The City of Fishers announced the nonprofit organizations to receive financial support in 2018, based on a city council committee recommendation. The Fishers Freedom Festival, an event held locally since 1989, was not on that list.
Below is a listing of the groups set to receive funding from the city in 2018:
Advocates for Children and Families, dba Cherish
· Ascent 121
· Conner Prairie Museum, Inc.
· Geist Half Marathon
· Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc.
· Hamilton County Leadership Academy
· Hamilton County Youth Assistance
· Hamilton Southeastern School Foundation
· Hope Academy
· Janus Developmental Services
· Nickel Plate Arts
· Spaceport Exploration
· YMI
The Fishers Freedom Festival did apply for 2018 support from the city council committee evaluating these funding requests, but Festival Executive Director Jennifer Kehl told LarryInFishers, “We (Fishers Freedom Festival) are disappointed we were not offered an interview, but not surprised. It is a shame the city council and the mayor don’t see the value the festival brings to the community.”
Kehl says the festival has two more events to handle yet this year, but the board of directors and volunteer committees for the festival will be making a decision on the 2018 Fishers Freedom Festival by the end of October.
LarryInFishers asked Kehl whether the city would be willing to continue in-kind support from city departments if the festival can raise enough money for next year’s Freedom Festival. “There has not been any conversation,” said Kehl, “other than, it was my understanding this not-for-profit committee, whatever funding they give you, is the funding they give you. That includes in-kind support.”
The city used a new system and set of criteria to evaluate the use of city funds supporting local non-profit groups. The Non-Profit Grant Committee, comprised of Fishers City Council members Cecilia Coble, Brad DeReamer, and Pete Peterson, recommended distribution of grant awards to 13 non-profit groups, not to exceed a total of $331,500.
To be eligible for the grant award, non-profits submitted proposed project or events via an application and review process conducted by the Committee. All organizations are required to have IRS 501(c)(3) status, be able to quantify the organization’s impact on Fishers residents, and show their ability to provide a financial match to the grant award.
25 applications were submitted to the committee. The panel conducted two follow up interviews, and will present their informal recommendation during the Finance Committee meeting on later today for consideration as part of the 2018 City Budget. The City Budget will be considered by the full City Council during its September 18 meeting with the final budget approval to occur at the October 16 City Council meeting. Nonprofit grant funds will be distributed in January 2018.
According to the city news release, all grant applications were scored under the following guidelines:
· Maximum grant amount for each project or event will be $100,000.
· Depending on grant amount and/or percentage of the total project or event budget is provided by the grant, a board appointment for one Council member may be required.
· Organization should establish need for grant for the project or event.
· Organization should demonstrate overall community enhancement and impact in Fishers.
· Quarterly accounting provided by the Organization to City Council Non-Profit Committee.
· Organization should demonstrate financial responsibility and management qualifications.
· Organization should provide the commitment, capacity and ability of the Organization to carry out the project or event.
So is this pay back for the festival not wanting to cram into the Nickle Plate district this year? (Which would have been a brutal mistake if they had tried to cram into that location).
Interesting that Connor Prairie is on there as I heard the Mayor has some sort of event there that is $15 a plate. Not sure if that is fund raising or event the city pays for. Glad we have plans to eventually move as this city is becoming HIS vision
This reeks of political dysfunction. Clearly someone pissed someone off. Hard to believe this Fishers tradition is over.
Seems like another case of the elimination of the history and tradition of Fishers. I’m from a family who has been in Fishers for several generations and it seems to me the current administration is going to bulldoze or eliminate anything they don’t like regardless of its tradition.so much for being proud to say I was from Fishers.
Unreal! So if they don’t downsize their event a ton to fit into NPD, then we cut them off completely? The City doesn’t care about Fishers history at all, as I am sure they probably think they can do it better than what has been done for almost 30 years plus bringing in tens of thousands of people year after year. Let’s recreate everything because we know best…Ridiculous!!!! Very angry to hear this.
This sickens me. After moving here 22 years ago and attending the Fishers Freedom Festival for each of those 22 years, I am so frustrated with what this city is becoming. Our first year here, our children were 3 and 2. We attended the festival and parade. As the parade folks were passing out candy, the bigger kids would get the candy and then bring it to our children! (Then, we went to Carmel’s parade and the kids would grab the candy out of our babies’ hands.) We knew we had made the right decision to move to this “town.” Now, with all these changes, I’m not sure this is the “town” for us anymore.
The refusal of the City to contribute money to the festival could probably be attributed to a couple of reasons. It could because of a conflict of interest. The executive director of the Fishers Freedom Festival, Jennifer Kehl, is also the City’s elected clerk. The City and the Festival signed an agreement for 2017 which helped to eliminate that conflict of interest. An executive of the Festival cannot receive a salary if they are also receiving a salary from the City.
http://www.fishers.in.us/DocumentCenter/View/11096
According to the most recent tax return for the Freedom Festival which is from 2015, Jennifer Kehl received a salary of $40,000 and the assistant director, Kim Greiner, received $34, 318. Twenty-five percent of their budget is for salaries. The City gave the Festival $85,000. I imagine they realize that their money could be utilized a lot better elsewhere.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/351873340/201642029349300879/IRS990
So while losing the festival may be bad for the citizens, I doubt the two paid professionals will be losing any money or sleep. Considering that the assistant director is now the newly hired Court Reporter hired by yours truly, Jennifer Kehl. Where one door closes, another door opens.
The picture coming into focus for all of you residents that voted yes on becoming a city vs remaining a town? Feel the burn.
The problem is not that Fishers became a city; It was about time. The problem was all of the morons who just had to vote for their favorite flaky down ballot mayoral candidates with ZERO chance of winning the primary instead of uniting behind the one actual Fishers native who had a chance of winning. Those twits insured that we got an imported mayor who wants to turn Fishers into East Carmel. Because Fadness identifies as a Republican he is now permanently installed. There is an answer: Re-elect NO ONE. This includes council members. I know a few years of Democrats is a high price to pay to end this, but it is the ONLY thing that will work.