This page shows the city payments to vendors categorized with the "Community Funding/Grants" account description. As such, it is an approximation of the amount of funding or grants the City of Boulder has given to community organizations since 2016. The source of funding for these grants varies, some coming from the general fund, some from dedicated sources (e.g., Sugary Sweetened Beverage Tax) and others from federal grants (e.g., Community Development Block Grant). This data comes directly from the Accounts Payable dataset which is published on the City of Boulder’s open data catalog.

It is important to note that this data does not contain detailed information on projects or on the purpose of the grants. Instead, it merely describes the outgoing payments and the recipient of those payments. Moreover, the city departments have varying practices for when they categorize a transaction with the “Community Funding/Grants” account descriptor. Some grant payments to community organizations could have been classified in another category, thus undercounting amounts reported here; alternatively, some payments may be misclassified as community funding/grants when they were not in fact grants. Furthermore, some city departments publish grant payments to community organizations separately on the open data catalog that may not be represented here.

This data provides a directional look at outgoing city grants. Tracking this information has illustrated opportunities for improving the consistency of processes around how the city manages our grant funding. As a result the data will become increasingly accurate over time as internal training and process improvements are conducted to support more standardized financial reporting. The feedback form at the bottom of this webpage can be used to ask city staff questions about the data.

Track and monitor the amount of grants the City of Boulder provides for community projects.

Boulder is a natural home to some of the most innovative organizations in the nation, many of them eager to collaborate to support the community. The city shares this enthusiasm and looks to activate partnerships that increase community participation and expand options for how the city funds and delivers services. The city provides grants to select organizations whose goals align with the city's mission, vision and values, where the provision of a grant results in an additional benefit to the public than the city could have provided on its own.

Recorded city payments to organizations categorized as “Community Funding/Grants” payments nearly tripled from 2016 to 2017 ($10.5 million to $30.4 million) and decreased slightly in 2018 to $24.7 million total. Some degree of variation between years is expected due to the nature of some larger grant payments.

This data is provided by the City of Boulder's Finance Department and is sponsored by the City Manager's Office. The data displayed on this page is updated weekly.

City Grant Payments to Community Organizations Dashboard

Guide to Community Funding and Grants