List of grant applicants for Aspen grows
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Aspen City Council expressed approval for the distribution of non-profit grant funding recommendations from the grants steering committee during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
It also expressed support for having a discussion around how to make more funds available for Community Non-Profit and Health & Human Services divisions.
Mayor Torre said he felt like the city might have more availability to meet some of the HHS and CNP grant requests, which are funded from the city’s general fund.
“This is a difficult process because there is always greater demand than there will be supply,” he said. “Even if that supply of funding grows, the demand will shift and should grow along with it.”
According to a staff memo, Aspen’s grants program has distributed more than $17 million to non-profit organizations since 2010. The 2024 non-profit grant cycle had the highest-ever demand for both cash requests and number of applications.
In the past four years, the total for cash requests doubled from $1.6 million in 2021 to over $3.3 million in 2024. Applicant numbers have increased, as well, with 2024 seeing 133 total organizations making cash requests, with roughly 10% never having applied for a city grant prior.
According to Strategy & Innovation Director Patrick Quick, it was possible in previous years to provide funding to most applicants who met the basic requirements; however, this year was more challenging than most. To ensure resources were going to higher-performing applications, the minimum for receiving funds was slightly increased in the HHS and CNP grant divisions.
The steering committee said it recommends the approach of no funding being awarded to the lowest-performing applications in the HHS and CNP grant divisions because it then only increases funding amounts for the organizations of higher merit.
“Any funding recommendations are really based on the application itself and not a direct reflection on the good work that’s going on in our community with our non-profit partners or the mission or the organization itself,” Quick said. “We thank them for their efforts in the community, as well.”
The city’s breakdown of the percentage of applications to receive some level of funding for each division is as follows: Arts & Culture: 75%; Community Non-Profit: 80%; Health & Human Services: 68%.
Council member Sam Rose said that while he agreed with the mayor’s comments on finding more funding, he said parsing through the large number of non-profits had become challenging, especially when so many seemed to have questionable eligibility.
“Some I know more intimately, and then others, I’ve never even heard of,” he said. “Some real, deep thoughts I have about it is that I do believe we need to tighten the constraints around who can even apply for this. There are some applicants that are not even in our valley.”
As stated in the staff memo, there are no new financial impacts tied with the resolution’s approval because all necessary funding has been allocated in the 2024 budget by Council. The total amount recommended for distribution is as follows:
Arts & Culture Grant
- Funding Source: Arts & Culture Fund
- 2024 Available Funding: $860,000
- Recommended Total Award: $859,900
Community Non-Profit Grant
- Funding Source: General Fund
- 2024 Available Funding: $489,350
- Recommended Total Award: $489,300
Health & Human Services Grant
- Funding Source: General Fund
- 2024 Available Funding: $137,900
- Recommended Total Award: $137,800
The grants steering committee will return to city council in late summer with revised policy proposals designed.
To reach Jonson Kuhn, email him at jkuhn@aspentimes.com.
