By Jorge Casuso
March 9, 2026 -- Friends of Sunset Park (FOSP) informed City officials Friday it would not participate in the City's new grant program, making it the second neighborhood group to reject the new restrictions.
The letter from the Board of the 37-year-old organization said it was "outraged" by new demands to participate that are "unreasonable, unwarranted, and unwelcome."
The new grant program comes with "strings" attached that ban a neighborhood group from using City funds to directly communicate with neighborhood residents and recruit new members, the Board wrote.
It also bars the use of non-City funds allowed under the group's tax designation to endorse candidates, a right the group has exercised sparingly, and to take positions on ballot measures,
"The current City Council seems to be trying to use the new grant requirements to restrict divergent viewpoints," the Board wrote after voting to decline to participate in the program.
"We agree that city grant funds should not be used for political endorsements, but applying this to all the activities of the organizations undermines our Constitutional rights," the Board wrote.
The letter comes one month after the Board of Northeast Neighbors declined to participate in the program it claimed was overly restrictive, invasive and muzzles free speech ("Neighborhood Group Pulls Out of City Grant Program," February 10, 2026).
Northeast Neighbors and Friends of Sunset Park are designated as 501c4 non-profits, a tax status that allows them to make political endorsements and participate in ballot measure campaigns.
The FOSP Board noted that it "has endorsed City Council candidates only twice in the last 25 years, and we have spent no funds, city or otherwise, on those endorsements.
"In 2024, the FOSP Board endorsement consisted of one paragraph in one of 52 weekly 15-page emails to our members," wrote the Board, which endorsed a slate opposing the four Council winners.
The Board also noted it has "taken positions for and against various local ballot measures over the years" without "pretending to represent all of our members, or all Sunset Park residents."
In its letter to the Mayor, Council and City Manager, the FOSP Board echoed Northeast Neighbors' objections to new guidelines that require groups to collect demographic information from their members.
This, the FOSP Board wrote, is "an illegal invasion of privacy, with no indication as to how the information would be used."
Under the new guidelines, funding for the city's seven neighborhood groups is based on the number of households each represents -- instead of the current $7,000 given to each group.
The new grants program also replaces funding for newsletters neighborhood groups send directly to residents with space in "Seascape," a City newsletter mailed to every Santa Monica household at least once a year at a cost of some $200,000.
Neighborhood groups that decline to participate in the new grants program will no longer be a "City-recognized neighborhood organization" or be listed on the City's website, the letter noted.
"Friends of Sunset Park is a grass-roots organization that was created by residents in 1989," the letter concluded. "This year, we will rely upon our members for support so we can continue to inform and advocate for the residents of our neighborhood."