Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
A newly-proposed Not-for-Profit Emergency Support Fund was approved by Peace River town council at its regular meeting on Feb. 25.
According to Mayor Elaine Manzer, the Town recognizes the contributions made by community organizations and volunteer groups in the community to improve the well-being of the community and quality of life for residents.
Council has received many requests for assistance from not-for-profit organizations, many of which are one time or emergency circumstances where the group has encountered an issue they cannot financially address in the short term.
Peace River director of community services Tanya Bell explained at the meeting that the policy had been presented to council at a Governance and Policy meeting earlier in the month, with both a review and amendments made to the policy.
“Council reviewed the proposed policy that was developed by the Community Services Board, heavily with their feedback and thought process,” Bell says.
The policy was proposed because there was no formal way to deal with such requests, therefore the policy was created to deal with emergency funding to not-for-profit organizations in dire straits. Total budgeted in the 2025 Operational Budget is $10,000, which Bell explains would be used on a first-come, first-served basis.
“Once the funds are depleted, chances are extraordinary circumstances would be possibly considered to be brought back to council for the budgetary authority to have a further discussion about that applicant’s situation,” says Bell.
“But the intent would be first-come, first-served and when funds are gone, funds are gone for the year, and it would restart next budget cycle,” she adds.
Clarity was added to the original policy that was proposed noting that organizations cannot request funds to rebuild reserves, and the applicants must be a registered not-for-profit or charitable organization.
The policy was approved unanimously by council.
The hope is that the new policy will create a clear and transparent process to address emergency funding requests from community organizations.