The Sequim City Council recently approved the use of $50,000 of the City of Sequim Lodging Tax Funds for a new round of Tourism Sustainability Grants.

Non-profit tourism related organizations within the Sequim School District boundaries are eligible to apply.

Grants will be awarded up to $5,000 per organization

Applications are due to the City of Sequim by 4 p.m. Monday, May 24. The applications will be reviewed by the Sequim Lodging Tax Advisory Committee at their quarterly meeting on June 2 and recommendations will be made for approval to the Sequim City Council at their June 14 meeting.

The intent of the grant, city representatives say, is to assist organizations with funding that’s “essential to ongoing operations of facilities owned by the organization or to help cover the additional expenses of adapting their organization or event to adhere to the guidelines required by the State of Washington and Clallam County Health to meet the standards for public health.”

Lodging Tax is a restricted fund, city officials say, and may only be used for the specific purposes of: tourism marketing; marketing and operations of special events and festivals to attract tourists; supporting operations and capital expenditures of tourism-related facilities owned or operated by a municipality or public facilities district, and/or supporting the operations of tourism-related facilities owned or operated by nonprofit organizations.

Applicants will need to indicate which of these criteria their use of the funds will meet.