Donation Review Committee Minutes from March 22

Group Work

Question 1: How can the District have requirements in this policy that work for multiple types of orgs (booster club, B&M Gates Foundation, Safeco, etc.)?

Answer: The committee believes that additional research is necessary to provide a clear answer to this question. The recommendation is that the committee gathers the research necessary to answer this question.

Question 2: What guidelines and requirements might the committee suggest that would help promote equitable opportunities created for all students from donations?

Answer: The committee believes that additional research is necessary to provide a clear answer to this question. The recommendation is that a smaller sub group of our committee gathers the research necessary to answer this question. The discussion which led to this determination included the following:

The committee believes there is a procedural component to ensuring there is equity in acceptance of donation.
The Mercer Island School District has included specific criteria language in policy (The superintendent has determined that there is equity between buildings and programs, between or within schools, as measured over a period of 3 to 5 years. Equity is to be measured in terms of individual school and program needs, which does not always equate to equity in dollars) and in procedure (The gift will create no significant ongoing inequity of programs available for students within or between schools). The language detailing a time component to work towards creation of opportunities across schools/programs in a manner that does not limit the acceptance of funds when offered.
The intent of this research and the initial question the committee raised was never to codify that the District promotes equal donations across schools/programs.

Question 3: How do we improve equity of opportunities created by donations in ways that do not bring experiences down to any sort of lowest common denominator of available funds?

Question 4: Should there be any sort of portion of donations, from some or all orgs, for some or all purposes of donation that should be required or contributed to a central fund?

Answer: The committee through their experiences with a number of different support organizations (PTA, Music Boosters, Athletic Boosters, etc.) recommend that an indirect fee not become part of policy or procedure. The committee shared their individual experiences within their own organizations, detailing by-laws which may conflict with such a provision, the concern that donations may decrease due to having donor money used to support areas that may not be directly related to the original donation, and the concern that the District may not have the staffing to process and manage this type of indirect fee placed on organizations.

Question 5: Do we have staffing to make annual submission from all orgs viable to manage? If not, how might we handle this?

Answer: The committee members in attendance unanimously believes that the District does not have the staffing to manage annual submissions from all organizations donating to the Bellevue School District. The committee does recommend the addition of language in policy to provide flexibility for the District when accepting. The committee agrees that the following is an example of possible language to add to the policy that potentially addresses the issue of communication between the District and all donors, whether an organization or individual:

The superintendent and/or his/her designee may at any time request additional information from a donor prior to accepting a monetary or in-kind donation. Information may include, but is not limited to:
- A 501c(3) organizations IRS 990 filing
- A list of individuals who have received money or in-kind compensation which totals over $500 from the organization over the previous twelve months.
- NOTE: THERE ARE OTHER ITEMS TO BE ADDED – THE COMMITTEE BELIEVES THIS LIST SHOULD BE DETAILED BY ADMINISTRATION/STAFF RATHER THAN THE COMMITTEE

Question 6: Do we need to add item 1 (Whether the organization is in good standing with a parent organization if they have one) and 5 (A report to show that they are following their own policies, procedures, in good standing with their parent organization) to a report? How are they different?

Answer: As the committee believes that the District does not have the staffing to manage annual submissions, the list of requirements to be included in an annual submissions is no longer pertinent, so there is nothing to consider for Question 6.

Question 7: Why 10k? How would this work for all types of orgs? Can you clarify and check that it works for all orgs?

Question 8: What does this mean for a large corporation or regional/national nonprofit? Can you clarify and check that it works for all orgs?

Question 9: Do you have examples of what documents could be furnished by different types of orgs (corporations, small business, large non-profit, school group like boosters)?

Answer: The committee believes this is procedural in nature and should be detailed by a smaller sub-committee of administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary rather than the committee.

Question 10: If no parent org, in good standing with home? The law? Other???

Question 11: What happens if org does not or cannot comply with the rule? Especially if funds have already been used?

Answer: The committee recognizes and asserts that the one area of control held by the District when a group does or cannot comply with policy is to refuse future donations. The committee also believes that any final decision regarding a standard to which organizations and individuals are to be held is procedural in nature and should be finalized by a sub-committee of appropriate administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary rather than the committee.

Question 12: Can this (a checklist of organizational requirements with which organizations must comply) be covered with 1a?? (reporting = checklist of requirements? Or combine the two sentences?)

Question 13: Do we have a definition of core items for athletic programs? Other programs that are curricular in nature?

Answer: The committee believes that there is an accepted definition of core items pertaining to athletic programming. Core items are those items that are essential to providing participants an opportunity to safely practice all phases of their sport and an opportunity to safely and completely participate in contests. The committee also believes that the term essential should be used rather than core to describe these items.

Separate from athletic programming, the committee also believes it is important to consider a definition of essential items for those programs with a curricular and co (or extra) curricular component to them, such as music programs, as support groups are asked to provide items to some programs that seem essential to running the program. These items have included instruments, sheet music, uniforms, and instrument repair in the past.

