Advocates leave dollars on the table when they don’t look beyond funding sources explicitly aimed at supporting child and youth programs. But there are numerous nontax funding sources with high potential to support the programs and services kids need. 

We call these emerging funding strategies—policy changes or sources of primarily nontax funding for public projects that, traditionally, communities have not directed toward child and youth programs and services. Examples of these sources include payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT), community benefits agreements, profits from publicly held assets, local budget advocacy, and social media lawsuits, among others.

These untapped funding mechanisms leverage existing community assets, development activity, or policy tools at the local level to support a community’s goals for children and youth. While emerging funding strategies often are hyperlocal, and may be limited in scale and dollar amount, these strategies can be more politically palatable for communities that have not yet socialized the idea that support for children and youth is an essential service that requires large-scale, dedicated funding. In addition to potentially generating small-scale revenue, pursuing and implementing emerging funding strategies can build momentum and influence public opinion to support using taxes to meet the needs of children and families as well.