Hillsborough commissioners debate tightening county nonprofit funding policy

Commissioners at a Hillsborough County workshop on June 1 discussed changes to the county's nonprofit funding policy intended to reduce recurring, automatic awards and increase transparency and performance measures.

The discussion centered on a policy the board approved Feb. 7, 2024, with an effective date in October 2024 that sets guidelines for when the county may allocate general-fund dollars to nonprofits. Kevin Bridal, management and budget, told the board the policy requires nonprofits to provide their most recently filed IRS Form 990, list all governmental funding compared to total revenues, and submit written funding proposals at least one week before a board vote awarding funds.

The item drew repeated questions about legacy awards that predate the new policy, the rapid growth in the number of nonprofit recipients in recent years, and how the county might phase older recurring awards out without cutting services. "There are a few items that jumped off the page of me," Commissioner Bowles said, noting some nonprofits have received county funds for decades. "At the very least, if we approach [this], this provides a couple of opportunities to reduce their [recurrence], to reduce recurring [funding] to a more manageable amount...and provide some transparency and accountability through performance measurements."

Commissioners described the historical growth in nonprofit spending: Bridal said the county's nonprofit line in fiscal 1998 was about $5.6 million and that the fiscal 2025 budget shows roughly $15.4 million in nonprofit allocations. He said 30 nonprofits appear in the FY25 budget for the two county general funds, and that many recipients have been in the budget for decades while 70 (a referenced figure in the presentation) appeared in the last four years.

Several commissioners pushed for a phased approach rather than an immediate cutoff. Bowles described a stepped reduction proposal where some awards would be reduced to 75% and then 50% in subsequent years to encourage self-sufficiency, and proposed that, at the end of the transition, each commissioner be equitably allocated $500,000 to direct to nonprofit partners as part of a new allocation model. "Next year, we're 75% of budgeted amount, and next year, we're 50% of [that], again trying to provoke self-sustainability and stakeholder engagement," Bowles said.

Other commissioners emphasized that long-standing awards should not automatically continue without performance requirements. "No one should be getting recurring funds just because it was there," Commissioner Wolster said. "The permanent recurring revenue should be the ones that are bona fide government entities." Commissioner Cohen said she wants to see which organizations would be exempt before she would support final changes and asked staff to provide an exemption list and clear criteria.

There was general agreement that staff should return with a draft redline/strike-through version of the county's nonprofit policy for commissioners to review and that any final changes should be considered through the normal public meeting process. "I would have it come up as a future commissioner item," Bowles said. "Work with staff...to bring back maybe a strike-through underline of the particular policy that is going to be referenced and then bring it back to a board meeting to be voted on."

No formal vote was taken at the workshop. Commissioners asked staff to produce detailed charts and category breakdowns, and to identify which nonprofit recipients the county would consider core service partners and therefore likely to be exempt from phase-downs.

The board will consider staff's return of a redlined policy and supporting materials in a future meeting; until then, existing awards remain subject to the current policy and the board's budget process.