Question 14: How do non-WIAA sports get covered here?

Answer: The committee also believes that any final decision regarding non-WIAA sports has policy considerations outside of 6114 (2151: Interscholastic Sports) and that consideration for non-WIAA sports is procedural in nature and should be finalized by appropriate administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary for inclusion in 2151P: (Interscholastic Sports) rather than the committee.

Question 15: Are there any other exceptions we should make space for here? (e.g. athletic trainer? Other?) What current scenarios that are allowed would no longer be allowed?

Question 16: What is meant by term “need”? Can you explain what you mean by using a need based approach and also saying donations provide a “value add”? Where would an enhancement field trip fit into this approach?

Answer: Referring back to the answer to question 13, the committee believes ‘need’ is directly related to essential items to offer a program. The committee believes the second part of the question relates directly to question 15 and that additional research is necessary to provide a clear answer to this question.

Question 17: How do we separate required fees and organized purchases from donations flowing through supporting organizations like boosters? How might a policy call out clearly that fees and t-shirt purchases and the like cannot be treated as donations students make to a club that in turn “donates” the bus or t-shirts, etc.? (also consider idea of “forced donation”)

Answer: There is also a belief among committee members that any answer to this question would lead to policy considerations outside of 6114 (6102: District Fundraising Activities) and procedural language in 6102P should be reviewed to determine whether this question is addressed there. The committee also believes that any answer to this question as it will be procedural in nature should be finalized by appropriate administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary rather than the committee.

Question 18: Should there be any requirements for donations that enable activities, trips, etc. to ensure funds provided will cover all costs for all kids to benefit? (e.g. if a special needs student requires an additional chaperone)

Answer: There is also a belief among committee members that any answer to this question would lead to policy considerations outside of 6114 (2320: Field Trips) and procedural language in 2320P should be reviewed to determine whether this question is addressed there. The committee also believes that any answer to this question as it will be procedural in nature should be finalized by appropriate administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary rather than the committee.

Question 19: How does below answer question about dealing with individual scholarship assistance?

Question 20: Should trip fees be collected by district and NOT by org who will donate portion of fees or will cover for families needing assistance? Should district manage the financial aid needs of some families for funds and not the donating org?

Answer: Each of these questions leads to one area: how students who lack financial ability to access some opportunities receive funds from support organizations. The committee believes additional procedural language that clarifies would alleviate confusion with school staff and support organizations when working to assist students in this manner. The committee accepts that it is best for trip fees to be collected by the District, but maintains that trips of this manner are time consuming for staff. The committee also recommends procedural language in 6114P that details that the District will manage financial aid needs of some families, which would necessitate inclusion of this new language in other policy/procedures (possibly 2151P and 2320P).

Question 21: Is there any policy piece that the field trip policy doesn’t cover that either this donations policy should cover OR that we need to update the field trip policy to be better aligned with updated donations policy?

Question 22: Should we have any requirements around time of notice to families for optional trips with fees over X?

Answer: There is also a belief among committee members procedural language in 2320P should be reviewed to determine alignment with 6114. The committee also believes that any answer to this question should be finalized by appropriate administration/staff in consultation with support groups as necessary rather than the committee.

Question 23: What other issues besides Title IX should be considered when reviewing volunteers as an in-kind donation?

Summary:

Continued work by the committee:

Further research to fully answer original and follow up questions of the board. Research to include:
1. Potential district requirements/guidelines for donations that work for all organizations and individuals
2. Defining/determining clear language that captures what is meant by equity in terms of the acceptance of donations
3. How to improve equity of student opportunities created by donations rather than eliminating opportunities through unintentional or intentional limitation of funds.
4. A definition of essential items for those programs with a curricular and co (or extra) curricular component
5. Are there exceptions that would/should be made to a provision which would not allow for a support group to provide essential items to programs
6. Are there additional considerations (outside of Title IX) when accepting volunteers as an in-kind donation
Additional Procedural considerations for 6114P for appropriate staff to determine:
1. Additional forms of documentation which could be furnished to the District upon request
2. Considerations regarding consequences for those organizations that cannot or do not comply with District requests regarding donations
Additional Procedural considerations for 2151: Interscholastic Sports and 2151P for appropriate staff to determine:
1. How do non-WIAA sports relate to donations?
Additional Procedural considerations for 6102: District Fundraising Activities and 6102P for appropriate staff to determine:
1. How to separate fees and organized purchases from donations
Additional Procedural considerations for 2320: Field Trips and 2320P for appropriate staff to determine:
1. How to include requirements for donations that enable activities, trips, etc. to ensure funds provided will cover all costs for all kids to benefit
2. Specific language detailing individual scholarship assistance, collection of trip fees, and management of financial aid funds
3. Alignment of language with changes/updates in 6102 and 6114