TO: Mayor and Commissioners
FROM: Janai Bowens, City Manager's Office
THROUGH: Terrence R. Moore, ICMA-CM
DATE: March 9, 2026
Title
POLICY CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING NON-PROFIT FUNDING
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Recommended Action:
Recommendation
The City Commission is asked to discuss the pending expiration of funding agreements for Delray Beach nonprofits and provide direction for future solicitation processes.
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Background:
The purpose of the workshop is to review the pending expiration of funding agreements for current City of Delray Beach grantees. The City of Delray Beach currently provides funding opportunities to Delray Beach nonprofit organizations including the Achievement Center for Children and Families, Sandoway Discovery Center, the Delray Beach Historical Society, the Delray Beach Boys and Girls Club, the Delray Beach Public Library, Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, and the Arts Garage. Historically, these organizations have received continuation grants, or funding that extends an existing project into subsequent budget periods without the formal solicitation and proposal process. This process is in place to ensure the success of all funded programs through long-term support to increases program sustainability. The active grants are set to expire September 30th, 2026.
The organizations receive the following annual grants: Achievement Center for Children and Families receives $62,000 for out-of-school programming at Pine Grove and Village Academy and an additional $81,000 for youth services; Delray Beach Historical Society receives $200,000 for historical preservation projects; Delray Beach Library receives $2,229,141 for library services; Sandoway Discovery Center receives $31,200 for preservation and education projects, Spady Cultural Heritage Museum receives $159,000 for historic and cultural preservation; and Boys and Girls Club of Delray Beach receives $25,000 for youth services and programming. Attached to this item is also the latest submittals from the funded non-profits which includes a compilation report (or audit), and a letter outlining whether or not the organization met the performance standards outlined in Exhibit A of their agreement or why they did not meet such (in accordance with Section 5 of each agreement). NOTE: No financial and reporting information is given for the Creative City Collaborative (d/b/a The Arts Garage) as this organization just began receiving funding from the City in the current fiscal year.
The City Commission will be asked to discuss the continuation of these grants or a new process for granting funds. Staff will provide an overview of our current Internal Grants Policy GA-53 that establishes guidelines for proposals, selection of candidates, funding and reporting procedures. The current Internal Grants Policy will guide future solicitation and notice of funding opportunities if the City Commission decides to move forward with changing The City of Delray Beach's current grant procedures pending the expiration of grant agreements in September 2026. The presentation prepared for a discussion with the City Commission regarding options for the transition away from CRA A-Guide funding has also been included as it showed several options for how the City could move forward with non-profit funding into the future and is the basis for there options that are presented to the Commission as to potential ways to move foward with grant funding.
In addition to the above information, all leases (or revocable license agreements that involve land) related to the afore listed non-profits and other such organizations, as well as grant information awarded from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Urban Development Action Grants (UDAG), and the Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF) in the past year are included in a spreadsheet that is included in the backup information As of the time of the submittal of this memo, staff was working to update a spreadsheet presented to the City Commission/CRA Board in a joint meeting in April of 2022 which listed all of the funding to non-profit organizations as well as lease information, and some estimate of the value of the leases (with an estimate of rent value and maintenance costs). This spreadsheet should be available before the workshop and will be added to this agenda item when completed.