Too many non-profit grant applicants, not enough money, city says

The City of Winnipeg has awarded $2.5 million of community and neighbourhood grants to 60 non-profit organizations, just a fraction of the $15 million in total funding requested.

And one city councillor says a key inner-city organization is facing a steep cut in its grant, as the overall funding is spread among more groups.

A city manager said 167 applications were received but the city couldn’t fund them all.

“We have a lot of non-profits, a lot of charities, a lot of community groups that are doing effective work and they submitted very strong applications,” said Greg MacPherson, Winnipeg’s acting manager of community development.

”So, our process was difficult. We had to go through and adjudicate and a number of really strong applications won’t receive funding in the end.”

Awards were determined through a new points-based formula that prioritizes applications that best match city priorities.

About two years ago, city council cancelled a hotly contested funding cut to the same pool of grants.

In June 2024, council backed off a plan to cut the combined value of the annual community and neighbourhood grants from $3.4 million to $1.3 million in each of the following three years.

The proposal triggered intense public backlash, including a rally of about 200 people outside city hall, who argued it would hinder efforts to prevent crime and reduce support for vulnerable people.

In an email, city spokeswoman Julie Dooley said there was “no reduction in available funding; rather, some grant lines from the previous budget year may have been moved to other grant categories.”

The city did not provide the number of organizations that saw their grant amounts reduced this year by Monday’s deadline, though many new groups qualified for funding.

The 60 successful applicants included 30 organizations that did not receive the grants last year, said MacPherson.

“This is an opportunity for more organizations to access funding,” he said.

MacPherson said only two groups that both obtained grants in 2025 and applied for them again in 2026 didn’t receive any money.

The city notes $725,000 of the grant funding will go to 13 organizations that directly support people who are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless.

However, Coun. Sherri Rollins said a key inner-city organization will receive much less city funding this year.

Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) said the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre received just $145,000 this year and was required to apply for one joint grant with its Just TV social enterprise. She said Just TV received a $135,000 city grant last year, while the centre received a separate $120,000 in 2025, for a total of $255,000.

The councillor said she fears key programs serving inner-city youth are now at risk because of the reductions, though she will try to support the centre through her ward funds.

“The hit to the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre is just really severe,” she said, adding the group has long banked on city funding.

“They are an expression of youth recreation in the City of Winnipeg. They are in a City of Winnipeg building… (but) this program… treated them like any other non-profit that is arm’s-length from the city,” said Rollins.

Coun. Markus Chambers said he’s glad to see the city offer a clear set of criteria to evaluate grants from now on.

“It levels the playing field,” said Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River).

He said any funding cuts to individual grants reflect the city’s own tight budget.

“It’s unfortunate… that it comes down to some organizations not receiving the level of grants that they had in the past. It’s a reality that we’re facing in terms of the city’s finances right now,” said Chambers.

While he supports many of the specific grants awarded, Coun. Brian Mayes said he wishes elected officials still had a say in the process, which doesn’t require city council approval.

“I still would like this to be ratified by council. We set the budget as politicians, so if there’s controversy here, I think we should vote on it,” said Mayes (St. Vital).

A spokesman for Scott Gillingham said the mayor was not available for an interview Monday, referring questions to city staff.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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