EARMARKS

From Page 8

“You have to cultivate a relationship with your elected official before making the application. They have to know about you,” said Kelley Kuhn, president of the Michigan Nonprofit Association.

Third-party organizations like the Council of Michigan Foundations and Michigan Association of United Ways are also advocating on behalf of important projects happening in the community.

The shifting political landscape could impact how long earmarks are here to stay or the amount of congressionally designated funding available from year to year, leaders acknowledged.

“Our advice from our council in D.C. is this process is active and current, so those who might have priorities need to act pretty quickly,” Kyle Caldwell, president and CEO of the Council of Michigan Foundations, said.

“From our standpoint, educating the nonprofits on current state of play is important given that the deadline for requests is coming pretty quickly.”

Return of earmarks

Legislators resurrected the congressionally directed spending in 2021, a decade after earmarks were eliminated, and awarded the first round in fiscal 2022 with $9 billion in earmarks included in a March 2022 omnibus bill. The second round totaling $15 billion was appropriated in late December as part of a $1.7 trillion federal spending bill for fiscal 2023.

The bill for this year contained more than 7,200 earmarks, up from 4,962 in the last spending package, according to information in The New York Times.

The “community project funding,” as the grants are now called, can only go to nonprofits and government entities. It isn’t designed to provide operating support or sustainable funding for nonprofit and public efforts in the state but rather for supporting specific projects or initiatives that benefit communities.

Nonprofits thinking about pursuing an earmark need to make sure they understand how their project could fit into funded areas, the process, and the finite nature of the funding, Kuhn said.

“You need to be prepared that (funding) is not going to be ongoing,” she said.

It’s also important for nonprofits seeking earmarks to think about how an appropriation could complement other funding and really evaluate if an earmark is the right opportunity for your organization, Kuhn said.

Building relationships

Small and mid-size nonpro ts have the same opportunities that larger, better-known institutions have, leaders said.

Regardless of whether nonpro ts are pursuing a grant, contract or earmark, it always starts with that relationship building, Kuhn said. Meet with elected o cials, talk about your organization, the work it’s doing and needs in the community, she said.

Invite Michigan’s two senators and congressional leaders in your district to attend a board meeting or event or tour a facility to learn more about the organization, its work and the project looking for funding, said Regina Bell, CMF’s director of government relations and public policy.

“It’s being able to...share that work happening in the community and how community members are beneting from that work,” she said.

“While there may be disagreement about whether earmarks are here to stay, the idea is you need to start building relationships with congressional leaders now.” e process for pursuing an earmark in the next round has already begun, Kuhn said.

“So you either are building o of existing relationships you have with elected o cials or you’re moving quickly to establish those relationships.” e Senate and House have di erent timelines, even among some of the elected o cials, leaders said. So nonpro ts need to make sure they know the speci cs for legislators they are approaching.

With the return of earmarks, at least two letters of community support for a project are required for earmark proposals to demonstrate need.

Garrett’s Space, a small nonpro t providing support groups for young adults with mental health challenges, went much further. It secured 19 letters of support for the holistic campus it’s planning in Washtenaw County, which helped it attract a $4 million earmark.

There are small but mighty orga - nizations making big impact, Kuhn said. They might command a larger earmark. Other mid-sized and larger nonprofits also making an impact might command smaller earmarks.

Grandmont Rosedale, a small community development nonprofit in Detroit was awarded a $2.5 million earmark for construction of a mixed-use development that will include affordable senior housing. And Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, a larger nonprofit with a presence in several areas of the state, was awarded a $140,000 earmark to establish a medical suite and provide telehealth services.

It’s not about the amounts or budget sizes, Kuhn said. “It’s about purpose and mission and drive and need and community.”

The process

Leaders stressed the time is now for nonprofits looking to get their projects in contention for the next round of earmarks.

By summer, the organizations have to build the relationships, understand the application process, submit an earmark proposal and letters of support to get an earmark on an elected official’s radar and hopefully, their recommendation list, Kuhn said. The House and the Senate will review the application at that point if the recommendation is made.

Bell advises nonprofits to engage voices that sometimes go unheard as they seek support for earmark funding.

“There’s a huge opportunity... around how BIPOC-led organizations and organizations that serve (those) communities can really think about this as an opportunity (for) elevating and supporting work that’s happening in the community,” Bell said.

The earmark process is highly competitive, and different legisla - tors have different formats to support their ideas, said Nancy Lindman, director of public policy and partnerships for the Michigan Association of United Ways.

“It’s important to understand what your member of Congress is entertaining in terms of earmarks and then (to figure) out is there a body of work that could really pay off for our community,” she said.

Third-party support

United Ways have their ear to the ground on emerging work and are in a good position to know what is going on in a community that might be a good investment, Lindman said. ey are already talking with congressional members about the importance of many things to the nonpro t sector, like the child tax credit ber for 2023, United Way for Southwest Michigan said. and the earned income credit.

At the same time, other United Ways are nominating projects from other nonprofits, serving as a recommendation of community need.

“If there is a body of work United Way feels is appropriate for an earmark, we’re just making our members of Congress aware of them” Lindman said.

The Council of Michigan Foundations is also playing a role in helping bring earmarks to support community projects in the state.

It teamed up with the Michigan Nonprofit Association and Michigan Association of United Ways to co-host a recent webinar to talk about what the process looks like and how to inform congressional leaders on community needs, Caldwell said.

“Earmarks are just another opportunity for us to get the work done in the community,” she said.

One example here in Michigan: St. Joseph-based United Way of Southwest Michigan, as fiduciary for the Be Healthy Berrien initiative and coalition, secured a $912,000 earmark for the expansion of an eight-mile-long extension to the existing 17-mile trail network, called the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail.

More than two dozen United Way affiliates across the country secured $23 million in earmarks in the omnibus bill passed in Decem - e Grand Haven-based association is encouraging its members — as well as operating nonpro ts — to reach out to legislators’ in-district sta and talk about community projects and the bene ts they could bring.

“This is not unlike other key areas where we are trying to educate key members of Congress,” Bell said.

“It’s being able to elevate and build that relationship, to share that work happening in community and how community members are benefiting from that work.”

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch