Volunteer McKinney asks council to reconsider moving its $75,000 city support into a competitive grant

Volunteer McKinney’s executive director told the City Council on Aug. 19 the nonprofit cannot be moved from a recurring $75,000 general-fund allocation into the new community support grant without advance notice and a funding transition plan.

Stephanie Robinson said Volunteer McKinney performs volunteer coordination and operational work that city departments rely on and that the recommended change would move the agency’s funding into a competitive community support grant for which Volunteer McKinney does not qualify. “The recommendation to move us to the community support grant actually is gonna be a little bit difficult,” Robinson said. She asked council members to defer the change for one fiscal year so the nonprofit can prepare.

City staff response: A staff member (identified in the transcript as “Miss Grama”) replied that city staff had discussed the issue with Volunteer McKinney and believed they had a workaround to avoid disrupting funding for the current fiscal year. The staff member said the intent was not to make it more difficult for Volunteer McKinney to access funding and that staff would work through a solution.

Why this matters: Volunteer McKinney said the annual $75,000 represents a material portion of its budget and that the community support grant’s application window is already closed for the coming fiscal year. Moving the organization into the grant without transitional arrangements could interrupt programs that serve city operations and other nonprofits.

Next steps: Staff told the council they would pursue a solution before the September budget vote. No council vote occurred on Aug. 19; the city’s official budget public hearing and tax-rate hearing are scheduled for Sept. 2.