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City staff outline FY25 outside‑agency grant results and plan to shift FY27 grantmaking to external partners
Summary
City staff told the committee the FY25 competitive outside‑agency grant process drew about 110 applications, funded roughly 50 organizations with about $5 million in grant contracts, and proposed a FY27 model managed by external grant‑making partners to speed disbursement and improve reporting.
Dominic Barrett, senior policy adviser for human services, told the Organizational Development Standing Committee that the city’s competitive outside‑agency (nondepartmental) grant process received about 110 applications in FY25 across arts and culture, housing, and health and human services, and that roughly 50 organizations were funded through that process with contracts totaling about $5,000,000.
Barrett said the current city‑managed process can take up to 10–11 months from application to executed contract and payment because of contract development, attorney review and monitoring requirements. He described recent process improvements — including review committee members participating in site visits and a risk‑based approach to payment and reporting — but said the enhanced compliance work has increased administrative time demands.
Amy Popovich, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services, presented the FY27 framework the administration is developing. Under that plan, the city will select external grant‑making partners through an RFP; those partners would be contractually obligated to run grant competitions in four priority categories aligned with the Mayor’s Action Plan, include conflict‑of‑interest provisions and caps on how much a partner may retain for program delivery, and be responsible for making grants by mid‑2026 once contracts are signed.
Popovich said the administration aims to name grant‑making partners by April so council will see the selected organizations during the budget presentation; applications would be released in July and grants could flow later in 2026. Both Barrett and Popovich said the external model is intended to shorten the time between application and payment and to improve data analysis and storytelling about collective impacts.
Council Member Gibson asked for clearer public access to the spreadsheet that underlies the FY25 impact summary, the method used to set performance targets, and historical data to provide context for year‑to‑year targets and results. Barrett said historical targets and results exist and could be provided; Popovich said external grantmakers may have better tools to make that information easier to publish and analyze.
The committee did not take formal action on the nondepartmental report at the meeting; staff said they would follow up with council on requested clarifications and data.
