City staff outlines new third‑party funding rules for nonprofits; committee raises documentation and scheduling concerns

City of Laredo community development staff on May 21 presented a revised third‑party funding policy for nonprofit applicants and walked the review committee through application, scoring and reimbursement rules for fiscal 2025–2026.

The staff presentation described eligibility and scoring requirements, reimbursement procedures, a new volunteer‑hours match and an option to use verified volunteer hours to offset city service fees. Committee members spent most of the meeting questioning application completeness, timelines and whether applicants who lacked required documents should still be scored.

City staff said the funding comes from the city’s general fund and that recommendations from the review committee will go to City Council during the budget cycle. The application was published in February (first notice Feb. 16, 2025; a second notice on Feb. 23), training for applicants was held Feb. 27 and applications were due March 20, 2025. Staff said the evaluation platform used is an online procurement/evaluation system (described in the meeting as the city’s iWave/Ion Wave EBID system), and committee members were given temporary logins to score applications.

Key elements of the revised program described by staff include:

- A maximum award of $25,000 per nonprofit per fiscal year. Awards are paid on a reimbursement basis; applicants submit quarterly invoices and receipts and are reimbursed after staff review.

- A new limit on consecutive funding: an organization may receive funds for up to three consecutive fiscal years, after which it must skip one year before reapplying. Staff said the policy was approved earlier in the year and will take effect for the 2025–2026 cycle.

- Eligible program areas: economic development, health and welfare, environment and education. Allowable expenses listed by staff include equipment…