Starting next year, a local philanthropic organization will manage the city’s nonprofit grant program. When the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday (9-9-25), it unanimously voted to outsource the administration of the program to the Sitka Legacy Foundation.
Every year, the assembly awards about $50,000 dollars in grants from the city’s general fund to local nonprofits. The grants are intended to support projects and services in three categories: Human Services, Cultural and Educational Services, and Community Development.
Typically, nonprofits apply for the funding each summer, and in September, assembly members vote on how much money from the pot to award each applicant.
Ben Hughey, executive director of Sitka Trail Works, told the assembly on Tuesday he’s been eagerly awaiting reform of this program for years.
“We have 18 nonprofits filling out the 16-page form that takes way longer than a more streamlined process that Sitka Legacy Foundation could fill out,” Hughey said. “We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars of nonprofit staff time that go into this program. And reducing that is actually a way larger benefit than a small couple thousand dollar administrative fee.”
Directors of eleven local nonprofits signed a letter to the assembly in March in favor of outsourcing the program’s administration. The letter says outsourcing would make the award process less subjective and free up time for both nonprofits and city staff. The letter also asks the assembly to consider increasing future funding levels. In FY2011, the assembly made $170,000 available for the program.
Municipal Administrator John Leach said Tuesday he estimates city employees spend about 25-30 hours on the grant program each year.
“Most of the work revolves around advertising, getting the applications put together, consolidating the applications, getting the packets ready. And then in finance, with all the compliance measures that have to be reviewed before an applicant can get their information in,” he said.
The Sitka Legacy Foundation supports philanthropy and provides grants to support local projects and organizations. Assembly member and sponsor Kevin Mosher said shifting the administration of the program to an outside organization like the foundation makes sense, and is a wanted change by the organizations that benefit from the program.
“The Sitka Legacy Foundation has a simpler process, and they have got more experience with these things,” Mosher said. “This wasn’t just us coming up with this because we want to save some time. This was initiated by the nonprofits.”
Under the new system, the assembly will communicate its funding priorities for the year, and the foundation will incorporate those priorities into the grant process.
Chris Kowalczewski, chair of the Sitka Legacy Foundation’s board of directors, said the foundation will manage the whole process for a $2,500 administration fee — or 5% of the total grant allocation.
“We would advertise the availability of the grants. We would handle the applications. We would review the applications. Make the decisions on who gets the grants, then make the awards and issue the checks. We would get the reports from the grantees and make a report to the assembly. So basically the whole process,” she said.
The Sitka Legacy Foundation is an affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation. Kowalczewski said they have a computerized application process and scoring system to standardize the process.
“We are the local face. We make the decisions on the grants, but we’ve got a lot behind us,” she said.
The Sitka Legacy Foundation won’t take over the grant process until next year, since the city is already a ways into this year’s process. The assembly is expected to dole out grant money at its next meeting on September 24.
On Tuesday, the assembly directed city staff to draw up a two-year contract with the philanthropic organization.
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In other business, when the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday, the group approved two sales tax-free days in late November to follow the Thanksgiving holiday.
The sales tax-free days will not apply to any sale of fuel, alcoholic beverages, tobacco or cannabis products. It also won’t affect any sale which is part of a continuing obligation of the buyer to pay the seller over time.
Based on an analysis of prior year returns, the city anticipates at least $700,000 in exempt local sales during the two-day period. At this level, city staff estimate the two sales tax-free days on Friday, Nov. 28 and Saturday, Nov. 29, will cost the city around $35,000 in reduced revenue.
The assembly approved the issue on a 6-0 vote. Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz, who owns a retail business in downtown Sitka, recused himself from the vote.
