City launches standardized evaluation process for capital funding requests

Medicine Hat – The City of Medicine Hat has released a standardized application and evaluation process to address ad hoc requests for capital funding by community organizations.

The City’s primary grant streams are: Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), Community Vibrancy Grants, Microgrants and Major Grants.

Between 2019 and 2024, annual funding for major grant programs in the City has increased $17,000 (4.5 per cent) from $380,000 to $397,000. Over the same period, requests submitted for these programs have increased $697,000 (81.1 per cent) from $837,000 to $1.5 million. City Council approved an additional $60,000 annually in Community Vibrancy Grant funding in the 2025-2026 budget.

“There was previously no process to bring forward informal capital grant requests, though more and more organizations were coming to us asking for help,” said Joseph Hutter, Managing Director of Public Services. “Non-profit organizations would request to address Council and it was only then that Council would hear their wish for funding. Council would then have to refer back to administration to run the numbers and provide a recommendation. This prolonged the process, so we really needed a framework that would receive and evaluate such requests ahead of time. That way all the pertinent information is included so Council can make an informed decision.”

The new Capital Grant Application employs an online form to collect consistent information from each organization as a baseline to evaluate against pre-established criteria. An evaluation committee will score the project and present a recommendation to Council for consideration.

“For every dollar we give away, we also give away five and a half cents of forgone investment revenue, so we must be very cautious to ensure that any money taken out of reserves will positively impact the community as a whole,” added Hutter, who clarifies that this is not an additional grant program.

“There is no budget for capital grant requests, so we are 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. If a proposal meets the criteria and eligibility thresholds, only then will it move through to Council for budget consideration.”

To review eligibility and evaluation criteria, application guidelines, and to apply, visit medicinehat.ca/grants. 

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