City of Powell River’s committee of the whole has recommended distribution of grants-in-aid for 2025.
At the August 19 committee meeting, chief financial officer Mallory Denniston outlined that the city’s grants-in-aid have a $25,000 budget and that the city received eight applications, requesting a total of $73,683, exceeding the approved budget by $48,683.
Applicants include: Everybody Deserves a Smile qathet; Townsite Heritage Society of Powell River; qathet Community Justice Society; Powell River Brain Injury Society; Together We Can Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society; Four Tides Hospice Society; Friend of qathet Kids Society; and qathet Coalition to End Homelessness Society.
Denniston said all applicants met the eligibility criteria.
“Since this grant program was oversubscribed, two grant allocation options have been provided as a starting point for consideration,” said Denniston.
She said the first option offered all applicants a minimum of $2,500, totalling $20,000. She said there would be $5,000 left to distribute. She said the recommendation was that the remaining $5,000 be distributed equally among the six applicants that applied for more than $2,500, meaning each of the six organizations would receive $3,333.
The second option was for all applicants to receive 34 per cent of the original requests.
Councillor Cindy Elliott made a motion that council direct staff to distribute the 2025 grants-in-aid in accordance with the first option.
Councillor Jim Palm asked staff what was the overlying reason for recommending option one?
Denniston said the option most aligned with the grant-in-aid program, which is to support smaller initiatives.
“Option one doesn’t penalize nonprofits for requesting smaller amounts,” said Denniston. “Two of the applicants will receive full funding.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said he supported option one because larger needs should go to larger funding sources.
“This maximizes the usefulness as far as I can see,” said Southcott. “It’s the best we can do.”
Councillor and committee chair Trina Isakson said she supported option one. She said option two could penalize applicants that don’t ask for a lot, and would also incentivize organizations in future years to ask for a lot because they were going to get a proportion.
Committee of the whole voted in favour of recommending that council consider option one. The matter is on the August 21 city council agenda.
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