The City of Portsmouth (City) recognizes that nonprofit organizations play an essential role in improving the quality of life for our community. To encourage nonprofit organizations to provide services that affect the welfare of Portsmouth residents, the City has established the following policy for awarding monetary support to qualified nonprofit organizations. These awards are intended to:

1. Provide incentive funding to nonprofit organizations serving Portsmouth, whose services are easily accessible to Portsmouth residents and whose service costs can be documented. A goal of the process is to encourage community support for programs so that the City’s funds can be replaced with funds from other sources. This will allow the City’s funds to be directed toward new programs in the future.

2. Provide funding for services or programs to meet the specific needs of Portsmouth residents and support the City Council’s Vision Principles. Each nonprofit organization will be divided into a program category based on the service they provide to the City. Specific programs or services may be subjected to term limitations.

3. Provide a systematic, impartial, and informed process through which nonprofit organizations may request funding from the City.