Lodging Tax Grant

Chelan County is accepting applications for its Lodging Tax Event and Marketing Grants, which support tourism-related activities for the 2027 grant cycle. The County has made $229,262 available overall for this funding opportunity. The application identifies Tourism Promotion/Marketing and Operation of a Special Event/Festival designed to attract tourists as the two application categories. The supplemental Chelan County information states that applications are being accepted from nonprofit organizations. For this funding cycle, a nonprofit is defined as an organization listed in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and in good standing, meaning its status has not been revoked or suspended. Applicants must describe the proposed tourism-related activity and provide quantitative estimates demonstrating its anticipated tourism impact. Required estimates include overall attendance; the number of people who will travel more than 50 miles for the event, activity, or facility; the number of those travelers coming from another state or country; the number who will stay overnight in Chelan County; the number who will stay in paid accommodations such as hotels or motels, short-term rentals, RV parks, or bed and breakfasts; and the total paid lodging room nights expected to result from the activity. Applicants must also explain the methodology they will use to calculate actual visitor numbers after the event. Examples provided by the County include collecting ZIP codes through ticket sales, asking attendees to identify their home location on a map, or tracking visitors through a partner hotel offering a special event rate. Applicants must also describe their organization's prior success attracting tourists, identify the target tourist audience by characteristics such as location and demographics, and explain how they will promote the event, activity, or facility to attract tourists. They must disclose whether they are applying for Lodging Tax Funds from another community or grants from other organizations and, if so, identify the organizations and requested amounts. Applicants must provide the overall event or activity budget, state the percentage of that budget being requested from Lodging Tax funding, and attach a copy of the proposed project budget. Chelan County has added size limits to the application answer sections for this cycle. Applicants are encouraged to provide clear and concise responses. Except for Question No. 7, which requests the project's budget, applications containing additional expository pages will be considered non-responsive. Applicants certify that they are proposing a tourism-related service and that, if awarded, they intend to enter into a Municipal Services Contract with Chelan County. Recipients must provide liability insurance for the duration of the contract, name the County as an additional insured, and maintain coverage in an amount determined by the County. County funds may only be used for costs actually incurred by the funded organization or agency. Chelan County may require supporting accounting documentation, including original invoices, payroll records, and other payment documentation. Recipients must also submit post-event reporting documenting economic impact results in a format determined by the County. Applications are currently being accepted and must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on October 1, 2026. Applications received after that time will be excluded from consideration. The application may be downloaded and submitted by email or by mail or in person. Electronic applications may be sent to CM.LTAC@CO.CHELAN.WA.US. Mail or in-person submissions are directed to Chelan County Commissioners, ATTN: Paula Mikkelsen, 400 Douglas St, Suite 201, Wenatchee, WA 98801. For electronically submitted applications, the applicant's typed name on the signature line qualifies as the signature required for the certification. Chelan County states that applicants will be notified by email regarding funding decisions no later than the first week of November. Questions about the 2027 Lodging Tax grant cycle may be directed to CM.LTAC@co.chelan.wa.us. The supplied materials do not state an individual award minimum or maximum, number of awards, matching requirement, formal scoring rubric, or specific performance-period dates. Although the materials concern the 2027 cycle, they do not explicitly state a recurring annual schedule or provide dates for the next grant cycle, so a future recurring deadline should not be inferred solely from the cycle year.

Follow all answer-section size limits and provide clear and concise responses; additional expository pages will be deemed non-responsive except for the Question No. 7 project budget. Provide defensible tourism-impact estimates, especially travelers from more than 50 miles, overnight visitors, paid accommodations, and paid lodging room nights. Explain a practical methodology for measuring actual visitors after the event. Demonstrate prior tourism success, define the target audience, explain the promotion plan, disclose other funding requests, and attach the required proposed budget.