SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Golf Club is one of four organizations added to the list of 19 recipients for core grant funding in 2011.

The 18-hole course, which is run as a not-for-profit co-operative, is receiving $15,000 from the city, while the Aurora Arts Society and the Yellowknife Guild of Arts and Crafts will each receive $5,000 and the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT will receive $4,500.

Organizations are eligible to apply for a yearly core funding grant after receiving special grant funding for three years in a row, said city councillor Bob Brooks, who chairs the Grant Review Committee. There is $350,000 available in the core grant fund in total each year.

Special grants are generally awarded to organizations for Yellowknife-based projects that are deemed beneficial to the city, he said. Core grant funding, on the other hand, can be used for anything, including operation and maintenance costs or projects, Brooks said.

The golf club has received $18,500 total in special grants from the city since 2008.

Andy Couvrette, president of the golf club's volunteer board of directors, said the core funding will go toward improving the course.

"We still have four greens that need to have grass put around them, so it's going toward capital projects to help improve the facility."

The co-operative has about 340 members who pay a $480 annual fee. Couvrette said all of the funds collected through membership fees and retail operations are reinvested into the golf course.

"There's no dividend paid out to anyone, no one is receiving any money other than the employees."

When asked for a copy of the club's financial records for 2009, Couvrette said he would "have to discuss that with the board of directors."

The golf course has been operating in Yellowknife since 1948.

In the past week - as the Yellowknife Community Garden Collective fought for a tax exemption - the golf club has been under fire for its own tax-exempt status.

In a letter to the editor printed in Yellowknifer Jan. 12, Christine Wenman wrote, "A precedent has been set given the properties in Yellowknife that are not currently charged taxes. The golf course ... really!?"

Couvrette said he was upset to see the golf club being "dragged through the mud" for applying and being granted an exemption.

He said the club, like the Shooting Club and Ski Club, who are also tax exempt, shouldn't be looked down upon for applying and being granted an exemption because it obviously meets the guidelines set by the city.

The same goes for core grant funding, he said.

"We are applying for programs that are available to lots of people, to lots of organizations and the fact that we were successfully able to obtain some funding from those programs, it shouldn't look negatively upon us," he said.

The goal of core grant funding is to get organizations to a point where they are self-sustaining, said Brooks.

He said a good example of that is Folk on the Rocks, whose funding was reduced to $10,000 from $15,000 in 2010.

"The city has given them lots of money over the years and it's become a self-sustaining not-for-profit group," said Brooks. "We'd love all the groups to fit into that category."

When the funding was cut, Lynn Feasey, then-executive and artistic director for Folk on the Rocks, disputed the idea that core funding should be reduced if an organization is successful.

"Organizations like this are vulnerable to all kinds of things, from staff turnover, (or) an event that didn't turn out because of something that was beyond our control," she said.

Brooks said the grant committee, which includes the mayor, one other councillor and three members of the public, has to make tough decisions about who receives funding and how much. Council then approves or rejects the recommendations.

He said the overall goal is to ensure there is money for as many groups as possible, including new ones.

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