Until two years ago, the Guilford County budget process – when it came to funding non-profits – went like this: The county manager, along with a staff committee, would review applications from non-profits and community-based organizations, such as festivals, arts organizations, museums and a host of others seeking county funding.
The county manager would then make recommendations, and the county commissioners would hold public work sessions to decide which groups would get taxpayer money and which ones wouldn’t.
A lot of county taxpayers don’t like seeing county government use their money for those purposes – especially in a tough economy like this one and at a time when both the City of Greensboro and Guilford County have imposed giant property tax hikes.
However, at least before 2024, the process was conducted out in the open. The decisions about which organizations would receive funding were often controversial because, in many cases, commissioners had clear ties to non-profits that ultimately received county money.
In the past, organizations with direct or indirect ties to commissioners have often been referred to by the media as “pet projects.”
Two years ago, however, for the first time, there were no recommendations. Instead, the board conducted the entire process in secret and, when the Board of Commissioners adopted its fiscal 2024-2025 budget, the list of taxpayer-funded non-profits was unveiled with no clue as to what, if any, thinking had gone into the process.
At the time, the Rhino Times referred to it as “like Moses coming down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments.”
This year, once again, like last year and the year before, the recommended budget contains no list of non-profits. It just sets aside nearly 1.8 million dollars to fund them.
Years ago, around the beginning of this century, the county manager recommended funding for non-profits based on specific ways those organizations met particular county needs or provided services that complemented county government. For instance, a non-profit working to reduce drug use might coordinate with the county’s health department, which was still a stand-alone department back then before it was joined with Human Services.
In recent years, however, it looks like there’s no rhyme or reason to how the money is doled out.
Instead of the detailed spreadsheet that had long been included in county managers’ recommended budgets listing organizations and the amounts they were recommended to receive, new County Manager Victor Isler’s recommended budget once again makes no recommendations at all.
One only has to look at the hodgepodge list of non-profit winners each year to know there’s no way it could have been assembled through some carefully reasoned process based on county priorities.
Many times this century, commissioners have instructed county staff to develop a rational, fair policy for funding non-profits. The Rhino Times has watched this same cycle repeat over and over again: The commissioners direct the county manager, budget director or another staff team to spend months creating thoughtful criteria for distributing taxpayer money.
A couple of years ago, when the county instructed then-Budget Director Toy Beeninga, now an deputy county manager, to develop a policy, the Rhino Times warned him not to put too much work into it because it would simply be thrown out the window at budget time.
Beeninga and his budget team worked hard and came up with an excellent policy. The Board of Commissioners adopted it unanimously in the spring.
Then June arrived.
The commissioners promptly tore the policy to shreds and gave money to whoever they wanted.
Every time they’ve gone through this exercise this century – at least a half-dozen times now – the board has ultimately thrown its shiny new policy out the window once budget season arrives.
Thankfully for county staff, the commissioners now seem to have realized they aren’t going to follow any policy they adopt, so they’ve stopped asking staff to spend months creating one.
Last year, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston summed it up perfectly when he told the Rhino Times, “The policy is this: Whatever non-profits five commissioners say get money, do get money.”
In some cases, you can even tell almost instantly which commissioner wanted which organization funded because, every year when the list is adopted, multiple commissioners have to abstain from voting on funding for specific organizations due to conflicts of interest.
Some of the groups seeking funding do good work. Others, not so much. And with still others, it’s not entirely clear what they do.
But every year there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason as to which groups receive taxpayer money and which don’t – other than the fact that certain county commissioners have ties to some of them.
Alston has often used the funding process to help secure votes for the county budget from fellow commissioners, which is one reason you often see a wide assortment of organizations that few people have ever heard of receive taxpayer money.
The Rhino Times has repeatedly watched commissioners vote for budgets that include organizations that some commissioners literally know nothing about. Those groups receive thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars simply because another commissioner added them – whether they met any established county guidelines or not.
