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Chaffee County approves Common Ground grant process and hands competitive administration to Community Foundation
Summary
Commissioners approved a 2025 competitive grant process for the Common Ground Fund, authorized requests for qualifications for rec‑adopters, and accepted several Citizens Advisory Committee recommendations while the Chaffee County Community Foundation will administer this year’s competitive grant cycle.
Chaffee County commissioners on April 1 approved the competitive grant process and related recommendations for the 2025 Common Ground Fund, and authorized staff to develop requests for qualifications for the county’s “rec adopters” program and related scopes of work.
Betsy (Community Foundation) told commissioners the foundation would provide grant‑management services and that the Citizens Advisory Committee reviewed and approved the timeline. “We are really hoping to get this going as soon as possible so that we can start distributing these dollars for the 2025 year,” Betsy said.
Commissioners also reviewed Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) recommendations from the March 25 meeting. The CAC recommended continuing multiyear disbursements to several previously awarded partnerships (including prescribed‑burn crew support and wetland restoration) and proposed opening a competitive grant cycle with at least $450,000 available. The committee considered a requested reallocation from a National Forest Foundation grant and decided not to award the remaining $70,000 for that specific line item, leaving those funds to be returned to the competitive cycle.
During the meeting a commissioner asked about mixing private donations with public funds because the Community Foundation will serve as grant administrator while separately collecting private donations; staff clarified the foundation’s role is administrative for the Common Ground Fund but that private giving and public fund accounting would be managed in distinct ways.
The board voted to approve the 2025 competitive Common Ground grant process, accept the CAC’s recommendations (including the reallocation decision for the NFF item), and to proceed with the development of RFQs for rec‑adopters and program coordination. Commissioners set the CAC to meet monthly on a fixed schedule and directed county planning staff to provide administrative support for meetings.
