Volusia County ECHO advisory committee raises grant caps, tightens nonprofit requirements for 2026 cycle

Daniel Marsh, ECHO manager, told the advisory committee on April 10 that the county’s ECHO grant program will implement several policy and operational changes for the 2026 cycle aimed at improving accountability and applicant accessibility. “The grant cap has increased from 600,000 to 2,500,000, and we have eliminated the exceptional grant,” Marsh said, and staff will allow applicants to apply for grants up to $2,500,000 with a $5,000,000 cumulative cap per project.

Marsh said staff will now have the authority to approve budget modifications; previously, category shifts exceeding 20 percent had required committee consideration and county council review. He said the change is intended to allow minor reallocation within approved budgets without creating new appropriations: “We just move money between the categories. There’s no new money.”

To strengthen long-term outcomes, staff will keep the business-plan, feasibility-study and marketing-plan requirements but add targeted application questions to better evaluate an applicant’s capacity to operate and maintain facilities under restrictive covenants. Applicants must submit a maintenance and operations certification that identifies capital replacement costs and funding sources for the expected 20-year covenant period and must document ADA compliance, Marsh said.

Nonprofit applicants will face new documentation requirements intended to verify governance and fiscal stewardship: staff will require the most recent 12 months of board minutes, bylaws and a list of board members as part of the application package.

Marsh outlined outreach and accessibility measures. The ECHO guidebook has been restructured to mirror an applicant’s journey from eligibility to long-term compliance, converted from dense paragraphs to tables and checklists, and will be published before the mandatory workshop. Staff plans to publish a microsite, project spotlights and social media outreach, and to work with tourism agencies, chambers of commerce and school districts to help applicants reach underserved residents.

Key dates announced: a mandatory in-person applicant workshop April 23 at 9 a.m.; technical applications due June 11 (the same day as the next advisory meeting, at 3 p.m.); final applications due in mid‑July; site tours and eligibility assessments on Aug. 13 (with possible schedule adjustments depending on the number of projects); and the grant review panel scheduled for Aug. 27. Staff said recommendations will be forwarded to county council around October to align with the fiscal calendar.

Assistant County Attorney Sabrina Slack told the committee the ECHO advisory terms will be synchronized with council election cycles: appointments will be four-year terms with an eight-year cap and transition provisions to move current two-year terms into the new cycle. “So there will be a 4 year term starting with the new March appointments for members, but there will be an 8 year cap,” Slack said.

Committee members asked staff to be mindful that tightened application standards should not unintentionally exclude small volunteer-driven sites. One member described a volunteer-maintained historic sugar‑mill ruin that is difficult to access and asked staff to ensure marketing and eligibility rules allow such projects to apply successfully. Marsh said staff heard those concerns and added place-based, category-specific questions and marketing checklists to help small organizations document stewardship and public access.

The committee took no formal vote on these policy updates; staff presented them as operational and procedural changes being implemented into the revised guidebook and application portal.