Issue Statement: On January 17, 2018, Commissioner Sparks received consensus from the City Commission to disucss the Not For Profit Ranking.
Recommended Action: City Commission Discussion
Prior to FY 17, there was no formal selection process regarding City-funded contributions. The City would receive unsolicited requests from non-profit organizations for City aid. These requests would generally be received between April and June. These requests were presented to the City Commission for review and deliberation as part of the budget cycle during public hearings in September. No eligibility or service reporting requirements were stipulated by the City, but staff did request evidence of services being provided to Oakland Park residents and a description of how the funds would be utilized.
During the October 7, 2015 meeting, the Commission directed staff to begin the development of a formal process for handling future non-profit applications for City funding and to incorporate this process into the fiscal year 2017 budget development.
On May 4, 2016 staff provided a report on the existing process and provided preliminary recommendations for a revised process. Commission requested that the item be returned to the next agenda as an item for discussion with additional information regarding grants and social service support provided by Broward County and other special taxing districts with boundaries encompassing Oakland Park. An updated report was provided at the June 1, 2016 meeting.
Based on feedback provided by Commission, a proposed grant application was provided for review at the July 6 and 20 meetings. No minimum or maximum grant amount was set nor were external matching grants made a requirement.
This application was used for the FY 17 grant cycle. Applications were released and made available online in October 2016. An outside evaluation firm was chosen to provide an impartial assessment of the applications. The applications submitted to the City were forwarded for review to Complex Systems Innovations, a consultancy that provides evaluation, applied research, program development, and other related services. The rankings were performed in accordance with the quality of proposal methodology. Award was made in December, 2017.
For the FY 18 grant cycle, staff utilized the same application and evaluation firm.