Foundation For Excellence Gets Delayed To Allow Public Input
A vote to create a new non-profit in Kalamazoo has been delayed after significant public skepticism.
MLive reports that the Kalamazoo City Commission held a meeting Monday night with the public to discuss how exactly the Foundation for Excellence should be formed. The Foundation for Excellence was proposed after several area philanthropists worked together with the city to plan an organization that could manage donated funds; the money would then be put to use improving the community, so that residents could see lower property taxes among other things.
An initial $70 million was put forward by donors, and the goal is to raise $500 million.
Exactly how the Foundation should operate remains contentious, however; some at the meeting worried that the foundation wouldn’t be transparent enough, and that the use of the money would be beholden to the will of the donors, and not the community. As a result, the vote to officially lay out the Foundation’s rules has been pushed back to August 21.
This gives the City Commission and residents more time to work out the details.