Until last year, the Guilford County budget process – when it came to funding non-profits – was that the county manager, along with a staff committee, would go through applications from non-profits and community-based organizations, such as various festivals, art foundations, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, and a host of others asking for funding.

The manager made the recommendations and then the county commissioners held public work sessions to decide which groups would get taxpayer money and which would not.

Many county tax payers don’t like seeing the county government using their money for those purposes; however, at least the process was done out in the open. The choices of which organizations to fund were often controversial because, in many cases, the commissioners on the board have had clear ties to those non-profits.

In the past, those organizations which have direct or indirect ties to the commissioners have been referred to by the media as “pet projects.”

Last year, for the first time, however, the board conducted the entire process in secret, and, when the Board of Commissioners adopted its new fiscal 2024-2025 county budget in June of 2024, the list of non-profits funded by taxpayers was unveiled with no clue as to what – if any – thinking had gone into the process.

Last year the Rhino Times referred to it as “like Moses coming down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments.”

In the past, a long list of recommended non-profits to be funded was always included in the manager’s proposed budget, along with recommended amounts; however, now, for a second year in a row, the list is completely absent from the recommended budget.

A long time ago, in the first part of this century, the county manager would recommend funding for non-profits based on specific ways those organizations met a particular county need that was, say, an extension of the county’s services. For instance, a non-profit that attempted to reduce STD’s in the county might coordinate with the county’s health department and help address that issue.

Now there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which groups get money.  The seemingly random list just sort of pops up out of nowhere.

Instead of a highly detailed spreadsheet listing the organizations that had been in all prior county manager’s recommended budgets, and the amount they will receive, this year once again, County Manager Mike Halford’s budget just includes a page that is blank with the exception of the title, “Outside Nonprofit Agency Funding” and the comment, “Awarded organizations will be listed here with the Adopted Budget.”

So, citizens will have to hold their breath to find out which groups the commissioners deem worthy.

The county manager’s presentation to the board for the new budget proposal for fiscal 2025-2026 did note that this year’s proposal includes over $2 million for Community-Based Organizations (non-profits) and Economic Development Organizations. Of that total, $1.74 million will be given to community-based organizations and $565,000 will support local economic development groups.

Several times this century the commissioners and staff have spent a phenomenal amount of time working to develop a rational, sane process to establish a fair policy for funding the non-profits – then each and every year when budget time rolled around the board proceeded to throw out the funding policy.

Even Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston isn’t shy about admitting there’s no county policy anymore.

“The policy is this: Whatever non-profits five commissioners say get money, do get money,” he told the Rhino Times last year.

While the county leaders won’t tell you which groups are getting funding, the members of the Board of Commissioners this year are the same as last year, so it’s a pretty good guess that this year’s list of lucky recipients of taxpayer dollars will be similar to what it was when the money was handed out in the budget adopted last June.

Here’s the list from last year:

A Legacy of Hope $5,000

A Simple Gesture – Greensboro Inc. $15,000

Aaron T. Jones Jet-black Empowerment $45,000

African American Atelier Inc. $50,000

ARC of High Point $10,000

Beyond Sports NC $20,000

Big Brother Big Sister $15,000

Black Child Development Institute $10,000

B-Natural $5,000

Carolina Theater $25,000

Children Law Center $20,000

Combat Female Veterans Assoc. $50,000

Commander Peace Academy $20,000

D-Up Inc. $20,000

Establishing Safe Cultures $20,000

Families Against Senseless Killings $20,000

Family Room Foster Care Resource $10,000

Folk Festival $25,000

Friends Of John Coltrane $25,000

Glenwood Together $10,000

Greensboro Business League $45,000

Greensboro Urban Ministry $40,000

Growing The Distance Inc. $20,000

Guilford Housing Foundation $10,000

Hayes Taylor YMCA $40,000

High Point Arts Council $50,000

High Point Discovered $10,000

Historic Jamestown Society $20,000

Horse Power $10,000

HP Friendship Foundation $15,000

HP Housing Authority $15,000

Jalloh’s Upright Services $15,000

Junior Aggies $7,500

Kids Poetry Basketball Inc. $15,000

Level Up Parenting $10,000

Lydia House Inc.  $20,000

Malachi House II  $37,500

Mega Church Ministries $20,000

Mustard Seed Community Health. $10,000

New Hope Missionary Baptist Next  $10,000

Level of the Triad Inc.  $45,00

Open Door  $25,000

Peacehaven Community Farms $15,000

Piedmont Triad Film Commission $15,000

Room at The Inn $15,000

Senior Resources $25,000

Sister Circle $70,000

Southwest Renewal, HP $75,000

St. Stephen AME Zion Church  $10,000

I Rise  $25,000

T Wingate Andrews High School  $50,000

TCC Community Health $20,000

The Heroes Center $10,000

The Mind Group $20,000

The Oaks Therapeutic Community $15,000

The Salvation Army of Greater HP  $15,000

Triad Food Pantry Inc. $50,000

Triad Health Project. $40,000

Triad Play Therapeutic After $25,000

School TSCF Food Network. $15,000

Turning Everything Around United. $20,000

Arts Council of Greensboro United. $75,000

Way of Greater High Point United $10,000

Way of Greensboro $10,000

Urban Roots NC  $12,500

Muhammad Center $7,500

West End Ministries. $20,000

Welfare Reform Liaison Project $25,000

YMCA Of High Point-Chavis Branch  $40,000

Youth Behavior Helper $20,000

Youth Focus $25,000

YWCA of High Point  $15,000