Nonprofits say Elgin favors Boys and Girls Club with grants

Eleven Elgin-based social service agencies got a preliminary green light to get grant money from the city after a discussion about whether the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin is being favored.

City council members Wednesday approved disbursing $200,000 in Riverboat grant funding to the Boys and Girls Club, the Association for Individual Development, Centro de Informacion, Ecker Center for Mental Health, Food for Greater Elgin, Literacy Connection, NHS of the Fox Valley, United Way of Elgin, VNA Health Care, Well Child Center Program and the Youth Leadership Academy Program.

All the agencies are getting less money than they applied for except the Boys and Girls Club, which is scheduled to receive $75,000. Others are getting $6,000 to $18,000.

That discrepancy lead Councilman John Prigge, who cast the only “no” vote, to call the process “a pork fest” for the Boys and Girls. “The bottom line is, this is unfair,” he said.

The Boys and Girls Club was told by a previous city council, officials said, the city would pay about $140,000 yearly for the mortgage on its building on Dundee Avenue. The practice stopped when funding moved to a grant process, so to compensate the current city council has been allocating more money to the club.

That's created acrimony among other nonprofits, Prigge said. Danise Habun, executive director of the nonprofit Coordinated Care Alliance, agreed.

“I don't think anyone is going to say that publicly, because we're talking about kids and you don't want to upset the apple cart,” she said. “But I know those conversations have occurred.”

The city could address that by paying for the club's mortgage separately from the riverboat grant process, Habun said.

Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Cathy Malkani said she hopes other nonprofits would look at the big picture. The club made the initial investment to build and still owes about $1.6 million on the building, she said. The agency's total budget is about $1.5 million.

“When you look at (the grant allocation) year to year, it seems unfair,” she said. “But when you look at it through history, now we're getting half (of what was promised). We're trying to adapt to that. We're trying to increase our private-sector funding, and we're trying to slowly back away from city funding.”

YWCA Elgin CEO Julia McClendon said she's heard there is discontent among nonprofits. “I've heard a lot of people feel that way,” she said.

But the city is addressing the underlying issue by reducing its contribution each year, she said. Last year's grant to the club was $84,000.

“As an organization we become very dependent on our granting sources, and the Boys and Girls Club is no different from us or anybody else,” McClendon said. “The step-down approach, that pretty much satisfied me.”

Prigge on Wednesday proposed making changes to the riverboat grant process, including allowing only nonprofits with budgets of less than $500,000 to apply, never awarding grants for operating funds, requiring agencies to put in volunteer hours for the city, and prioritizing agencies that have a direct impact on Elgin residents. Other council members, however, said it was too late in the process to change the rules, which should wait until next year.

Councilman John Steffen agreed consistent criteria is needed but called Prigge's proposal “nonsense.”

He especially took issue with another Prigge idea to award points if agencies host fundraisers in Elgin. “I suggest you put your money where your mouth is and get together a group to open a 600-seat facility in Elgin,” he said.

Making grant decisions is never easy, City Manager Sean Stegall said.

“There is no right way to decide among a bunch of very capable, deserving and in-need agencies,” he said.