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Nonprofit Leaders Tell Committee Bond Package, Grants Insufficient to Meet Service Needs
Summary
Nonprofit providers urged the committee to increase funding for nonprofit grants and include aid in the bond package, saying current awards left many requests unfunded and that service providers face staffing and capital pressures.
Nonprofit service providers and a development coordinator for a statewide behavioral health nonprofit told the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee that proposed bond adjustments and the current nonprofit grant program do not meet demand and that the state must "rightsize" funding.
Megan Gorman, development and community engagement coordinator for Community Mental Health Affiliates, said the funding climate for nonprofits has "continued to disappear" and that SB 1247, the bond authorization and adjustment bill, "neglects to include vital funding for grants and aid through the nonprofit grants program administered by OPM." She said while $35.5 million was awarded earlier in the year, more than $100 million in requests were submitted, leaving many organizations unfunded.
Gorman said stable funding would allow nonprofits to address staffing shortages, raise wages for licensed clinicians, invest in capital needs and IT upgrades, and expand services such as supportive housing. She described a nonprofit that purchased a property and will save an estimated $100,000 annually from modernization and ownership.
Speakers
Megan Gorman, Development and Community Engagement Coordinator, Community Mental Health Affiliates (nonprofit)
Nut graf: Nonprofit witnesses urged lawmakers to bolster the bond and grant components that support human services, arguing that current awards cover only a fraction of need and that ongoing underfunding undermines service capacity.
Details: Gorman said the nonprofit grants program received requests totaling over $100 million while awarding $35.5 million; she urged the committee not to remove existing program "lifelines." She asked for fiscal guardrail adjustments to allow the state to invest in nonprofit infrastructure and workforce.
Ending: The committee heard nonprofit testimony alongside other sector briefs; no immediate changes were adopted during the hearing. Witnesses asked staff to consider targeted grant and bond language to address nonprofit capital and operating needs.
