Doraville staff proposes sponsorship policy to streamline small grants and in‑kind support

City staff presented a draft sponsorship policy to the Doraville City Council on Aug. 20 designed to standardize financial and in‑kind support the city provides to events, nonprofits and organized community groups.

Majiraa Bunting walked council through the proposed policy framework: definitions and qualifications, an application and vetting process, and suggested caps. Staff recommended limiting financial awards to recognized nonprofits (501(c)(3)) while allowing in‑kind support (city staff time, space or promotional assistance) for other organized groups. The slide deck included examples of prior sponsorships and a proposed per‑award cash cap of $5,000 and a preliminary annual budget total of about $10,000.

Council members discussed whether non‑501(c)(3) community groups such as parent‑teacher associations should be eligible for in‑kind or cash support, whether awards should be approved by staff or come to council, and the timing of application windows (once or twice per year). Council members and staff favored built‑in transparency measures, annual reporting on recipients, and an application cycle to prevent piecemeal, first‑come awards that exhaust funds.

Several council members suggested small changes before adoption: (1) consider a hybrid approach that allows rolling in‑kind support while reserving cash awards for a defined annual cycle; (2) add per‑year caps per organization to prevent a single applicant from exhausting the fund; and (3) include staff discretion for extraordinary requests above the cap with a more rigorous review.

Staff agreed to revise the draft to reflect council feedback and return with a finalized policy and proposed budget allocation for council consideration.