Special Delivery:RSVP…Did you ever read something that left you with more questions than answers?
Like many of you, I received a request for financial contributions from the PB Community Foundation. Hmmm, that name is vaguely familiar, you say. You didn’t see it in Beach & Bay Press announcing public meetings; to my knowledge, there haven’t been any. And until their letter arrived, no one knew for sure who was on their board.
What exactly is the PB Community Foundation? They state it “was created in the mid 1990s to raise funds for Pacific Beach community projects.” Not quite. In 1994, the San Diego Police Department approached the PB Town Council.
“I remember Capt. Leslie Lord (deceased) coming to us and explaining that they wanted to start an R.S.V.P. (Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol) for Northern Division,” recalled longtime council director Annie McDaniel. “They needed a nonprofit to collect donations that had been offered.” One problem ” the council was a nonprofit, but it lacked the 501(c)3 designation that enables donors to receive a tax deduction.
After a cumbersome, time-consuming process, the new foundation received its 501(c)3 status on May 11, 1995. Annie and four Town Council directors served as directors for the foundation’s board.
“After a while, there were no meetings, so I dropped off the board,” she said.
Party Time”¦”While we used to be able to raise all of our funds in one day via the PB Block Party, we have discontinued that event because of the many negative impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods and residents,” explained the Foundation letter.
Indeed. The vehement objections to that final raucous Block Party in 2005, when an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people overran our neighborhoods, were not enough to stop the Community Foundation. Despite written opposition from Discover PB, the PB Community Planning Committee, the PB Town Council and a dozen other community groups, Foundation members forged ahead with a “scaled-down” event for 2006.
Only the denial of a permit from the city’s Special Events division permanently halted their plans.
From 1976 to 1998, the PB Town Council ran the Block Party. In those days, the PB Library, the Lions Club, the Kiwanis, Soroptimists and many youth and school groups came down to Garnet to sell food or T-shirts or to simply spread goodwill about their group.
As the Block Party grew rowdier in its final years, they stopped coming; the new partygoers weren’t interested in what community folks had to say or sell.
In 1999, Town Council directors decided they wanted no part of what the Block Party had become; the Community Foundation took over. The Foundation began giving bequests of up to $2,000 to those community groups who could no longer attend the ever-more-boisterous festivities. That last year, the Soroptimists of Mission Bay turned down their money, saying it wasn’t worth the damage the event did to Pacific Beach.
For several years, Discover PB co-sponsored the Block Party, until they, too, agreed the detrimental effects weren’t worth it.
Another concern: When the Town Council sponsored the party, a public financial report was given after all expenses were paid. Donations were listed, but to my knowledge, no full public accounting was issued after the Foundation took over.
Fund-Raising 101″¦The Foundation’s return envelope lists potential designees including: graffiti removal, anti-crime/safety education, concerts at Kate Sessions Park and holiday parade.
The Town Council sponsors the first three and Discover PB runs the parade. “No one talked with me about it,” said graffiti-removal guru Jerry Hall.
The Concert on the Green has been a Town Council event for years. Now the Foundation’s listed as co-sponsor, a surprise to the council board.
Questions, indeed.