More than 250 Hawaii nonprofits and other groups are asking the Legislature for roughly $185 million in grants-in-aid this session.

Only a fraction of the applications will be approved and even then the governor may decide to withhold the money.

The odds didn’t stop many nonprofit leaders from taking advantage of an opportunity Friday to take their case directly to the heads of the Senate and House money committees.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat

The informational briefing at the Capitol gave each applicant three minutes to convince lawmakers that their particular project or operating fund request deserves a direct infusion of taxpayer dollars.

The final list will be hammered out later next month and approved before the Legislature adjourns May 7.

Last year, lawmakers approved just $10 million in grants, ranging from $25,000 for a cat shelter in Nanakuli to $400,000 for the Young Women’s Christian Association on Kauai.

And of course there was the $100,000 grant the Legislature approved for the Ewa Historical Society to restore a plantation cemetery.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie ended up not releasing the money after learning Rep. Rida Cabanilla was on the nonprofit’s board of directors and her son was its vice president.

This year the requests include $500,000 for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, $150,000 for the Hawaii International Film Festival, $1.3 million for the Hawaii Food Bank, $507,000 for the Chamber of Commerce and many, many more.

Roughly 70 applications came from groups on the neighbor islands and about 185 came from Oahu.

To view the full list of applicants, how much money they are requesting and what they plan to use the grant for, visit the Capitol website here.