The history of Fishers and support of non-profit organizations is an interesting one. When I began covering the Fishers Town Council in 2012, I recall Conner Prairie asking the council in 2013 to up the city’s contribution to the non-profit from $30,000 a year to $40,000, and the council approved it. The other non-profit group the city financially supported at that time was the Fishers Freedom Festival.
In a podcast interview recorded in 2017, City Councilman Brad DeReamer said he was the one that pushed for the creation of a city council non-profit committee and the end of city subsidies for the Fishers Freedom Festival, which was an independent nonprofit organization at that time. The non-profit committee chose to fund other local non-profit groups, but not the Freedom Festival. The city later created the Spark!Fishers Festival at the same time of the summer as the Freedom Festival had been held.
Since 2017, the council’s non-profit committee has approved how much each organization will receive from the next year’s city budget. There have been years when last-minute adjustments to the annual spending plan would require a reduction in the amount available to the non-profit panel.
For example, in 2019, the non-profit committee doled out $255,000 in city grants.
With all that in mind, the city is now accepting applications for non-profit grants as part of the city’s 2021 budget. According to a city news release, criteria for selection includes:
- Whether the organization is located in Fishers and if not located in Fishers, the potential impact of the grant and the benefit from the project or event on the Fishers community.
- The commitment, capacity, and ability of the applicant to carry out the program or project and to give an accounting of how the money was spent.
- The applicant’s fiscal responsibility and management qualifications.
- The number of matching dollars that the applicant has and is willing to contribute.
- Grant project funding may not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of the project or event. If the funding from Fishers and the portion provided for by the receiving applicant is not sufficient to complete the project, then the receiving applicant is responsible for raising the difference. The intent of this grant is not to completely fund projects, but to assist with as many projects and events as possible throughout the community.
For more on the work of the non-profit committee, use this link.
In order to submit an application for a grant, use this link. The application window is open now through 4:30 p.m. on July 17.