A few years ago, the Town of Cobourg formalized the process for applying for grants for community projects – typically cultural or charitable. The first step now is to make an application with a deadline of October 31; then applicants may make their case to Council and that opportunity happened on Monday November 25. Twenty-four applicants did just that and their total request came to $142.733.70 although the budget is $50,000 so many will be disappointed. Not all the applicants were Cobourg based and some were new – that is, they had not previously applied for a grant from the Town. And some presentations were more impressive with more financial detail, evidence of success in raising money from other sources and generally doing a better job of selling their case – because that’s what the session was about: selling their project to Council.
The amount that each applicant asked was indicated in their applications but many did not repeat that number in their presentation and the detail was not provided by the Town. Each presenter was given a strict limit of 7 minutes; for example, Joan Chalovich ran out of time and was not able to show the slides for the Cobourg Museum Foundation (Sifton-Cook Museum). Suzanne Séguin chaired the meeting in her capacity as Council’s budget chief and was able to keep the meeting moving along and it finished inside the three hours allocated. Some applicants got a hint of Council’s likely decision – for example, Mayor John Henderson asked Rick Miller of the Marie Dressler Foundation “What would be the minimum Municipal contribution (to show support) that would satisfy the requirements of others providing grants?”
Here is a list of those presenting – I understand there are other applicants who chose not to participate in this opportunity.
| Applicant for 2020 grant | Area covered | 2019 request & status |
| Therapeutic Paws of Canada | Cobourg, Port Hope | $215 requested $243 approved |
| Northumberland Community Counselling Centre | County – Cobourg based | No 2019 request |
| Transition House Coalition of Northumberland | County – Cobourg based | No 2019 request |
| Northumberland Learning Connection | Cobourg, Port Hope | No 2019 request |
| Sounds of the Next Generation (SONG) | County | $2,500 requested $2,000 approved |
| La Jeunesse Choirs | Cobourg | $2,000 requested $1,864.50 approved |
| OSGA 55+ District 12 Senior Games | Multiple counties, Cobourg Based | Request filed too late |
| Marie Dressler Foundation | Cobourg, Port Hope | $1000 requested $1000 approved |
| Cobourg Museum Foundation | Cobourg | $8,500 requested $8,500 approved |
| The Help Centre | County – Cobourg based | No 2019 request |
| Fern Blodgett Sunde Commemoration | Cobourg | $5,000 requested – deferred |
| Horizons of Friendship | Central America, Cobourg Based | No 2019 request |
| Cobourg Lawn Bowling | Cobourg | $5,438.12 parking passes requested and approved |
| Victoria Hall Volunteers | Cobourg | $4,500 requested $4,520 approved |
| Northumberland Orchestra Society | Cobourg | $4,000 requested $2,000 approved |
| Les AMIS | Cobourg | $6,000 requested $2,000 approved |
| Northumberland 89.7 FM | Cobourg, Port Hope – Cobourg based | $1,581.95 requested and approved |
| The Children’s Foundation | Multiple counties | No 2019 request |
| Oriana Singers | Cobourg, Port Hope | $3,000 requested $2,000 approved |
| Green Wood Coalition | Port Hope, Cobourg | No 2019 request |
| Ecology Garden | Cobourg | $2,575 requested $2,000 approved |
| Community Care Northumberland | Cobourg branch | $2,000 requested and approved |
| Cobourg and District Historical Society | Cobourg | $1,487 requested $988.75 approved |
| Northumberland Hispanic Cultural Club | County – Cobourg based | No 2019 request |
Notes:
- Some amounts are in kind and some in cash and some a mix.
- The Santa Parade committee did not make a presentation. They got $10K in 2019.
- Highland Games did not make a presentation. They got $3K in 2019.
- VOS did not make a presentation. They got $1.8K in 2019.
The results of this process will happen at the January 9 Budget meeting when Adam Bureau presents a list of proposed grants for approval in the total 2020 budget.
Links
Community Grants approved – for 2019 – 14 March 2019
Some groups used visual presentations and they are posted on the Town’s Portal (no longer available). A few others also had visual presentations but they were not made public.
Some requests were follow ups from earlier presentations to Council and were reported at these links:
- Dressler House to get expanded Museum – 13 August 2019
- Statue of Wartime Female Sparks Planned – 24 July 2018
Additional Info – 29 Nov 2019
The full list of applicants together with their amounts was posted online AFTER the meeting.
