Members of a Haines Borough Assembly ad hoc committee will decide on 11 applications from local nonprofits requesting more than $127,000 in borough funds.
During budgeting, the assembly set aside $78,760 to distribute to nonprofits: $32,500 in the “community chest” or general fund, $28,760 in the medical service area fund and $17,500 in the tourism and economic development fund.
Applicants were asked to identify which pot of money they wanted to compete for and why their nonprofit qualified for such funding.
Manager David Sosa, chief fiscal officer Jila Stuart, Mayor Stephanie Scott, assembly member Dave Berry and assembly member Diana Lapham used a scoring matrix to evaluate and rank applications.
Each judge awarded up to 65 points per application against criteria including “amount of community support,” “contribution to economic development,” and whether the money would be used to leverage other grants.
Lynn Canal Counseling’s application topped the list with a score of 300 out of 325, or 92 percent. The behavioral health agency is seeking $30,000 from the medical service area fund.
Southeast Alaska Independent Living, which ranked fourth, requested $4,000 and was the only other organization seeking medical service area funds.
The borough received the most requests for funding from the general fund, including applications from Takshanuk Watershed Council ($33,990), Chilkat Valley Preschool ($13,357), Southeast Senior Services ($6,000), Alaska Avalanche Information Center ($2,500), Haines Friends of Recycling ($5,000), Haines Dolphins Swim Team ($5,000) and Haines Hot Shots ($5,000).
The Haines Hot Shots application scored lowest, receiving 66 percent. The group was recently created to promote youth clay target shooting.
Two nonprofits applied for funds from the tourism and economic development fund: The Southeast Alaska State Fair applied for $17,000 and received a score of 84 percent, and the Chilkat Snowburners applied for $5,000 and scored 77 percent.
Chief fiscal officer Stuart said Takshanuk Watershed Council reported its projects could qualify for federal Title III receipts money if the general fund is too crunched.
The borough hasn’t received Title III money for years, but has $269,000 saved from the federal program, Stuart said.
During a meeting of the ad hoc nonprofit funding committee, the group floated the idea of recommending the assembly amend the budget to appropriate some of the saved Title III money, Stuart said.
Though the committee scored the applications, it hasn’t yet made a recommendation to the assembly regarding funding. Mayor Scott said she hopes the recommendation will be made by the end of August.