Richland County committee reviews Q2 grant compliance and $1.76 million FY2026 funding plan

The Richland County Community Impact Grants Committee heard updates on FY2025 quarterly compliance and preliminary results from the FY2026 grant window, including application counts, total requests and the committee's funding framework.

Budget Director Madison Wilkerson told the committee that the Q2 compliance report showed that "many of the organizations were compliant" and that one organization was listed as noncompliant while two others remained outstanding after follow-up attempts (she said staff had sent at least two emails since the Jan. 31 deadline). Wilkerson said the Q1 report had been due Oct. 31, 2024, and Q2 was due Jan. 31, 2025.

The county received 53 applications for FY2026 and applicants requested a combined $3,062,814, Wilkerson said: "So the total requested funding ... was $3,062,814." The county's FY2026 funding set-aside available for the committee to recommend to the budget process is up to $1,764,000 for awards starting July 1. The committee previously set a split that reserves 60% of that amount for designated community partners and 40% for competitive grants: 60% equals $1,058,400 and the remaining 40% equals $705,600,…