The city of Worcester and the Greater Worcester Community Foundation are earmarking money to help small nonprofits in the region expand and become more sustainable.
Three million dollars will be reserved for at least a dozen grassroots organizations with budgets of no more than $500,000. The community foundation says the grants for each recipient will range from $10,000 to $30,000 annually for two to three years.
The new funding comes as leaders of small nonprofits say they usually lose out on grant money because they don’t meet certain application requirements or don’t have as many connections to the philanthropic community as more established nonprofits with deep pockets.
“We’re empathetic to that experience,” said Pete Dunn, the president and CEO of the Greater Worcester Community Foundation. “What we seek to do is try to elevate the capacity of our nonprofit partners in Worcester and beyond with these investments over the next couple of years.”
Many of the city’s small nonprofits work in underserved communities providing services like free after-school programming and mental health counseling for former gang members. Dunn said the community foundation and Worcester officials decided to reserve the money after grassroots organizations struggled to compete for federal money distributed through the American Rescue Plan Act.
The ARPA grants were intended to support economic recovery and address long-term challenges, especially those affecting communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. But as Worcester awarded the money, small nonprofits complained the city was continuing a pattern of preferential treatment for larger, well-funded organizations.
Dunn said it’s common for grant funders to pass over smaller nonprofits in part because they have limited staff, fewer financial resources and less of a track record managing grant money. The hope is that the new funding helps organizations scale up their operations and better compete for future grant opportunities. Dunn added the money is especially important right now as the Trump administration cuts funding for nonprofits nationwide.
“Difficult isn’t a loaded enough word” to describe the current funding landscape, he said. “It’s chaotic and depending on the source of funds for an organization, the uncertainty is really problematic.”
In a press release about the new funding, Worcester City Manager Eric Batista added that “investing in nonprofit resilience is investing in Worcester’s future.”
Much of the money the city and Greater Worcester Community Foundation are committing is from interest that accrued on the city’s share of ARPA funds. The foundation expects to begin accepting applications for the money next year, and will award both no-interest loans and grants.
Upon hearing about the new funding opportunity, small nonprofit leaders around Worcester had mixed feelings.
Dan Ford, whose nonprofit teaches underprivileged young people how to restore cars so they can pursue that work as a stable career, said he welcomes any grant opportunities. He noted the funds are needed: some of the youth in his program recently had to stop working on an old BMW because he ran out of money for parts.
“I’m always looking for different sources because the pools [of money] are few and far between,” he said.
Derrick Kiser was more skeptical. Kiser runs the nonprofit Fresh Start, which provides mental health counseling to at-risk youth trying to stay out of the criminal justice system. While he appreciates all financial help, he said $10,000 annually over two years won’t do much for his organization.
“It’s crumbs,” he said. “You can’t pay a staff out of $10,000. You can’t run no programs or do anything sufficient.”
