|
||
|
|
|
| ||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Top of page | March 2004 - Committee
for Green Foothills streamlines operations to direct more resources to open
space protection Committee for Green Foothills has joined forces with its partner organization, the Green Foothills Foundation, in order to reduce administrative overhead and make our work to protect local open space more effective and efficient. Now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Committee for Green Foothills will continue to do the same work to which the organization has been committed since its founding in 1962: the protection of open space in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. This change will reduce the charity's administrative and bookkeeping costs and will direct more resources directly to the important advocacy work and citizen action for which the organization has become known. Committee for Green Foothills will continue to be a leading advocate for the creation and enforcement of sound land use policies. Why change now? When the Committee was formed in 1962, the IRS strictly regulated 501(c)(3) nonprofits to limit the type of advocacy that fell under the legal definition of "lobbying." Since then, IRS regulations have significantly relaxed these restrictions. Will this affect CGF's ability to lobby and work for new legislation? CGF will continue to do the work it has always done. While the majority of the Committee's work is advocacy, very little of that advocacy falls into the small subset that meets the strict federal definition of lobbying. The Committee's board and staff have carefully analyzed our work over the past several years and found that the Committee lobbying expenses are well below the limit. CGF will continue to take strong stands for open space, and will still be able to file lawsuits. We will not be afraid to be just as controversial and just as effective as we have been for the last 42 years. How does the reorganization make the Committee more efficient? The Committee has worked collaboratively with the Green Foothills Foundation according to legal contracts that governed the sharing of resources and flows of funds between the two organizations. Managing these contracts and the two separate organizations (each with its own Board of Directors) took considerable resources for administration and bookkeeping. Bringing the two organizations together as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit will reduce this overhead, make it simpler for us to raise funds, offer tax advantages to all of our donors, and allow us to direct more resources to our work to protect open space. How will this affect our members? Your donations to Committee for Green Foothills, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. And because this change will make us more efficient, more of your gift will go directly to helping protect local open space. We are grateful to Silk, Adler & Colvin for their professional legal advice and have been fortunate to have support, funding and professional advice for this reorganization from the INNW Fund. What happened to the gift I just gave to the Committee or the Green Foothills Foundation? All of the assets of Committee for Green Foothills and the Green Foothills Foundation have been combined in the single organization known as Committee for Green Foothills. (Specifically, the legal name of this organization is the Green Foothills Foundation, and we are doing business as -- DBA-- Committee for Green Foothills.) Regardless of which organization you have supported in the past, your gifts are helping Committee for Green Foothills continue a record of more than four decades of successful grassroots activism, advocacy, and education to protect local open space. What's happening with the Boards of Directors? Members of the boards of both organizations (Committee for Green Foothills and the Green Foothills Foundation) now serve on the new Committee for Green Foothills Board of Directors. We are honored to have such a talented and dedicated group of volunteers leading us into the future of Committee of Green Foothills. Return to Frequently Asked Questions about Committee for Green Foothills |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|||