The DuPage County Board will undertake a new process for considering funding requests for the disparate nonprofit organizations throughout the region under a recently unveiled plan.
County Board Chair Deborah Conroy outlined the revised protocol, which will require majority board support and a chain of procedural steps, before funding allocations are permitted. Interest income from pandemic-era ARPA dollars will fortify some of the funding requests, based on the information shared at a recent board meeting.
Board chair outlines rationale behind newest proposal
Conroy and the full county board discussed the new funding protocol at the board’s Tuesday, July 14, meeting. The debate came on the heels of three specific funding requests. No action was taken on any of the requests.
At its core, the new process will entail a board member interested in sponsoring a request sending it to Conroy via email, Conroy subsequently reviewing it, and then sending it on to the state’s attorney for review and assurance it passes muster under state law.
Final steps include board discussion and action on each specific nonprofit funding request and a requisite majority vote of support from the full board.
Speaking to the board at the recent meeting, Conroy, said, “The reason I’m doing it this way is because I want all of you to be aware of how this money is being spent, where it’s being spent, and we’re going to hold each other accountable.”
With actual ARPA dollars no longer in play, Conroy added, “We have to do things differently,” when it comes to considering funding requests from nonprofit organizations.
While the influx of pandemic-era stimulus money has come to an end, Conroy in her recent comments said DuPage County, as a governing entity, remains in sound fiscal shape, and the board has the ability to consider providing a sliver of its funds toward nonprofits.
“It’s interesting that one of our biggest challenges, in DuPage, is having excess money and making sure that we’re doing the most responsible thing with it, and making sure that all of our communities benefit in the right way from it,” Conroy said.
She added, “I don’t know that there’s any other board chair in the state of Illinois that has ever said those words in the last 10 years. It is a challenge, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
In recent years, the county board has undertaken a number of different methods to honor nonprofits’ funding requests. A member initiatives program, attached to last year’s budget, was one such overture.
Several board members share concerns with process
During the recent wide-ranging discussion, several board members expressed reservations with the revised process.
Board member Lynn LaPlante, of District 4, said she is concerned the new process lacks full transparency and an equitable approach, compared to prior methods for reviewing and honoring nonprofits’ funding requests.
“This is like opening a window where some corruption can sneak in, some pay-to-play, some favors,” LaPlante said. “We’re all campaigning; we’re all running for re-election. This makes me really uncomfortable.”
Conroy, in response, said she is comfortable with the process.
“I have great confidence in all of you as board members that we will hold each other accountable,” she said. “The state’s attorney will make the decision, as they made before, if these entities are qualified for this. I feel that is being very transparent, and I have full faith in the process.”
Board member Grant Eckhoff, also of District 4, expressed broader concerns about allocating county funds for philanthropic requests.
“There is pushback I get from some of my residents that say, ‘Why are you doing this? If I want to give to a not-for-profit, I’ll do it. Don’t take my money and give it to them,’” Eckhoff said. “I just want to have that out there.”
Other board members weigh in with support for plan
But other board members expressed support for the revised process during the floor debate.
“I like this process for the full board because I didn’t necessarily have the deep understanding of some of the other initiatives, so this is really great that we’re involving the entire board, and everyone can hear everything at the same time,” District 3 board member Lucy Chang Evans said.
Board member James Zay, of District 6, said he viewed the process as one that can strengthen relations between individual board members and the broader communities within each district.
“This actually makes the board members do some work,” Zay said. “This is almost like the bill process in Springfield that the reps and senators go through. It actually makes the board members go out and contact these organizations and go out there and work with them.”
If you have a story idea, we want to hear from you!