How the Parks Foundation was formed and how it will work: staff outlines history, donations and financial process

At the Aug. 5 Elevate Parks Foundation meeting, Beverly Tucker Knight, director of parks and recreation, reviewed the foundation’s origin and early finances, explaining why the foundation was created, how it will accept donations and how it will work with the city budget and capital improvement process.

Tucker Knight told the board the parks master plan was adopted in 2018 and that, after the passage of Prop C, the city had additional funding to proceed with short- and long-term park projects. In 2022 the city adopted a resolution authorizing a transfer from Larson Ridge House of the Oliver Apartment Building to Oliver Holding Company; that action included a proposed donation for park use. The donor, identified in the discussion as Michael Sansone, preferred to give through a 501(c)(3) rather than directly to the city, and the city engaged Gilmore & Bell to draft articles of incorporation for a parks foundation.

According to Tucker Knight, the foundation was incorporated in December (year provided in conversation), held its first meeting in March 2023, received a nonprofit tax identification and a state authorization letter in summer 2023, and a formal letter was sent to the donor in August 2023 indicating the foundation was ready to receive funds. A redetermination letter was sent in April 2024. Tucker Knight said there was little foundation activity until this year; a bank account was established this summer after the foundation received a required minimum distribution (RMD) gift of $65,000 from a donor’s retirement account, which created urgency to set up financial infrastructure.

The nut graf: the foundation exists to accept philanthropic gifts that donors prefer to direct to a 501(c)(3) rather than the city, and staff emphasized that the foundation will follow the same financial policies and purchasing processes that govern City of Olivet transactions.

Operational details Tucker Knight provided include: small donor gifts—two unsolicited donations of $100 and $50 and a $250 donor-advised fund gift for a tree at 5 Oaks—are received by the foundation and then transferred to the city to reimburse costs under the city’s tree memorial policy, which Tucker Knight said the city adopted with input from the Parks and Recreation Commission. She said grants would be prepared by city staff and submitted by the executive director of the foundation (the city manager is the foundation’s executive director), and that grant applications exceeding the city’s policy thresholds or requiring a board resolution would come back to the foundation for a special meeting and a formal board action.

Tucker Knight also flagged governance questions for the board to consider as the foundation receives more gifts: whether the foundation should focus on funding routine needs or special projects, whether to run annual fundraising campaigns and how much staff time the foundation should require. The foundation currently has no reserve fund policy, and Tucker Knight said that is something to address if larger unsolicited gifts are received in the future.

Less-critical details and next steps: staff recommended that one foundation meeting be held in February or March each year to review capital improvement program (CIP) requests so the foundation can identify projects suitable for foundation funding before the city’s budget process. Tucker Knight said staff will participate in board conversations about fundraising and the foundation’s role and will return with policy recommendations if the board wants a formal reserve policy or fundraising plan.