Legislation To Create Community Support Fund Passes

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — With the passing of legislation, county officials now can partner with a nonprofit organization to create a community support fund for various projects, which avoids adding costs to the county's general fund. Previous county law barred officials from soliciting monetary gifts, which restricted the county’s ability to leverage support from philanthropic organizations.

In the fall of 2020, the County Council passed a resolution that created a fund to support county recreation and parks projects. But officials wanted to do more.

“When the Council passed its resolution last year, we asked the administration to look into how we could better leverage corporate philanthropy and charities to assist funding the facilities and programs that benefit county citizens, especially recreation and parks initiatives,” Baltimore County Councilman Todd Crandell said. “The community support legislation is a meaningful step in that direction.”

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said the legislation allows the county to "do even more to build vibrant communities and provide high quality services to its residents."

Under the new legislation, the county executive and other designees may solicit monetary gifts to support the fund. The county administrative officer must publish on the county website an annual report of donations received no later than 30 days after the end of the fiscal year.

The community support fund would be modeled after the Baltimore County COVID-19 Relief Fund, which was managed by the Baltimore Community Foundation and used to purchase food, personal protective equipment and other resources to support the county’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Monetary gifts are subject to the gift review procedure and must be used for the benefit of a county program or other governmental purpose, function, or activity, or be for the benefit of a charitable organization based in the County or that provides services to county residents. Officials may not solicit or facilitate the solicitation of a gift from a lobbyist.

The legislation will take effect May 2.