One especially notable non-profit did make it into the county’s just-adopted fiscal 2026-2027 budget: the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, which received $200,000. The museum was co-founded by, and has long been largely run by Alston, the chairman of the board.
Now it’s anybody’s guess which organizations will receive money this year, but it’s an easy guess that many will have close ties to commissioners, have commissioners serving on their boards of directors or simply have influential supporters with the right connections.
Regardless, to give you an idea of what’s likely coming to a commissioners meeting near you this summer this summer, here’s the list of organizations the board approved for funding last year a couple of months after adopting that budget…
A Simple Gesture – Greensboro — $15,000
A Special Blend — $7,500
Aaron T. Jones Jet-Black Empowerment Foundation — $45,000
Action Greensboro — $25,000
African American Atelier — $50,000
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Kappa Lambda) — $5,000
B Natural Academy of Music and the Arts — $5,000
BackPack Beginnings — $15,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Piedmont — $15,000
Black Child Development Institute of Greensboro — $10,000
Cambodian Association of NC — $4,000
Casa Azul — $10,000
Children’s Law Center of Central North Carolina — $25,000
Combat Female Veterans Families United — $45,000
Commander Peace Academy — $20,000
Divine Healing and Restoration Ministries — $7,500
Drawers of Hope Resource Center — $15,000
D-Up Inc. — $15,000
Establishing Safe Cultures — $20,000
Family Room Foster Care Resource Center — $10,000
FASK — $20,000
Friends of John Coltrane — $25,000
Glenwood Together — $10,000
Greensboro ArtsHub — $3,000
Greensboro Business League — $45,000
Greensboro Cerebral Palsy Association — $3,000
Greensboro Housing Coalition — $10,000
Greensboro Parks Foundation — $5,000
Greensboro Sports Foundation — $25,000
Greensboro Urban Ministry — $40,000
Hayes-Taylor YMCA — $40,000
Heroes Center — $10,000
High Point Arts Council — $50,000
High Point Discovered — $10,000
High Point Schools Partnership — $5,000
Historic Jamestown Society — $15,000
HP Housing Authority — $15,000
I Am A Queen — $10,000
Jalloh’s Upright Services — $10,000
Junior Achievement of the Triad — $20,000
Kids Poetry Basketball — $10,000
Malachi House II — $35,000
Mega Mission Ministries — $20,000
Neighborhood Markets — $10,000
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church — $10,000
Next Level of the Triad — $45,000
North Carolina Folk Festival — $25,000
Out of the Garden Project — $20,000
Peacehaven Farm — $5,500
Piedmont Triad Film Commission — $15,000
Providence Educational and Community Services — $10,000
Puzzle Play — $40,000
Senior Resources of Guilford — $25,000
Southwest Renewal Foundation of High Point — $75,000
TCC Community Health Foundation — $15,000
The Arc of High Point — $7,500
The Black Suit Initiative — $25,000
The Carolina Theatre of Greensboro — $25,000
The Mind Group — $10,000
The Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship — $20,000
The Oaks Therapeutic Community — $12,000
The Sister Circle International — $45,000
The Success Hope Center — $25,000
Triad Black Faith Leaders & Black Farmers Network — $40,000
Triad Food Pantry — $50,000
Triad Health Project — $40,000
TSCF Food Network — $15,000
Turning Everything Around — $35,000
United Arts Council of Greensboro — $75,000
United Way of Greater Greensboro — $10,000
United Way of Greater High Point — $10,000
Urban Roots NC — $12,500
W.D. Mohammed Islamic Center — $7,500
Welfare Reform Liaison Project — $25,000
West End Ministries / Leslie’s House — $10,000
Women’s Foundation of North Carolina — $10,000
Yalik’s African American Art & Cultural Movement — $20,000
YMCA of High Point – Chavis Branch — $40,000
YWCA of High Point — $15,000
Youth Behavior Helper — $20,000
Youth Focus — $25,000
YWCA of Greensboro — $15,000
