Fort Atkinson Community Foundation

“Reference is made to paragraph 2.2, 2.2.1 and 2.3 of the fort atkinson community foundation declaration of trust, which states as follows: 2.2 except as hereinafter otherwise provided, all members of the fort atkinson community foundation board shall hold office for a term of five years from the first day of january following their nomination, and acceptance and appointment by the board. 2.2.1 the members of the fort atkinson community foundation board shall be nominated as follows: (a) one member shall be nominated by the board of education, joint school district no. 6. (b) one member shall be nominated by the board of directors of the premierbank of fort atkinson. (c) one member shall be nominated by the board of directors of the fort atkinson chamber of commerce. (d) one member shall be nominated by the board of directors of the fort atkinson historical society. (e) one member shall be nominated by the city council of fort atkinson, wisconsin. 2.3 all members of the fort atkinson community foundation board shall serve until their successors are nominated, accepted and appointed. No member shall be eligible for reappointment for successive terms.”

“Line 7a explanation - there are five directors of this foundation, each serves for a five-year term. They are all staggered terms, so only one new director is appointed each year. Each director is appointed by a different facet of the fort atkinson community, and is not a representative of the organization that appoints the director. See schedule o for additional information”

“There is no other committee that acts on behalf of the governing body.”

“The 990 is prepared by the independent auditor and reviewed by the audit committee, then signed by the board chairman.”

“A member of the board conducts an annual conflict of interest review and reports the results to the board of directors.”

“All documents are available upon request at the foundation's business office. In addition, a detail financial statement is published annually in the local newspaper.”

“The fort atkinson community foundation is a community trust which is not organized for any specific charitable purpose or for the conduct of any particular charitable activities, but is organized generally to provide for the charitable needs of the fort atkinson metropolitan area. Accordingly, the fort atkinson community foundation board has adopted a flexible procedure for approving grant requests. Normally a potential recipient of foundation funds will submit an application and make an oral presentation to the fort atkinson community foundation board setting forth the purposes for which the funds will be used, how the funds will be administered, and the nature of the recipient organization. If the fort atkinson community foundation board believes the proposed grant may merit the foundation's support, it makes such investigation as may be appropriate under the circumstances to assure that the proposed use and recipient are consistent with the foundation's purposes as set out in its declaration of trust. Fort atkinson, wisconsin, is a relatively small community of 12,500 people. The members of the board are familiar with most applicant organizations. Accordingly, intensive investigation of potential grant recipients would be needed only in unusual circumstances . Many of the larger grants that this foundation has made are paid out as construction progresses. Several monies are paid as reimbursement for invoices when materials are purchased. Reports are required from recipients of grants at completion and periodically as the project progresses. Representatives of the organizations receiving grants often appear at the quarterly meetings of the foundation to give the board a report and/or provide a written report. Article i of the fort atkinson community foundation declaration of trust states: the purpose of fort atkinson community foundation is to receive and accept property, administer funds, and make distributions exclusively for educational, cultural, charitable or benevolent purposes for the benefit and improvement of residents of the fort atkinson, wisconsin, metropolitan area in such a way that the quality of life in the fort atkinson area shall be enhanced. Distributions may be made occasionally to qualified organizations located or operating outside of the fort atkinson metropolitan area provided that the board determines there will be a substantial benefit derived therefrom for the residents of the fort atkinson metropolitan area. In regard to the scholarship program that has been established, the board determines the amount of the scholarship, and has also determined written guidelines concerning the qualifications and use of the scholarship. An advisory screening committee consisting of a board member, school guidance and school administrative personnel and public members is appointed by the board to preliminarily screen applications and make recommendations to the board as to the most qualified applicants. Final determination as to the amount and the recipient of each scholarship grant is made by the board. If a student is eligible for additional payments in the future, the student must furnish their grades and provide proof they will continue to meet all eligibility requirements of the scholarship. All scholarship funds are paid directly to educational institutions for the benefit of the scholarship recipients. With some of the most recent contributions designated as "challenge grants", the foundation agreed to contribute sizable donations to projects provided that the organization raised specific amounts from other sources, and in several cases, more than just matching the grant from this foundation. This includes the following projects: (a) addition and renovation of the museum operated by the fort atkinson historical society. The building is owned by the city of fort atkinson. (b) major reconstruction and addition to the fort atkinson hospital; (c) addition to fort atkinson campus of matc (technical college); (d)”

“This foundation has an extensive scholarship program as shown on the detail of grants attached to this return. A list of grants paid totaling $326,375 is available upon request. There are fourty-four (44) scholarship funds which benefit scores of individuals as shown on the list of disbursements. Procedure and operation of each scholarship fund through applications, screenings and recommendations is described in an attachment to this return. The amount of scholarship grants listed above are distributed from the various scholarship funds. The criteria of each scholarship fund are specifically set forth in documents under which the foundation accepted the scholarship. The individuals who work on screening committees and the scholarship committee that makes recommendations to the board are all volunteers. There were no direct expenses of the scholarship fund other than administration, time and expenses that cannot be segregated. Of the revenue shown above, many of the amounts received were payments to endowment for different scholarship funds. See attachment in reference to page 1, part i for additional material on the scholarships.”