Download here:
Grant Requests for 2020 – Full list
Print Article:
Just wondering, why did Community Care ask for less money than the Ecology Garden or the Cobourg Museum? My personal opinion is that Community Care is more important so I’m hoping there is a good reason . Does anyone know why?
The amounts shown for each applicant are from last year – this year’s requests have not been disclosed.
First a big Thank You to the hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers in our cultural and charitable groups.
Their unpaid contributions make a huge difference in Cobourg’s quality of life.
What these groups are requesting is usually token financial support and much appreciated recognition from the taxpayer, representing the community as a whole.
It is sad that some folks use this opportunity to air their alt-right, Trumpian climate-change denial shtick and others their bean-counter approach to the public good.
Yay volunteers!
Climate change policy now has the top priority. That is not an alt-right denial schtick. That is now the official policy of the Town of Cobourg. I strongly support this policy now that it has been made and I will vigorously lobby for it. For heaven’s sake, Walter, you demonstrated ubiquitously for such a policy, and now that I call for the Town to implement it, you go on a typical pseudo-political rant against it. Tsk tsk. Want it both ways, do ya? There is only one way, and that is to acknowledge the climate emergency and stop making excuses here and there that serves no purpose other than to dilute that policy of top priority. Either climate change is the top priority or it is not. Everybody has to make sacrifices, not excuses, Walter. For example, regardless of my age, I ride a trike around town, not a fossil-fueled vehicle. Walk your talk. The money would be better spent on climate emergency policies, you know, the top priority.
It is interesting to note that the local climate change activists drive fossil-fuel vehicles, for all their lives, contaminating the air I breathe, while I am condemned by climate activists for spending my life riding a bike and now trike. Walk your talk climate hypocrites.
“Yay volunteers!”
Why thank you Walter. I’ve volunteered since the 60s in various venues, long before you came to Cobourg. I even volunteered for the Ecology Garden for several years, was its Chair for a bit. Now that I think of it, I have volunteered a lot in different venues. Community engagement. Yep, I’m a right-wing fascist phobe of something or other.
“alt-right, Trumpian climate-change denial shtick”
Stereotypically unimaginative political cant, the kind of stuff that Orwell condemned in Politics and the English Language. You should read that.
Thanks for the reminder! You can read Mr. Orwell’s 1946 essay at:
http://post.queensu.ca/~leuprech/docs/writing_guide/writingOrwell.pdf
or as a scanned copy of the original publication:
https://faculty.washington.edu/rsoder/EDLPS579/HonorsOrwellPoliticsEnglishLanguage.pdf
Well, given that Town Council has declared a “climate emergency” and concurs with SCCAC that issues pertaining to climate change be given Cobourg’s “top priority”. Until the climate emergency is mitigated then It behooves Town Council to cut the budgets of all of the above in half or totally so that more taxpayer funds can be devoted to mitigating climate change. Saving us from mass extinction is more important than all of those other smaller issues of importance. Town Council signed on to this policy and needs to have their feet face the fire to solve this self-declared existential threat. The future is going to be interesting.
Fixing the east pier will have to revisited in light of climate change issues. How much CO2 emissions to make the concrete and steel rebar. The pier will have to be delayed to let the new hired climate change consultant make an assessment. Money slated for the east pier might have to be transferred to climate change issues; SCCAC proudly pointed out that Kingston deferred $54 million.
Climate change is Cobourg’s “top priority” for the foreseeable future; everything else is secondary or less to that.
Why do some organizations get more money than requested?
These were in kind grants and they did not accurately calculate the value.
Thank you.
It is confusing that many of the grant requests were for in-kind contributions rather than actual tax dollars but this is not clearly identified. For example, more than 65% of the request from the Historical Society is for the rental of a meeting room in Victoria Hall (no cost to the town) and the remainder of the requested amount is for a security guard in the lobby during meetings.
Also, some requests misrepresent their in-kind component. For example, the Blodgett request lists $5000 “in-kind” when that amount is actually tax dollars required for the cost of constructing a base for the planned statue and associated landscaping.
Ian Davey declined to provide details of each 2020 request so these are only available for the few cases where presenters did give details. I did ask! The cases being quoted above are from the 2019 approvals where all details were provided.
Precisely my point; I’m not complaining about your reporting!
It is impossible for Councillors to make rational decisions on requests without knowing which impact expenditures and which do not.