Wilmington, N.C., weighs replacing its open nonprofit grant round with requests for proposals in two fields
City staff proposed that nonprofits compete to deliver recreation and neighborhood services the city chooses, with $783,466 set aside this year. Council members asked what happens to food, housing and addiction programs and put off a decision.
Wilmington. The City of Wilmington, N.C., would stop taking open applications for its human services grants and instead ask nonprofits to compete to provide services the city names, under a proposal city staff presented to the City Council on Oct. 6. The council did not settle the process and agreed to hold another special meeting on it, Port City Daily reported on Oct. 12.
The city would advertise for services in two categories. Recreation would include afterschool programs, water safety, recreation for active adults, summer youth programs and youth employment. Neighborhood services would cover community risk reduction, housing preservation and help with heirs' property, land or homes shared by several heirs. Until now, any nonprofit could apply for money for the needs it saw.
How proposals would be judged
The city's Community Relations Advisory Committee would score proposals on whether the budget is realistic, the capacity to deliver and the effect on low and moderate income residents, then recommend awards to the council. A request above $25,000 would require audited financial statements, and none could exceed 50% of the nonprofit's operating expenses in its previous fiscal year or 75% of the project's budget. Past recipients would have to reapply, and some awards would run several years.
This fiscal year's budget sets aside $783,466 for the grants, nearly $63,000 more than last year, the paper reported. In the round the city opened in September 2025, the grant had two tiers, an Impact Fund with up to two awards and a Human Services tier with up to 20, each tied to the city's strategic plan.
What council members asked
Council member Cassidy Santaguida asked why staff chose recreation and neighborhood services over needs such as addiction, families in crisis, food or housing. Council member JC Lyle called the system appropriate but said that moving from funding children's meals to that much recreation was a difficult shift.
“As the body that's responsible for setting the vision and priorities for the city I think we should be part of that conversation.”
City Manager Becky Hawke said social services are inherently a county function and that the priorities come from the city's strategic plan and its greater downtown plan. Food assistance and homelessness programs could still seek other money, she said, such as the federal Community Development Block Grant; staff said up to $130,000 of it can go to homelessness services.
Staff also proposed sending requests made outside the cycle to the advisory committee instead of straight to the council. In July the council put off requests of $100,000 each from the Community Justice Center and the Film Partnership of North Carolina, the paper reported. No date was set for the next meeting on the grants.
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