The city of Honolulu is looking to give away millions of dollars to local nonprofits through its new grants-in-aid program, but charities have to meet a Dec. 19 to apply.

It’s the second year of funding through the program, which was approved by voters in Nov. 2012 election as a means to set aside a 0.5 percent of the city’s general fund revenues for nonprofits and charities.

But over the past year, the grants-in-aid fund and other earmarks for nonprofits were the subject of much fighting between Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the City Council.

City Council members wanted to give nearly $8 million more to nonprofits of their choosing than what was in the grants-in-aid fund, which was about $5 million in general fund dollars.

Caldwell balked at this idea and told the members he would withhold the money from the additional earmarks.

The City Council, however, was undeterred.

They approved shifting some of the grants-in-aid money — which is supposed to be allocated by an independent commission — to other nonprofits as a way of sharing the wealth.

This, of course, did not sit well with the mayor, who believed it was the commission that should be in charge of vetting the applications.

Whether the fighting will continue into the new year will remain to be seen.

Information about making a grant proposal to the city can be found here. Mandatory information meetings will also take place Nov. 25-27 and Dec. 2, 3 and 9.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user ota_photos via www.tradingacademy.com.

—Nick Grube