San Antonio's budget plan would end $5.1 million in city grants to 48 nonprofit programs in fiscal 2028
The City Council adopted the fiscal 2027 budget on Sept. 17 without restoring the grants, two weeks after nonprofit leaders rallied against the cut at City Hall. The programs, which serve about 9,350 residents, are funded through Sept. 30, 2027.
San Antonio. San Antonio will keep funding 48 nonprofit programs through the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, but the two-year plan behind the budget the City Council adopted on Sept. 17 ends their discretionary city grants the year after. The $5.1 million cut would affect about 9,350 residents, according to the city's Department of Human Services.
The council approved the $4.4 billion budget and, by a 7 to 4 vote, raised the property tax rate for the first time in more than three decades. The plan closes a projected general fund shortfall of about $158 million through fiscal 2028, partly with $89.6 million in spending cuts.
Which grants would end
The department's general fund grants to outside nonprofits, which the city calls delegate agencies, total $11.44 million in fiscal 2027, slightly more than this year, for 72 programs at 51 agencies. The city sorts them into designated, essential and discretionary funding. The plan eliminates the discretionary part, $5,071,919 from what the department calls the Consolidated Funding Pool, starting Oct. 1, 2027.
The 48 programs serve children, families and older adults, and 70 percent of their clients live in Council Districts 1 through 5, the department told the council on Aug. 25. A city spokesman, Brian Chasnoff, told the San Antonio Express-News that the programs meet "important community priorities but do not have a direct impact on City Services."
Nonprofits push back
Leaders and supporters of more than 50 organizations, by Texas Public Radio's count, rallied against the cut at City Hall on Sept. 2, at an event hosted by The Nonprofit Council, an association of nonprofit executives in South Central Texas. Councilman Edward Mungia and Councilwoman Sukh Kaur spoke against the cut. At the rally, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones proposed paying for some programs with Ready to Work job training money and hotel occupancy tax revenue.
“Cutting nonprofit funding does not eliminate the need. The residents being served today will still need housing assistance, food, mental health services, youth programs and other support tomorrow.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas is set to receive $163,349 in fiscal 2027 for two mentoring programs, and Good Samaritan Community Services $230,841 for college readiness and dropout prevention, the city's funding report shows. The Express-News reported that Good Samaritan would lose that money under the plan and that the cut to Big Brothers Big Sisters would mean serving about 200 fewer children and parents.
The amendments adopted with the budget added $4.46 million in general fund spending over two years, for scholarships, a senior nutrition site, health positions and other items. None restored the delegate agency grants. The fiscal 2028 budget, and the cut with it, comes before the council in September 2027.
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