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Valley County commissioners propose formal nonprofit grant process and $200,000 annual pool
Summary
Commissioners directed the clerk’s office to create a competitive application process for nonprofit contributions and discussed budgeting a $200,000 annual pool to replace ad-hoc allocations; they asked for public outreach, MOUs and reporting requirements.
Valley County commissioners on June 16 discussed creating a standard application and review process for annual county contributions to nonprofit organizations and tentatively proposed budgeting $200,000 per year for those awards.
The clerk presented a list of longstanding annual contributions to numerous local nonprofits (examples discussed included Western Idaho Community Action/Whitecap, Cascade Senior Center, McCall Senior Center, McPaws and Ignite Idaho). Commissioners said the historical practice had been inconsistent and that a uniform process and reporting requirements would improve transparency.
Commissioners suggested a model where the county publishes a grant window, requires applications and business plans, and asks successful recipients to sign memoranda of understanding (MOUs) and provide periodic reports. "We want an application. We want to know exactly what your business plan is and what you're going to be using these funds for and how it supports county residents," one commissioner said.
The board discussed options for the FY2026 budget: several commissioners proposed removing fixed line-item amounts for individual organizations and instead budgeting a single contributions pool (a proposal discussed on the record was $200,000). The clerk said that entities previously funded would still be eligible to apply and that the county could publish the application in local media and on social platforms; commissioners noted timing constraints for the current budget cycle but signaled they wanted a process in place for next year.
Commissioners directed staff to draft an application timeline, outreach plan, and legal review for MOUs. They also discussed maintaining historical contribution figures in budget documents (as a reference) while moving future awards to a competitive process. No individual nonprofit awards were approved at the June 16 meeting.
