First America retreats
By PETER GUINTA
Created 06/10/2011 - 11:30pm
450th foundation ends contract with city, will return money
Summary:
The First America Foundation, after failing for nine months to raise money or plan events for St. Augustine's 450th anniversary celebration in 2015, voted Friday to terminate its contract with the city.
The First America Foundation, after failing for nine months to raise money or plan events for St. Augustine's 450th anniversary celebration in 2015, voted Friday to terminate its contract with the city.
Foundation Vice Chair Christine Chapman said the future of the nonprofit organization has not yet been determined, but board members planned to meet with city officials next week and discuss returning what remains of the $275,000 given to the foundation as seed money.
Chapman said the board's decision was a difficult one.
"It was not unanimous," Chapman said. "(But) since last Friday (when Chairman Don Wallis suddenly resigned), things drastically changed. It's been a bit of a blur."
Wallis resigned because he wanted the board to hire an executive director and a fundraiser, but the board didn't want to do so.
"Without a staff, (the job of chairman) is untenable," Wallis said.
The City Commission had also increased pressure on the Foundation to explain what it has done for the nine months it has been in existence.
Chapman said the board went into an organizational phase, worked on a logo and got its non-profit papers from Tallahassee.
Not enough was done
For a while Executive Director Jamie Alvarez had an assistant, but eventually that person left, and the weight of running the organization rested on her shoulders alone.
Chapman said that, despite the recent "troubled waters" with the city, Foundation board members are "caring individuals who had stepped up and volunteered because they love this city. It was a great opportunity and a learning experience for the board and community."
She said that Alvarez met with city staff weekly to inform them of the foundation's actions.
"From a board standpoint, we were doing that. (But) we learned that you have got to share your story," Chapman said. "We didn't do a good job of doing that.
"We should have made some formal statements and not just shared information."
But city commissioners had complained that they often had no idea what progress was made.
City Manager John Regan said city staff were given "general updates" weekly, though these weren't very substantial.
"The (Foundation) staff was in a very difficult situation," Regan said. "The amount of work they had to do was way beyond the capacity of any one individual. I don't know what will happen to the First America Foundation, but we'll stay positive, and we will have a 450th celebration."
Some volunteer help
Also on Friday, the St. Augustine 450 Community Corps, a non-profit group organized in 2007 by former St. Augustine Mayor George Gardner to support the Foundation with volunteer efforts, announced that it would like to move toward a more active role.
A press release Friday from board chairman Gardner said the group voted this week to generate a list of existing and new projects that could be accomplished by its cadre of 300 volunteers "from an extensive list of ideas on our oldcity450.com web site."
Gardener said, "It doesn't take a foundation to revise our tour guide training and testing program. It doesn't take a major corporation contribution to begin a beautification program in our historic district and throughout our city."
Gardner could not be reached Friday night.
His release also said, "The 450 Community Corps board stressed that its role is to complement, not compete with, future plans to commemorate the city's anniversary in 2015."
'Not quitters'
Chapman said one of the last steps that the First America Foundation board was doing -- before the vote Friday -- was identifying the "deliverables," those events needing to be funded by private, corporate or public donors and what those donors would get for their money.
"We'll need to meet with the city face-to-face and talk to them about the contract and return the money," she said.
Recent reports said the Foundation spent roughly $100,000 of the $275,000 they received.
Apparently, the Foundation is not disbanding. It will continue to exist as a corporate entity, just not one with a contract with the city.
"We need to take care of business, next week as an executive board and then as a full board," Chapman said. "We're not quitting. Nobody's quitting on that board."
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
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