The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation Board have added an additional $3 million to the agency’s fiscal-year grant budget during Tuesday’s board meeting, it was announced Friday.
While the district normally operates with a $5 million annual grant budget to award nonprofit organizations, the allocated funds were necessary after an increase in recent applications for larger grant amounts, district officials said.
As of Jan. 9, there were nine grant applications that exceeded $15 million, which did not include the applications that were in the process to be reviewed.
“As the amount of grant requests increased this year, the need for the district’s support was even more evident to our board and staff,” Board President Kimberly Barraza said in a statement. “Instead of discontinuing funding for the remainder of the fiscal year, we decided the correct and fair thing to do was use a portion of estimated fiscal year profit to fund essential programs and services that align with our high priorities, meet immediate need and pass the application review process.”
Last year, the agency awarded more than $1 million in grants to five nonprofit organizations in the Coachella Valley designed for mental and behavioral health services and programs.
In addition to the funds, the district has created a new application by 11:59 p.m. on March 1.
With roughly $3.5 million presently available for grant awards, applications that meet an immediate need could be funded this year, officials said.
“Grant applications and our nonprofit community increasingly look to the Healthcare District as a resource, CEO Chris Christensen said. “While we cannot award every grant application, we want to honor in a fiscally responsible way to those urgent requests that benefit our residents.”