Demand for 2026 Aspen Grants Program exceeds budget ahead of council approval

Aspen City Council will evaluate funding recommendations for final approval on Tuesday for the Aspen Grants Program 2026 cycle, as rising demand exceeds budget capacity.

Since 1996, the city has been offering the grants program as a way to invest in nonprofit organizations “that contribute to the cultural vibrancy, social and emotional wellbeing, and overall quality of life in Aspen and the greater Roaring Fork Valley,” according to a staff report submitted to city council for the upcoming meeting.

Over the past 30 years, the program has invested more than $31 million in grant funding toward that mission and local organizations, according to Director of the city’s Strategy & Innovation Office John Barker.

“It’s really incredible to be able to get that kind of money to our community,” Barker said. “It’s really a privilege.”

He noted, however, that the combination of rising demand and rising expenses for organizations is driving a steep increase in requests.

“This year, there is 180% more demand than there is budget,” he said. “We would love to give out money to fully fund every application that our volunteers view as worthy, but there is just so much more demand than there is budget.”

According to an executive summary submitted to city council prior to the meeting, rising demand has exceeded budget expansion by over 12% each year recently. For the 2026 grant cycle, “organizations reported increased reliance on local funding sources due in part to reductions or variability in federal funding,” the summary reads.

Because of this, total funding requests reached $3,850,067. The available funding for the 2026 grant cycle is $2,150,865.

With a limited budget, the grants program divides applicants into three categories: community nonprofits (which receives roughly $600,000 of the total budget, entirely funded by the city’s general fund), arts and culture (which receives roughly $1.1 million of the total budget, entirely funded by the city’s arts and culture real estate transfer tax) and health and human services (which receives just over $300,000 of the total budget, funded 75% by the city’s general fund and 25% by the city’s tobacco tax revenue).

Each division has their own unique objectives and criteria, according to Barker, with an assigned group of up to five community volunteers who read and assess each grant application based upon the publicly available criteria.

“That forms the core of our decision-making process,” he said.

Assessments from community reviewers then go to the Grants Steering Committee, appointed by the city council, who turn them into financial recommendations presented to it for final consideration, which is slated for the April 14 meeting.

“We have to work very hard to be objective. We look at the reviewers’ applications just to make sure everything looks fair, that what they’re recommending is in line with the goals of the current city council and in line with the goals of the grant program overall,” Ann Mullins, chair of the Grants Steering Committee, said. “It’s just improving every single year — it’s just getting better and better. The demand just gets higher and higher.”

What makes Aspen’s grant program unique, according to Barker, is that the funding supports operational expenses for organizations — meaning applicants don’t have to be proposing a new initiative or program.

Regna Frank-Jones, head of Education Development and Programs for Aspen Film, has been using funds for operational costs for a number of years. In 2025, Aspen Film received $74,000.

“The city of Aspen grant is given as a general operating grant, which is fantastic.” Frank-Jones said. “It’s hard to get general operating funding from other grants. It all trickles down to great programming … a big part of it is supporting jobs and employment, and the ability for our nonprofit to attract talent and retain people. It’s a huge support — the cost of doing business in Aspen is steep.”

The city municipal grant program is also unique in that it gives money to organizations in neighboring cities throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, although Aspen recipients still receive a majority of the awards.

For Shannon Meyer, executive director of Response — based out of Basalt — the grant money helps cover operational costs as well. In 2025, Response received $11,500.

“It’s keeping the lights on,” Meyer said.

According to her, the funds have gone directly into day-to-day operations, allowing them to work with 185 survivors last year.

“It shows in these grant awards that Aspen recognizes we’re doing a really important community service and we’re doing it well, and they have faith in us,” she said.

Stepping Stones organization was able to use the 2025 city of Aspen funds to serve 460 young people from 10-24 years across the Roaring Fork Valley and to open a brand new drop-in center in Glenwood Springs.

“We are deeply grateful as a small, community-based organization … that we’re able to apply to the city of Aspen for support,” said Emily Cool Greener, development director for Stepping Stones of the Roaring Fork Valley, a nonprofit that received $8,200 in 2025. “We believe it really recognizes the interconnected nature of our valley. It means so much to us to be able to support the families of Aspen’s workforce.”

Sarah Graf, executive director and co-music director for the Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra, also expressed gratitude for the grant money that the organization has been receiving for a little over a decade.

“It’s been a source of steady support that’s really helped us in continuing to offer what we offer,” Graf said.

In 2025, Roaring Fork Youth Orchestra received $8,400, which went toward paying teachers working both one-on-one with students and in group classes.

“Through this funding … we can have beginner students all the way up to high school students,” she said. “We have weekly rehearsals in four locations, as well as around 15 concerts and events each year. Getting to offer that is so important here.”

She estimated the nonprofit started with about eight students in 2011 and is now up to about 100, offering free performances across the valley to about 2,000 audience members each year. 

Tim Sack, executive director for Buckhorn Public Arts, said the arts nonprofit used its first grant in 2025, $12,000, across all its programs.

“It means a lot,” Sack said. “It’s very helpful for us to have those funds to be able to activate our programs. Without those funds, we can’t do what we do.”

This year’s grant programming is also offering mini grants of $5,000 or less for smaller nonprofits throughout the valley.

“It doesn’t require the full application process that other groups are going through for larger amounts of money,” Mullins shared. “These $5,000 mini grant are for those smaller organizations that really find it somewhat of a burden to fill out our full application for Aspen grants. And they’ll be more ranked among their peers, which is quite a bit fairer.”

Those who do receive one of the mini grants will be required to submit an outcomes report the following year.

Applicants in the arts and culture division will also have the opportunity for two-year funding approval, meaning they will be able to extend that predictability of funds while also reducing application burdens next year on volunteers.

“It’s wonderful that next year, when they start putting together their budgets, they’ll know exactly how much they’ll be getting from the city,” Mullins said. “I would love to see (this initiative) go all the way through all the divisions.”

For both Mullins and Barker, the city’s grant program is one that relies heavily on the community members to make it all possible.

“Thank you to the staff,” Mullins said. “The staff does a fabulous job. The volunteers are incredible. They dedicate hours and hours to reviewing. It’s a very tough time for the nonprofits right now, (and) there’s nobody that does it to the magnitude that Aspen does it.”

Barker added, “The absolute most important thing to me is that this is a community-driven process that relies on community members to distribute public funds. We’re so grateful and appreciative of those community members — they do the hard work that makes this program possible.”

For those interested in helping support the process and becoming a volunteer with the city’s grant review committee, Barker encourages anyone who is a resident of Aspen, or in some cases Pitkin County, to apply at aspen.gov/FormCenter/Clerk-17/Board-Commission-Application-74.

“We are always in need of additional volunteers,” he said. “This program requires 20 community volunteers in order to function. It’s hard and meaningful work, and we welcome more applications.”