If the current Board of Directors of what was the Ocean Beach Town Council hold to their plan, they will do a rebrand and morph into the “Ocean Beach Town Council Foundation” and allow the group and name “Ocean Beach Town Council” to dissolve and fall by the wayside.
There’s a subtle difference in the names, but more importantly for the Board, it will allow them to carry on as a valid non-profit.
In a newsletter sent out via text, the Board explained,
“The future direction of the organization is to operate from the 501c3, rebranding as the Ocean Beach Town Council Foundation and eventually dissolving the 501c4.”
The 501c4 is/was the OB Town Council. The 501c3 has been and continues to be the OB Community Foundation.
Apparently, they’ve been advised to stay with the 501c3. And that’s where the some $36,000 that the group has is stashed.
This is where the scandal wrought by former president Corry Bruins has brought the group. Bruins was forced to resign at the beginning of the year when the rest of the Board found out about the apparent shenanigans he was responsible for.
Not everyone is happy with this plan to rebrand and dissolve — and probably the current board isn’t either. But to fold up a group like the OBTC is a heavy weight measure to undertake — and anyone who tries to do that has to have considerable gravitas.
The OB Town Council has quite a history and legacy. It started in 1968 or thereabouts — 56 years ago — and has been a voice and advocacy group for OB ever since. As the years rolled by, the OBTC cast a long shadow in its works and projects for the community — the entire OB holiday season, the parade, the tree – are because of the OB Town Council.
Can a group with the name of OB Town Council Foundation make the match? Does it make that much difference?
They’re trying — the current leaders and directors of the group. Their website was trashed and it’s currently “under construction:” they’ve changed the logo and have a new executive committee; they’ve rewritten their bylaws, hired an auditor, and tried to weather the storm from the community — the storm of discontent.
Yet, by many accounts, the current leaders and members have not yet learned the lesson of this era of the group, which is transparency, transparency, transparency.
How is the community to know about these plans of the leaders? The plans to rebrand and dissolve the name OBTC. The Rag didn’t receive the texted or emailed newsletter until this morning with the news; it was dated end of March.
As one OBTC observer noted, the council is bringing up other issues to discuss, like housing at their last meeting, “But they don’t get it. The council is the issue.”
Another longtime OBTC member and fellow is now worried that all this will cause all the wonderful things the OBTC does during the Holiday Season to be forgotten or not dealt with.
The community needs to be informed and re-assured.
hmmm….how about donating the funds that are left to the expansion of the OB Library?
Can someone clarify the difference between a 501c3 and 501c4 in laymans terms?
A 501(c)3 is more of a traditional nonprofit. A 501(c)4 is still a nonprofit, but maybe more like a corporation with “good intentions”. The latter can engage in political advocacy, while the former allows for tax-exempt donations.
The OBTC was a little schizophrenic in terms of its mission, so they had both. On one hand, they raised money for all these community activities and events. The 501(c)3 is more helpful here. On the other hand, the OBTC was increasingly engaging in advocacy around social issues impacting OB at-large, where the 501(c)4 was more helpful.
That’s kind of a messy organizational set-up to begin with, and many if not most of these social issues were already being covered under the umbrella of the OB Planning Board anyway. With the caveat that social issues not pertaining to land use are not really the purview of the OBPB, it would make more sense to me to have the OBTC just handle the pancakes and parades while the OBPB serves as the primary community forum for social issues at large.
Before changing the name of the Ocean Beach Town Council to a “foundation,” I highly suggest the organization speak to a Tax Lawyer who specializes in handling legal foundations. Foundations are created to handle large sums of money following very strict legal definitions of what they can and cannot do and how to do it. Foundations are not about local political review of land development projects or protecting community character in fights with the City Council or mayor. Crossing the line means answering to the IRS and their goons.
If money is left, a 501(c)3 cannot just give the money away to a different organization which does not meet the 501(c)3 standards. This could be viewed as money laundering by the IRS. This money was collected for a specific purpose. A trip to the State of California Website only answers State questions. Not a lawyer; just an opinion.
Doesn’t the OBTC disburse funds to community organizations every year?
OCEAN BEACH HISTORICAL SOCIETY is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit Organization
Depending on what the audit is turning up, they might not have a choice here, but second the call for more transparency.