The City of Nelson decided at its Jan. 17 meeting to offer a second round of grants to non-profit organizations to help them recover from revenue losses or cancelled programs caused by the pandemic.
The program is funded by the federal-provincial Safe Restart Agreement. In 2021 the City of Nelson received $2,613,000 from this fund, $300,000 of which it allocated to its grant recovery program for non-profits.
The first round of this funding, given in 2021, used $95,667 of the $300,000 fund, with maximum grants of $15,000 given to nine of 18 applicants.
The second round will distribute the remaining amount of just over $200,000.
The city spent most of the rest of the $2,613,000 grant on pandemic-related expenses such as revenue shortfalls during the height of the pandemic at city services including the campground, parking, youth centre and the parkade; facility reopening and operating costs; and emergency planning, security, and staffing costs for public health measures and public outreach.
Organizations that received funds in the first round of non-profit grants in 2021 may apply again if they can show that they sustained further losses after the first grant period.
The organizations that received $15,000 grants in the first round in 2021 were Glacier Gymnastics, Nelson Civic Theatre Society, Nelson Curling Club, and Nelson Soccer Association. Nelson Baseball received $6,800, Nelson Road Kings $3,953, Selkirk Concert Society $5,400, and SPCA $4,514.
For the 2023 grant applications, council discussed whether to place a cap on the amount an organization may receive, and whether to specify the percentage of losses the grant could cover, but decided to leave these numbers flexible.
The list of eligibility requirements include the ability to demonstrate lost revenue, status as a registered non-profit or sponsorship by one, and an active presence in the Nelson area for two years.
Eligible expenses include operational costs and the cost of changing programming in response to the pandemic.
A full list of eligibility guidelines will be posted soon on the city’s website at nelson.ca.
Applications may be made online only at adminoffice@nelson.ca before Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. Management staff will analyze the applications and bring recommendations to council at its March 4 meeting.
READ MORE:
• Nelson offers pandemic recovery grants to non-profits
• Nelson receives $2.6 million grant for pandemic recovery
• RDCK considers distribution of COVID re-start funds
• Nelson grants to nine non-profits for pandemic losses total $95,000
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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