San Antonio mayor seeks private funding for 15 city-supported organizations
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is asking businesses, foundations and philanthropists to make three-year commitments for 15 organizations that received city support as officials address an estimated $158 million FY 2027 budget gap.
In a July 24, 2026, letter, Jones asked potential donors to provide commitments matching or exceeding the organizations’ listed FY 2026 general-fund support. Interested businesses, foundations and philanthropists were asked to contact the mayor’s office by August 21, 2026.
The request is not a final decision to cut nonprofit funding. The city manager is scheduled to present the proposed FY 2027 operating and capital budget to City Council on August 13, beginning a process that includes public input, budget work sessions and a scheduled adoption vote on September 17.
Organizations and city amounts listed in the letter
The mayor’s letter identifies approximately $6.5 million in listed FY 2026 city support across the 15 organizations. The amounts are current-year contributions identified in the letter, not confirmed FY 2027 cuts or guaranteed replacement-funding targets:
- Avenida Guadalupe Association — $142,000
- BioMedSA — $100,000
- Diez y Seis de Septiembre Commission — $40,000
- DreamVoice, LLC, for Produce Dream Week — $175,000
- LiftFund — $500,000
- Local Initiatives Support Corporation — $250,000
- San Antonio Book Festival — $150,000, plus $97,725 in hotel occupancy tax
- San Antonio Botanical Garden — $1,080,000
- San Antonio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, which organizes the MLK March — $300,000
- San Antonio Education Partnership Scholarship and Outreach Program — $2,477,814
- San Antonio Parks Foundation — $125,000
- SAWS Plumbers to People and Laterals to People programs — $750,000
- Síclovía — $80,000
- Supply SA — $200,000
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Hiring Our Heroes program — $150,000
The smallest listed amount is $40,000 for the Diez y Seis de Septiembre Commission. The largest is $2,477,814 for the San Antonio Education Partnership Scholarship and Outreach Program. The Book Festival’s separate $97,725 hotel-occupancy-tax allocation is listed in addition to its $150,000 city amount.
Services connected to the funding
The organizations span small-business lending, scholarships, arts and culture, neighborhood investment, parks, water-plumbing assistance, veterans employment and community events.
LiftFund said city support helps reduce interest costs on loans to small businesses. The San Antonio Report also quoted Avenida Guadalupe Association President and CEO Gabriel Quintero Velasquez, who said the association’s work includes affordable housing, community services and neighborhood investment. Those statements describe how the organizations say they use city support; they do not establish that any service has been reduced or will be eliminated.
The letter asks private supporters to provide replacement funding, but no private commitments were confirmed in the available reporting. The ultimate effect on the organizations will depend on the city manager’s proposal and City Council’s budget decisions.
What happens next
The city’s FY 2027 budget calendar sets August 13 for the proposed-budget presentation. Community input is scheduled from August 17 through August 28, with City Council budget work sessions on August 18, 19, 25 and 26. The calendar lists September 17 for City Council consideration of the FY 2027 annual operating and capital budget and related tax-rate ordinances.
Residents should watch the proposed budget and public meetings for the first formal details on nonprofit funding. Businesses, foundations and philanthropists interested in supporting the listed organizations have until August 21 to contact the mayor’s office.
Nonprofit funding, tax decisions and other responses to the projected budget gap remain unsettled. The July 24 letter is a private-funding appeal, not an adopted budget or a final city action.
Sources
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