The Council Discretionary Grant Program Purpose, Eligibility Criteria and Public Benefit
Various entities, including school districts and nonprofit organizations, play an important role in providing services and programs that benefit and enhance the well-being of the Carmel-by-the-Sea community. The City has a history of allocating funding to a myriad of environmental and social programs and projects, and, on January 3, 2017, Council adopted the City Council Discretionary Funds Grant Program (Policy C17-01, Attachment 1). The intent of this policy is to provide a clear and consistent framework for both the organizations seeking funding from the City as well as for the Council in making funding decisions based on the demonstrated public benefit to the Carmel-by-the-Sea community derived from the use of the City grant funds.
In accordance with the Council-adopted policy, an organization must meet the following criteria to be eligible to receive funding: (1) located within the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea or provide community, environmental or social services to the community of Carmel-by-the-Sea; (2) constituted as a nonprofit community-based 501(c) organization or be a Carmel school; (3) directly provide the community service(s) for which City funds are sought; (4) not have outstanding debt due to the City; and (5) not be financially dependent upon receiving City support to meet the organization’s annual budget and operational requirements.
In keeping with the spirit of the eligibility criteria, the program specifically excludes the use of City funds to support political activities; to pay for high school or college scholarships; to pay debt; to purchase alcoholic beverages; to pay for travel, meals, lodging, or entertainment expenses; to support services that are primarily commercial, religious or political in nature; to pay for permanent improvements to any non-City owned structure or property so that it becomes an integral part of the real property; and to pay for general operating expenses or expenses to support ongoing operation of the applicant, including, but not limited to, salaries, utilities, and rent expenses.
Review Process
City Clerk Romero conducted the preliminary review of the 10 grant applications received by the April 3rd deadline for completeness and to ensure that the criteria stipulated in Policy C17-01 were met. Of the 10 applications, 9 were complete and met the policy guidelines. On April 4, 2023, Council approved an allocation of $30,000 for the FY 23-24 budget to use for Discretionary Grant Funds.
The Summary of Grant Applications (Attachment 2), indicates the name of the applicant, the amount of the request, a brief description of the program or project seeking funding, and a determination as to whether the applicant met the eligibility requirements as specified within the adopted policy.
One application received from the Bunny Trail Bunny Rescue was not included for Council consideration because two of the required documents were not submitted, and the use of grant funds did not meet the policy guidelines. Staff emailed the Bunny Trail Rescue on April 10, 2023, to request the missing information but did not receive a response.
Staff seeks direction from Council regarding which responsive applications to fund as part of the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Adopted Budget.