Palo Alto committee recommends FY2026 nonprofit awards after hours of public testimony and debate

The Policy & Services Committee on June 4 voted to recommend a schedule of FY2026 Nonprofit Partnership Work Plan Phase 1 awards to the full City Council, after three hours of public comment and committee deliberations that repeatedly returned to a single constraint: Palo Alto has far less money than nonprofits requested.

The committee’s recommendation — transmitted to council as the committee’s formal advice during the upcoming budget adoption process — follows staff’s presentation that 22 proposals requested a combined $819,089 while the Finance Committee had recommended roughly $396,000 be available for Phase 1 awards. "In attachment A of the staff report, [staff] summarizes the 22 proposals received, totaling $819,089 in funding requests," staff member Lupita Alamos said during the meeting.

Why it matters: Committee members said the Phase 1 awards are meant to create a predictable, transparent annual pathway for the city to partner with local nonprofits. "This is the best and the worst council assignment that we could have," Chair Vinkar told colleagues as the committee began the item, noting the difficulty of funding many high-quality requests.

Committee discussion and public comment

Committee members spent the meeting balancing three objectives the city faces at once: (1) money is scarce (staff described a multi-year general-fund savings target and a plan to present $6 million of savings to…