[Alumni-chat] 501 c3 status and sponsorship information

Mon Jun 25 20:44:41 EDT 2007

Steve--

Okay.  Public discussion.  I didn't want to weigh down this list.  I had 88 
messages waiting for me this afternoon...

A couple points about this.

1) It can take several YEARS to get non-profit status in Ohio if your group 
can be dumped into a "potential terrorist" list.  I live in a small 
community in southeastern Ohio that is largely the descendants of a runaway 
slave and her plantation "owner's" son, mixed with "non-White" Europeans (at 
the time this meant anyone not "pure" English) and Native Americans.  The 
people in my community are rediscovering their heritage after almost two 
centuries of shame.  They started a group called the Multicultural 
Genealogical Center where they share family histories and have speakers 
about the Underground Railroad, visit cemeteries, etc.  Very grassroots, 
very small, very innocuous.  They were denied 501(c)3 status for 
years--don't know if they ever got it--because of the racial component.  
They were told the racial issue put them on the "potential terrorist" list.  
Of course, this was when Taft was governor so things may have changed.  But 
my point is that it can take years.  For reasons other than the speed [SIC] 
with which the state bureaucracy grinds.  I don't think I need to state that 
Antioch College is far more likely to be viewed by some in the government as 
a threat to national security. ;-)

2)  One of the issues that I think funders would be concerned about has been 
touched on here before by someone who left after one quarter, and that is 
how political correctness has been used in an abusive manner on campus.  
These stories are blown up both on campus and in the press (my opinion 
there).  They have had a very negative impact on how people view Antioch.  
Funders would want to know if the College intends to do anything about this 
problem, and if so how do they propose to do it.  To answer this question to 
a potential funder, a core group needs to sit down and hammer out a serious 
and in-depth proposal as to what the future College will look like and how 
we intend to address these problems.  These aren't problems that began with 
the younger generation.  They were there when I was a student (1972-77).  I 
found them rather bizarre and precious (not in a good way precious), but 
something I was willing to live with because of the things I really valued 
at Antioch.  Plus I'm not White so I had some protection from them, which 
I'll admit was a very nice change.  However, certain decisions--like 
expelling the three White boys involved in the mannikin incident but letting 
the Latino kid come back--do raise questions about exactly what kind of 
community culture this school is going to have in the future?  No one wants 
to throw money into James P. Dixon's goldfish bowl.  It didn't work then and 
it won't work now.  In fact, with all the very serious issues we face, both 
as a nation and as a species, there are many more causes to fund if Antioch 
College is not willing to face reality and admit that we have a problem.  
NOT a new problem...but it seems to have gotten worse and worse as times 
goes by.

3.  Someone else talked about the sustainability issue, which I addressed in 
1997, and was brushed off for being a "neurotic starving artist".  ALL 
non-profits right now have to have a serious and manageable plan for 
becoming self-sustaining within a few years, if they are to be serious 
contenders for grants.  This is one of the things funders look for.  How do 
we address this issue?  This HAS to be addressed unless we want to raise a 
large endowment for the College among ourselves.  I'm not sure we are 
capable of that kind of fundraising.  In fact, I gravely doubt it.

4.  All the legal and financial questions need to be addressed before 
writing proposals to funders.  They don't want to give money to keep Antioch 
College alive, only to have their money swallowed up by Antioch University.  
It seems with each passing minute there are increasing financial and legal 
issues to address.  I'm not a lawyer but I think a committee of lawyer alums 
should form ASAP to start working on these issues.  Same with people with 
fiscal backgrounds to try to untangle this mess.  Both of these issues--the 
law and the money--are going to take a lot of time.

I, for one, would like to know who presently holds the deeds to the land?  
Who physically has possession of the deeds to the physical properties in YSO 
and whose name is on those deeds and what further documents exist that 
relate to the ownership of the land and real property?  This needs to be 
detailed to figure out exactly what Antioch College's legal standing is.  I 
know the University supposedly owns this property, but in exactly what 
instruments and what do those documents say..exactly?

