The Rifle City Council unanimously approved a $76,000 funding request for the Rifle Community Foundation during its Wednesday, May 7 meeting, continuing the city’s annual support for the nonprofit.

The foundation, which serves communities from Glenwood Springs to De Beque, distributes grants to local organizations with the goal of improving quality of life in the Colorado River Valley. Councilor Karen Roberts currently serves as the city’s representative on the foundation’s board of directors.

Rifle Community Foundation President Kasey Nispel appeared before the council alongside City Manager Patrick Waller to present the request.

“We ask the city manager for our funding every year — normally it’s just been in a letter,” Nispel said. “We use most of it every year, so this year we thought it would be nice to have a little more formality in case you had different questions.”

The foundation’s board currently has seven members but can accommodate up to nine. Nispel encouraged anyone interested in serving to consider volunteering.

According to Waller, foundation funds are separated into general grants and substance abuse prevention grants. The latter is supported by local marijuana tax revenues under direction from previous city councils. However, Waller noted that those revenues have been steadily declining.

“With the declining revenues in our marijuana fund, it’s funded less and less by those marijuana fees,” he said. “That’ll be council’s opportunity to look at those numbers.”

Nispel said the city has contributed $36,000 annually since 2013. Beginning in 2021, additional funds from marijuana taxes have supplemented the foundation’s work. This year, the city will contribute $40,000 from marijuana revenues, bringing the total allocation to $76,000.

Councilor Alicia Gresley asked whether grant requests had increased in recent years.

“Definitely in the last two years, there’s always a need for more money,” Nispel said. “There are regular people applying for the grants—they’re definitely increasing the grants.”

The board reviews each application based on factors including location and the number of people served. Mayor Sean Strode asked for estimates on individual grant amounts.

“For the general fund, I don’t think we’ve gone over $5,000 per applicant,” Nispel said. “For substance abuse prevention, we gave up to $25,000 or $30,000 in the early years because we didn’t have many applicants. More recently, we’ve done $10,000 to $20,000 per grant.”

Nispel added that the original guidelines for substance abuse prevention grants limited eligibility to programs serving individuals under 18. Those guidelines have since expanded to include adults, as long as the focus remains on prevention.

Both Strode and Roberts thanked Nispel for her work on behalf of the foundation.

“It is fun to give out money,” Nispel said with a smile.To learn more about the Rifle Community Foundation or to volunteer, visit riflecf.org.