Medicine Hat reveals new process for grading non-profit grant requests

The new process replaces an ad hoc approach where organizations would pitch council at a mixture of public and private meetings.

Public services head Joseph Hutter said in a statement Tuesday that the old way that would see a group present to council and then staff work on a recommendation took too long.

“This prolonged the process, so we really needed a framework that would receive and evaluate such requests ahead of time,” Hutter said.

“That way all the pertinent information is included so council can make an informed decision.”

Coun. Ramona Robins first proposed the city create a non-profit capital grants application process at a council meeting in February 2024.

At the time, councillors Cassi Hider, Darren Hirsch and Shila Sharps voted against the non-profit capital project program.

Some around the council horseshoe were concerned the initiative could create new demand for city cash and bring about complaints of bias.

Council deferred decisions on several community capital asks during 2025-26 budget deliberations last fall because the application process wasn’t in place yet.

The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society requested about $2.8 million and the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede has pitched the city on giving millions of dollars in grant money.

The city has spent 4.5 per cent more on major grant programs between 2019 and 2024, according to a news release, an increase from $380,000 to $397,000.

Over the same time period, capital requests have jumped 81 per cent, from $837,000 to $1.5 million.

City council in the last two-year budget also approved an additional $60,000 annually for the Community Vibrancy Grant.

The city also has applicants for its Family and Community Support Services grants and its microgrants program.

Medicine Hat does not set aside extra cash for major capital grants like those requested by HALO and the Stampede. Any approvals from council would likely require reserve funding or an increase to property taxes.

Hutter said Medicine Hat is “not opening an intake for applications.”

“This simply establishes a consistent approach for collecting detailed information and applying a scoring rubric if and when an organization has a proposal outside of all of our regular granting channels,” Hutter said.

“If a proposal meets the criteria and eligibility thresholds, only then will it move through to council for budget consideration.”

There is a form for non-profits to apply on the city’s grants and funding page.

Requests will be funneled into a small funding stream for proposals valued at less than $300,000 and a large stream for those worth more.

Both streams have specific elements laid out in the grant application resource guide.

The maximum funding request for the small stream is up to one-half the cost. For the large projects, the applicant can only apply to receive a grant for one-third of the project cost.

The large stream maximum ask appears to contradict a staff proposal recommending the city cover 50 per cent of a multi-million-dollar proposal from the Stampede to fix its broken north grandstand.

The application deadline for the small stream is March 31. The larger proposals have no due date and are reviewed as they are received.

by Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat reveals new process for grading non-profit grant requests

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