At the same time, a new division of the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration began administering state matching funds with a standardized workflow and a new grants management system. As a result, the New Mexico Match Fund awarded the Mescalero Apache Tribe $2.3 million and Lincoln County $12.5 million to meet federal cost-share requirements tied to wildfire recovery.
The New Mexico Match Fund is a single fund that helps grantees qualify for federal grants, manage them successfully and absorb the often-hidden cost of compliance. Grantees are local and tribal governments, higher education, and utilities, among other political subdivisions. There is $50 million for matching grants, $4 million for project implementation and $17.5 million for federal compliance offsets in FY 2026.
The fund is operated by the 18-month-old Infrastructure Planning and Development Division, which implemented the Euna Grants platform to replace paper-based and manual grant processes with a centralized platform that handles multiple funding streams and compliance requirements.
“We wanted to be able to make grants, manage grants and have federal compliance baked in,” said Hallie Brown, deputy director of the division. “That’s why it really met our needs.”
Brown said the decision to implement the platform was easier because the division was newly formed, with few legacy processes to unwind. While large system changes can make agencies hesitant, she said the long-term payoff includes standardized workflows and transparency.
The system allows legislative staff to view grant data and scoring criteria directly, giving lawmakers the same information the division uses to make funding decisions. The ability to quickly generate reports has also reduced friction around data requests, she said.
Early results helped build confidence in the program. “We were able to demonstrate in year one of the grant program a really high return on investment,” Brown said. “So, $4.25 was coming back to the state for every $1 we invested, which was a huge return.”
The goal is not to take grantmaking out of agency or local hands, but to make the work more manageable, she said. By covering match requirements and reducing administrative burden, the state is helping communities focus less on paperwork and more on delivering projects.
