City committee of the whole suggests $640,000 for community forest fall grants to nonprofit organizations
City of Powell River councillors have established a dollar amount recommendation of $640,000 for nonprofit organizations to receive fall grants from Powell River Community Forest.
At the September 2 committee of the whole meeting, chief administrative officer Sundance Topham said the community forest working group met on July 22 and August 6 to discuss several items, including proposed fall grants and potential funding available for fall grants, as well as the city’s requests for additional funding for projects.
“At the meetings, there was a consensus among the working group participants that a fall grant should take place in keeping with the council motion passed on March 20, 2025,” said Topham. “That motion was that the 2025 community forest dividend and contribution to city projects and nonprofits be determined according to the same process as 2023 and 2022, with participation of the community forest working group recently appointed by council, and that the process for determining the dividends and contributions for 2026 be determined in collaboration with the community forest board, the city and the working group, and that the 2025 financial plan draft bylaw be amended accordingly.”
Topham said to help provide clarity for the 2025 fall grants intake process, the working group felt it would be helpful if council identified a maximum dollar value for fall nonprofit grants prior to the grant intake closing date, which is currently scheduled for September 29. He said having a defined total would help the community forest board in its review of applications, provide a sense to applicants of the total money pot available, and assist council as the final decision-makers.
“To help the working group arrive at a potential dollar value for fall 2025 community projects, staff reviewed the breakdown of annual funding spent on nonprofit community projects, and staff reviewed the breakdown of annual funding spent on nonprofit community projects from the community forest reserve in the five-year period of 2020 to 2024,” said Topham. “The average is approximately $1.2 million per year.
“If this amount was utilized for the total 2024 nonprofit grant intake, recognizing that council has already allocated $560,387.88 in the spring intake for nonprofits, this would leave approximately $640,000 available for fall nonprofit grants.”
Topham said based on a review and discussion of this information, at the August 6 meeting, the working group unanimously passed the following motion: that the Powell River Community Forest Working Group recommend that council set a maximum fall allocation for nonprofits of $640,000. The working group noted that it would be helpful if council provided clarity regarding its priorities for fall grants, noting that various city councils in the past had provided input on current priorities, helping to guide the overall grant process.
Also at the August 6 meeting, the working group unanimously passed the following motion, according to Topham: that the working group recommend that council confirm its current priorities for the community forest nonprofit grant program.
Topham said financial implications are where this conversation gets tricky.
“As noted earlier, council has approved a dollar value of $425,314 in the 2025 to 2029 financial plan bylaw for nonprofit grants, and to date, has approved nonprofit grants totalling $560,387.88,” said Topham. “There are numerous reports that show how the dollar value of community forest grants in the 2025 to 2019 financial plan bylaw was determined. However, at the crux of the conversation is whether this was meant to be a placeholder, or whether this was a dollar value to stick with.
“Going by the March 20 motion, there would seem to be flexibility within that dollar value. However, this is truly a political decision, as staff have noted that spending above that dollar value will have implications to future year budgets, including the possibility of the necessity for future year tax rate increases to account for the use of funds on non-city projects.”
Topham said at the heart of the matter is whether or not to set a dollar value and set priorities, noting that if a decision is made to spend more than what is budgeted, it will have future implications.
Mayor Ron Woznow made a motion that the committee recommend that council set a maximum fall allocation for nonprofit grants of $640,000.
Councillor George Doubt said this motion was different from recommendations council had for the spring community forest grants. He said for the spring grants, there was a recommendation from the community forest board and there was a competing recommendation from city staff. He added that the community forest working group, which consists of three members of city council and the community forest board, came up with the fall recommendations together.
“They have come up with the $640,000; I’m prepared to accept that,” said Doubt. “We owe it to ourselves and the community forest board and the public to give them some ideas about what will be available. Hopefully, we’ll get applications from a wide variety of groups. I’m in favour of this motion.”
Councillor Rob Southcott made an amendment to Woznow’s motion to revise the amount to $320,000. The amendment was defeated. When the vote was taken on the $640,000 allocation for the community forest fall grants, the motion passed.
Council then discussed a motion that the committee recommend that council confirm its current priorities for the community forest nonprofit grant program, including health-related facilities. Councillor Trina Isakson proposed an amendment for the priorities, adding affordable housing, recreation, culture and social goals for youth, and reconciliation. The amendment carried. The main motion as amended also carried.
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