At a time when the Board is optimistic about raising $30 million for the high school renovation, others have not been so lucky. Look at IUP:
Iowa-based RuffaloCODY raised $1,496,331 for The Foundation for Indiana University of Pennsylvania and gave the foundation $523,055, or 35 cents on the dollar.
Bill Speidel, the foundation's associate vice president of development, said the return satisfied him because the campaign targeted alumni. Most had not contributed to the university and may have attended IUP in the 1960s when it received 70 percent of its money from the state, he said. Now the school gets about 30 percent from the state.
Now the Board will be revisiting the naming rights policy during Wednesday's Policy Committee meeting. Here is Wednesday's agenda:
Agenda
1. Policy Review
A. FF, Naming Rights
B. KCD, Donations to the Schools
C. KGD, Partnerships and Sponsorships
D. KHB, Advertising
2. Questions and Comments from Residents
I emailed the chair of the Policy Committee to verify the time for Wednesday's meeting. The time has been posted as either 4:30 or 5:00. Of course, I have not heard back.
Update 11:28 AM Scott Goldman confirmed the time. The Policy Committee meeting will start at 4:30 PM at Jefferson Middle School Library. Thank you, Scott, for your response.
Did the board, ever ask their constituents if they wanted to "pimp" our district's facilities?
ReplyDeleteOh, I know, good old Ed Kubit did one of his famously "informal polls" and found the community evenly divided.
Giffen Good
You are so right Mr. Good.
ReplyDeleteWe already have evidence of an attempt to find "easy" money courtesy of a school board director that "whored" out his property in the quest or advertising revenue.
Make no mistake, that is what naming rights are - advertising revenue. There is no difference between posting a company's name on an ugly outdoor board on the side of a building or plastering it a football stadium.
Besides, the way I see it, if we name the stadium, or the pool or any other SD facility they should be rightly named "Lebocitizen's" stadium or whatever, (only because 30,000+ last names would be far too long) since the citizens of Lebo paid for the bulk of its creation.
Dick Bachman
Interestingly, all of the policies to be reviewed are existing policies, and three (3) were created during the summer of 2008, and one (1) was already existing but last amended in mid-May, 2008.
ReplyDeleteThe District and then SB were obviously planning this in preparation for and in conjunction with the HS project.
Just a little fact worth noting.
Bill Lewis
It will be interesting to see how the SB will address & resolve the issue of providing federal tax deductibility to prospective donors and grantors who will condition those $ on the required qualification(s) for federal tax deductibility. The District is not a non-profit, CHARITABLE entity because it has both tax and police powers, so it does not seemingly qualify for 501(c)(3) status.
ReplyDeleteThe PTA, for the time being, and MLFE are both designated 501(c)(3) entities, yet neither are suitable vehicles for a $30 million fundraising campaign. There is the Mt. Lebanon Community Endowment and even the likes of The Pittsburgh Foundation, but both as well as similar entities are structured as endowments whose grants are supposed to be from the earnings of the principal in more or less perpetuity, rather than being a quick & easy conduit for the entire amount in collected/donated principal to pay a major construction bill.
And I gather the *thinking* of the SB is that the fundraising target would be a substitute for a second bond issue, or a significant portion of it, to complete the funding required for the HS ? Just think, if that could happen several of the SB members would likely believe they could claim that the local tax cost of the HS came in at only $95 million, just like they said it would...and that pigs fly and the moon is made of cheese.
Their fundraising gurus will surely have the right answers.
Bill Lewis
Mr. Lewis, I'm amazed that we've reached a point in this community that anything and everything is FOR SALE.
ReplyDeleteBut why stop at naming rights for the school district. The municipality could follow suit. Change Washington Road to Budweiser Way, Cedar could become Nike Blvd, the community pool... Dicks Swim Club.
There's gold in them thar hills son! Just ran across this info on a finance website.
"Adzookie Will Paint Your House and Pay Your Mortgage
By SARAH GILBERT
Posted 12:00PM 04/08/11 Family Money
Having trouble paying your mortgage? Willing to do just about anything to save your house? Adzookie is here to help. The advertising startup is offering to pay the mortgage of homeowners (you must be a homeowner) who agree to turn their houses into billboards for as long as they're willing to keep the paint on -- up to a year but at least three months. Afterward, Adzookie will paint your house back again to its original color.While I'm generally suspicious of personal billboard deals, the sort made famous by car-wrapping companies and Internet casino Golden Palace, this one seems a better deal than most. While car ads can pay as little as $300 a month, and the pregnant belly-painting is probably a one-time phenomenon, this one could just bring in some much-needed dough. The benefit of Adzookie's deal is that you get a new paint job at the end, too (perhaps a savings of several thousand dollars if you needed a new coat). "
Hey, if its good enough for such an esteemed institution as the Mt. Lebanon School District to sell exclusive rights to advertisers so they may display their corporate logos on school facilities, why can't I do it to pay off my mortgage? I mean really, I'm a 1/30,000 owner of the district's facilities and they have no qualms renting my property out for money. How can they deny me to do the same thing.
Thanks Dr. Steinhauer and President Posti for the idea, if you're comfortable with it, so am I.
Just think, I didn't have to spend $41,000 to find someone to help me pay my mortgage.
Giffen Good
Maybe we could charge people for a license to put "Save Our School" signs in their yard?
ReplyDeleteCome on people! It's for the children. Why must you always hate the children!!!
Yo Bro,
ReplyDeleteYou've come up with a marvelous idea ! If painted signage messages do not work out, consider hanging or attaching advertising banners to the exterior wall of your house facing the street....it violates the Muni zoning ordinance, but what the hell, the School District has been getting away with it for years (e.g. just drive by Lincoln)....Oh, I forgot, that's the SB Pres's neighborhood !
You can also now plant yard signs in your front yard permanently as long as they have just a minimal political campaign or public purpose link....the zoning ordinance was amended last year to align with recent case law.
The possibilities are almost endless. This could be a great start-up business opportunity for you...designing, constructing and installing banners, signs, etc....as long as you headquarter elsewhere cause the local & state taxes and increasing rental rates, regulations/licensing/fees will drive you nuts and potentially into eventual bgankruptcy.
Veblen Good
Perhaps all those people that wanted to "Save Our Schools" should put their checkbooks where their mouths' are and pony up the first $10 or 15 million in donations to the district.
ReplyDeleteAndy Bradford
If they can magically raise 30 million through private donations, does that mean everyone gets a tax rebate? Our taxes should be offset by outside funding, right? )Ok, ok, I know...)
ReplyDeleteLook, at the end of the day, it's important to keep in mind that socialism only looks good on paper (the collective good, equity, safety for the children) but socialism also ALWAYS results in the exact opposite intended effect. Our school board has tried imposing a social engineering agenda on the community. They seem to arrogantly believe that rocketing taxes and some ridiculous shiny new school will attract only the wealthiest and most educated in our society(because let's face it, our community is just chock full of uneducated rubes). But what's going to happen is just what we see unfolding. Housing values at the upper echelon will decline, which will attract not the uber-wealthy as some of our elitist SB members believe but instead, savvy home buyers looking for a bargain who might just be--GASP!--ordinary Americans who see a good deal on a house. Lower end housing will be tough to unload which means undesirables like me won't be able to leave because we can't sell. Whoops, there goes the plan right out the window. But I'm the crazy one? Ha...