As an aside, my son started his academic career at Shimer College--a school 
I considered before I found Antioch.  It turns out that at the time of our 
1973 strike, Shimer was facing similar problems.  Their solution was to 
close the school for 18 months, sell ALL of their property, and move to a 
bedroom community north of Chicago where they rented a house and had a 
handful of students and profs.  Gradually, they have grown to--in 
2001--around 160 students, most of which were weekender adult students.  
Recently they found that model--they had several properties when my son 
left--was not sustainable so they joined forces with some sort of science or 
technical school.  Their Great Books curriculum has been watered down and 
the focus is on science rather than the humanities.  None of these solutions 
have worked and I don't think their latest attempt at survival will work, 
either.  If the Board intends to do something like what Shimer did, we might 
as well lay the old girl to rest now.

I do not think it is worth fighting for this school if the campus culture is 
not changed.  It is demoralizing and it is also very hard to take this 
educational model seriously where severe peer pressure is ending 
conversations and modifying behavior, rather than opening things up.  If 
students are being intimidated from being completely open and intellectually 
honest, this is a serious problem in any educational system, and especially 
one with Antioch's purported values.  I do not think the experience of the 
student who wrote about this is unique.  I saw it happening when I was a 
student.  In fact, I experienced it, too.  No, I'm not a Republican or 
right-winger--quite the opposite.  I was further left than most of my 
classmates.  But I kept my mouth shut a lot of the time, as my professors' 
evaluations attest.  Not good.  This is something for the faculty to discuss 
and chew their cud over because they are the ones with most face-to-face 
interaction with the students, they are the mentors, they are the 
evaluators.  And in some cases they appear to be the victims.

5.  If the Tides is to be approached as a receivorship, I think this is a 
good thing to do.  But donors need to know what will happen to their money 
should our attempts fail, because they easily could.  I still do not know 
what happened to the AIF money.  If it ended up with AU, I will be extremely 
unhappy because I was very clear at the outset that under no circumstances 
would I agree to this.

The members of AIF recognized a lot of these problems before they became so 
severe.  It is unfortunate the College did not take our concerns seriously.

Thelma

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Steve Andrews" <atmsteve at rcn.com>
Reply-To: Alumni Chat List <alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu>
To: "Alumni Chat List" <alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu>
Subject: RE: [Alumni-chat] 501 c3 status and sponsorship information
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:52:58 -0500

Thelma -

Becky was responding to an issue that has bothered me; I hope we can keep
this discussion public.  Many messages have claimed that contributions are
deductible under 501(c)(3).  But those of us with experience setting up npos
know that establishing a 501(c)(3) organization from scratch takes several
months.  For a donation made today to be deductible and separate from the
University, there must be a fiscal agent, and since there had been no
information as to the identity of that fiscal agent, Becky wants to contact
Tides to see if they would serve in this capacity. By the way, I support
talking to Tides - I have been involved in several of their projects...

Steve Andrews

-----Original Message-----
From: Thelma Seto [mailto:tgseto at hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 12:52 PM
To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
Subject: RE: [Alumni-chat] 501 c3 status and sponsorship information

Becky--

There are many foundations and progressive billionaires who might be
interested in contributing to keeping Antioch alive.  Please contact me
privately.

Thelma

----Original Message Follows----
From: Becky Klein <beckyklein94609 at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Alumni Chat List <alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu>
To: alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu
Subject: [Alumni-chat] 501 c3 status and sponsorship information
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:48:47 -0700 (PDT)

I have been reading the various posts about quickly getting 501c3 status.
Having worked in the non profit industry for the past 10 years this is not
something done quickly.

What is important for the alumni board to look for is 501c3 sponsorship.
I wanted to put out a resource that I am familiar with, The Tides Foundation
is a philanthropic organization that provides 501c3 sponsorship and
assistance through their Tides Center projects.   Antioch's social justice
mission is a perfect fit for becoming a Tides Center project.  To learn more
about this foundation and the Tides Center and what sponsorship means.
Please go to this website.    http://www.tidescenter.org/index.php

One of the major requirements is that the project has at 30,000 in funding,
which from Rick's responses to Alan's questions it appears we have $400,000.

If there are other alumni with grantwriting experience I would like to work
on generating a letter of inquiry to the Tides Foundation.  I have some
contacts there through other work that I have done that they have funded.
I can be reached via email at beckyklein94609 at yahoo.com

Becky Klein 97'

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