026. To request funding to continue your VWC position beyond 09/30/2026, you will need to apply through the Criminal Justice Competitive Application that is due by 4:30 pm on 6/3/26. The Notice for funding, recorded webinar and information is in this section on this webpage.
Also, any Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) project currently funded through the Victim Assistance Section grant, which include VAWA investigators, overtime for VAWA law enforcement, VAWA prosecutors, courts, etc. ends on 09/03/2026. To request funding to continue your grant funded project/position beyond 09/30/2026, you will need to apply through the Criminal Justice Competitive Application that is due by 4:30 pm on 6/3/26. The Notice for funding, recorded webinar and information is in this section on this webpage.
This is a competitive application cycle, so the grant opportunity is for both new and currently funded applicants.
Training and Technical Assistance Competitive Grants
Download the Training and Technical Assistance NOFO to learn more about the process, eligibility requirements and now to apply for a training and technical assistance grant.
Training and Technical Assistance funding opportunity presentation - video
Training and Technical Assistance opportunity presentation - PowerPoint
Application Deadlines and Important Dates for Training and Technical Assistance Grants
April 15, 2026 - Grant applications available online
June 3, 2026 - Grant applications due by 4:30 p.m.
August 14, 2026 - Board makes funding decisions
August 17, 2026 - Applicants notified of funding decisions
August 31, 2026 - Requests for reconsideration due
September 4, 2026 - Board reviews requests for reconsideraton and makes final funding decisions
Opioid Settlement Grants
Opioid settlement grants are to help communities across the state respond to the opioid crisis. Organizations who wish to apply can do so here.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and projects of all size and scope are encouraged to apply. Projects funded by the Attorney General’s office must comply with the requirements of the National Opioids Settlement and the Iowa Opioid Allocation Memorandum of Understanding.
Additional Resources
Iowa's Victim Services Regions and Zones
Victim Services Regions - for comprehensive victim services
Victim Services Zones - for survivors of homicide and other violent crimes service areas
How to register for the online grants management system - video
How to register for the online grants management system - PowerPoint
How to create detailed budgets - video
How to create detailed budgets - PowerPoint
