Anonymous donates (with strings) $2.9mil thru BSA National Foundation to Austin, TX school district

[RememberSchiff]

Not saying that anything is wrong here but it just seems odd to me. I am doubtful that the intended outcome will happen, oh and the Girl Scouts are interested in the new school building too. I wonder if Irving was disappointed about the beneficiary or maybe other BSA National Foundation donations have gone to non-BSA groups?

 

"...On June 16, Austin ISD’s board of trustees approved accepting an anonymous donation so that the district can begin planning for a 14,500-square-foot applied technology center to be constructed on the east side of the Anderson High School campus at 8403 Mesa Drive. An anonymous donor offered to give Austin ISD $59,000 for work on the center. The same donor plans to later make a second gift through the Boy Scouts for America National Foundation for construction and other costs...."

 

...then on Aug 26

 

"...Trustees late Monday night also approved an anonymous $2.9 million gift to go toward building a 14,500-square-foot Applied Technology Center on the campus of Anderson High School. The facility could daily serve between 400 and 500 students daily from Anderson and other high schools. The anonymous funders, who are giving the district the financial gift through the Boy Scouts of America National Foundation, stipulated that when the facility is not being used by the district during non-school hours, the Boy Scouts of America Capital Area Council would have priority access to the building..."

 

http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/n...ch-center-at-/

 

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/l...n-opera/ng9TZ/

[JoeBob]

Very interesting...

A school that has to allow Boy Scouts to meet there.

In liberal Austin.

 

How's that for a sharp stick in your eye!

[skeptic]

How long until our favorite "no BSA in schools" chimes in??

[duckfoot]

Seems a non issue. The school has nothing to do with the Scouts, scouts have nothing to do with the School. Just a building that both use.

[King Ding Dong]

Your headline made me shake my head a few times. "Anonymous" is the hacker group that makes a lot of headlines targeting institutions and people that it finds offensive, but seems to be lying low in the recent months.

[RememberSchiff]

Seems a non issue. The school has nothing to do with the Scouts' date=' scouts have nothing to do with the School. Just a building that both use.[/quote']

 

Maybe, but the public school district owns and is responsible for the building.

 

It seems odd to donate $$$ and not have a more definitive and secure usage agreement for Scouts. "Whenever not in use", might leave Scouts with just weekdays midnight to 5am.

 

As to the legality...

[SSScout]

Why not just give the 2.9mil directly to the school district? Why make the BSA Foundation the donor? Anonymous is anonymous and strings are conditions....

I do not understand the need to donate THRU another foundation/organization. Did the BSA Foundation gain some bucks too? Or were they only the pass thru? Are there tax benefits this way and not the other? It sounds strange.

And as to the " ... when the facility is not being used by the district during non-school hours, the Boy Scouts of America Capital Area Council would have priority access to the building..." I would presume that the BSACAC would pay the same fee as the Karate Club or the Junior Republicans...

 

 

[scoutergipper]

I suspect it was donated that way so BSA would have a chance to actually negotiate a "real" usage agreement before the donation is actually made. The donor probably wouldn't want to do this on behalf of BSA, but rather chose to set out the general idea to see if the school district would agree in principle.

[JasonG172]

Your headline made me shake my head a few times. "Anonymous" is the hacker group that makes a lot of headlines targeting institutions and people that it finds offensive' date=' but seems to be lying low in the recent months.[/quote']

 

 

 

I thought the same thing KDD