For years, the city of Aspen’s nonprofit grant program has received more cash requests than it can fill.
And the demand keeps growing, with the dollar amount of requests doubling between 2021 and 2024. Program budgets have increased some, but haven’t fully kept up; last year, organizations throughout the Roaring Fork Valley sought about $3.3 million in support — for a funding pool of approximately $1.7 million.
That money is broken into three different categories with different budgets for arts and culture groups, health and human services organizations and other community nonprofits. But across the board, none of the applicants received their full cash request in the latest grant cycle — even if their application scored high in the review process — while some got only a sliver of what they hoped for, and some didn’t receive any funding at all.
So, now, the city is making several changes to the program policies, largely addressing the demand side of the equation while also exploring updates to some program budgets. The updates are the result of extensive conversations among city staff and grant program volunteers, followed by a work session with city council earlier this month with a presentation by John Barker from the city’s strategy and innovation office.
Councilmembers generally showed support for multiple proposals to be implemented this year, as detailed in the council work session and a subsequent information memo.
Limit the region of eligibility
The city will require most applicants to have a physical presence within the “Aspen to Glenwood” corridor, rather than the broader Roaring Fork Valley region that included communities further downvalley.
There could be exceptions for “legacy” applicants who previously received funding — that was about 5% of the applicant pool — and for some nonprofits that provide vital services for the valley but do not have a physical presence between Aspen and Glenwood.
Set new caps on cash requests
Limits for any one organization’s cash requests will be set to approximately 10% of each grant program’s budget, give or take. Previously, the cap was $100,000 for nonprofits in all three grant categories, with some caveats.
The presentation to city council earlier this month outlined what those new caps could look like.
In the arts and culture program, with a budget of close to $1 million, the city isn’t proposing any changes; a nonprofit could request up to $100,000.
With smaller program budgets, community nonprofits could request up to $60,000, and health and human services organizations could request up to $30,000. Based on the list of grant recipients for the 2024 cycle, those caps would have impacted numerous nonprofits’ applications, but would not have constrained the amount of funding they received; all cash allocations from 2024 were within those limits.
Those numbers are subject to change as the city fine-tunes policy and program budgets for the coming year. Barker said the limits are intended to help with “tempering expectations… and helping to manage future growth.”
Discontinue two pilot programs, expand the budget of another
The city will cancel the “Health and Human Services Capacity Building Grant” and the “Arts and Culture Asset and Acquisition Pilot Grant.”
The capacity-building grant was successful, but the city sees opportunities for other grant-makers, like Pitkin County, to support those efforts, according to Barker.
The asset and acquisition grant, which provided up to two-thirds of the funding for facility improvements and equipment, was restricted to arts and culture organizations that have a physical presence in Aspen, “and it turns out the applicant pool size doesn't really merit this program continuing,” Barker told council during the work session.
Funds from that program will be largely redirected to the primary arts and culture grants, while a portion will help expand the Cultural Vibrancy Fellowship pilot grant to have a budget of $80,000 to $100,000. That fellowship had a $60,000 budget for its inaugural year. It offered grants to local professional and student artists, along with several convenings to share ideas; Barker said a larger budget would enable bigger stipends for professional artists, so they could step away from their day-to-day work and spend more time mentoring student participants.
Use excess tobacco tax revenue to boost budget for HHS grants
The city has already agreed to give $250,000 in tobacco tax revenue to Aspen Family Connections, a local resource center. But the tax brings in more than $300,000 per year; the primary health and human services grant program could expand its budget with the additional funds.
Other program changes and timing
In follow-up emails to Aspen Public Radio this week, Barker noted that city council has provided sufficient direction to the staff and volunteer grants steering committee to implement in time for the next grant cycle, which begins in October. It will still take a few months to fine-tune the policy.
“These changes have been developed by the grants steering committee to increase the sustainability and community impact of the city’s grants program, while minimizing impacts to our grantees,” Barker wrote.
The information memo, dated June 25, notes that in addition to the proposals outlined above, “staff and the steering committee will explore methods to formalize a process for grant requests occurring off-cycle, or for requests not supported by the primary grant program.” Those changes will be shared after the closure of the upcoming grant cycle, likely in December or January.
Note: Aspen Public Radio is an annual applicant and recipient in the city's community nonprofit grant program.
