Marajen Stevick Foundation

“Greg cozad and george shapland have a business relationship.”

“The supported organizations, collectively, shall have the right to approve the appointment or election of an aggregate five directors to serve as "representatives" of the supported organizations on the board of directors of the foundation.”

“The organization did not have any committees with the authority to act on behalf of the board.”

“The form 990 is reviewed in draft form with the full board of directors. All questions and concerns are addressed and resolved before becoming final. The final form 990 is provided to the full board of directors prior to filing with the irs.”

“Each year, board members complete a formal conflict of interest disclosure statement. This information is presented at the beginning of each board meeting along with a formal request for new potential conflicts of interest.”

“Officers and directors of the filing organization are not compensated for their services to the filing organization.”

“The organization does not make its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, or financial statements available to the public.”

“The organization does not have employees and therefore does not have a whistleblower policy.”

“The purpose of the marajen stevick foundation is to aid in enhancing the quality of life of the citizens of champaign-urbana and east central illinois by: 1) providing consistent long-term financial support to stevick supported organizations. 2) encouraging and assisting the foundation's major assets to act as catalysts and leaders in the community. The newspaper and radio stations were owned and operated by the news-gazette, inc, which was in turn owned by the foundation, were started by marajen stevick's parents, who were active voices in the local communities and promoted civic causes for the good of the communities. After her parents' deaths, marajen stevick operated the businesses and continued her parents' dreams and roles. To perpetuate those dreams, she created a private foundation, which has since been converted to this supporting organization, to operate the newspaper and radio stations as community-based communication vehicles to be used for the benefit of the champaign-urbana and surrounding communities. The foundation is guided by marajen stevick's preferences as to categories of funding through its supported organizations, including but not limited to the following: enhancement of the quality of life of elder citizens; the humane treatment of animals and their co-existence with humans; reading and writing programs at all levels of education; the advancement of journalism at the university of illinois; and the aesthetic enhancement of the physical environment of the champaign-urbana and surrounding communities.”

“The foundation's primary asset consisted of a 100% interest in closely-held stock of the news-gazette, inc., a newspaper. Over the course of the last two decades print media industry has substantially contracted. As a result, the underlying corporation filed a plan of liquidation which was subsequently confirmed by a court on september 30, 2020. Marajen stevick foundation has no expectation of proceeds from the eventual sale of assets, therefore the interest in the closely-held stock was written off. Looking forward, marajen stevick foundation plans to dissolve the foundation and distribute the remaining assets to its supported organization(s).”

“Write-off due to bankruptcy - the news-gazette, inc. Stock -29,858,700.”