Commissioners gave their final nod to Winter Park’s 2024-25 budget on September 25, but they also agreed to begin standardizing the process for assisting the city’s 501(c)(3) organizations.
The $214.6 million budget includes $100,000, previously earmarked for Winter Park’s yearly funding agreement with Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, which sunsets at the end of the current fiscal year. The city will allocate the money into its funding source for nonprofits, which is made up of 0.25% of the gross revenue from each of its three major funds: General, Electric, and Water & Wastewater. As a matter of practice, nonprofit grants are limited to no more than 50% of an organization’s total operational cost and are discussed and voted on during commission meetings. However, Commissioner Marty Sullivan suggested a change during the July 24 meeting. “Sometimes, there’s some confusion about why we give money here and not there,” he said. “And there is no answer to that.”
Commissioners had agreed to discuss a plan at the start of the new fiscal year, but the process began at their September 25 meeting when Winter Park resident LaWanda Thompson asked the city to consider funding for her nonprofit, Equity Counsel Corp., during public comments.
Thompson mentioned a September 11 vote to grant funding requests from Winter Park Institute and Men of Integrity Mentoring Program, Inc. She stated that she was unaware of the additional funding opportunity. “I would have liked if someone told me that there was availability for nonprofits to have funding during this budget cycle.”
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio pointed out that Equity Counsel Corp. previously received city funding for its Juneteenth event in the amount of $2,700, along with $9,500 in assistance from the Parks & Recreation Department. Commissioner Craig Russell asked Budget & Management Director Peter Moore if it was too late to consider Thompson’s request for inclusion before the final budget approval. Moore reminded commissioners that they can designate funding at any time during the year. “We’re in a somewhat unique situation,” he said, “we normally don’t have a pot of money that is available.”
Mayor DeCiccio took the opportunity to move forward with Commissioner Sullivan’s previous suggestion and requested the development of criteria for 501(c)(3) funding. Sullivan, who will work on the project with Moore, said the new procedures would, “basically resurrect what we did for ARPA funding.”
Winter Park’s application for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding in the wake of COVID-19 was based on the following nonprofit criteria:
- Must be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) in good standing
- Must be headquartered within the municipal boundaries of Winter Park
- Must have been in operation for at least three years
- Annual operating expenses cannot exceed $2 million
- Must have a board of directors responsible for oversight
- Must demonstrate a detrimental impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Must provide direct services to the Winter Park community
- Must be a service-providing nonprofit, not a funding institution
- Must sign a legal funding agreement with the city
Sullivan did not specify how closely the new criteria would resemble the former, but said he and Moore will present a plan at a future City Commission meeting.
“If we can just get some criteria so everybody will know what they have to do,” DeCiccio said, “what we’re looking for, what the requirements are, and that it’s fair across the board.”