Narratives supporting 501 c 3 status for. Douglas County Car Care Program

Transcription

1 1 Narratives supporting 501 c 3 status for Douglas County Car Care Program Part IV Description of your Activities The mission of the Douglas County Car Care Program is to provide car care to enable independence. The purpose of the Douglas County Car Care Program is to receive donated vehicles, repair them and then donate them to needy families in Douglas County Minnesota to remove their transportation barriers. The program will also repair vehicles for individuals of Douglas County who already own a vehicle but are not able to afford the repairs. The intent of the program is to remove the transportation barriers for people in poverty so they can get to work, care for themselves and their families. This program is modeled after the Free to Be, Inc. (EIN ) program that I developed and operated (as the executive director) in Anoka County Minnesota from 2001 until I retired in Having moved back to my home area of Alexandria Minnesota, I am setting up the Douglas County Car Care Program in Douglas County, Minnesota similar to Free to Be, Inc.. What is the activity? The main focus of the program is to help individuals and families in Douglas County Minnesota who meet the federal poverty guidelines, and are in need of assistance with their transportation problems by either providing a donated vehicle or repairing their vehicle if they already own a vehicle. Who conducts the activity? The vehicle repairs will be provided primarily by volunteers on Car Care Saturdays or by repair shops that are willing to donate their labor as their support for the program and community. When volunteers are not available or capable of the needed repairs, the repairs will be purchased from existing repair shops that will provide the service at discounted rates. The parts will be directly billed to the program at a greatly reduced price. When is the activity conducted? The program is a continuous activity. When possible, the repairs of client cars will be done by volunteers on two Saturdays a month called Car Care Saturdays. Vehicles that are donated to the program will be repaired primarily by repair shops that will donate their labor. Emergency repairs will be done when the client is in danger of losing their job or obtaining a job. This will be determined by the referring social service agency that is working with the client and in some cases will provide financial support. How does the activity further your exempt purposes? By removing the transportation barriers for clients, they are able to obtain or retain employment and participate in society.

2 What percent of your total time is allocated to the activity? The car care program is the single focus of the program, therefore 100%. From experience, as Executive Director I averaged about 60 hours a week. How is the activity funded? Initially the funding will be primarily from: Corporate foundations as grants, Corporate gifts, Sales of vehicles - not feasible to repair and give to needy families, Faith communities Service clubs Individual donors Small amounts of revenue are received from the clients for repairs over the allotted funding we can provide. There is also revenue from vehicle titles and fees that are processed for the clients. List any alternate names. Website. A donated website ( is being hosted by Gardonville Coop Telephone Company and is being designed by students at Alexandria Technical and Community College. 7. a Purchases Harold Koep, owner of Koep s Korner, operates an auto repair facility and hopefully will be one of the repair shops that will provide car repairs at a reduced rate from their standard repair rate. The rate agreement with Koep s Korner will be reviewed by the Board of Directors of Douglas County Car Care Program. 8.b Describe any written or oral arrangements that you made or intend to make. The arrangement Free2B! had with Jeff Matt, owner of Victory Auto Service and Glass, provided the service we are asking for at 65% of his regular shop rate. That was $50/hour less that his shop rate and $20/hr less than his fleet rate. The other evaluation will be to determine what the competitive shops are charging for flat rate and make sure it is reasonable. I will use at least five (5) competitive shops to determine what the competitive rates are. All this information will be shared with the Board. 2 8.c Identify with whom you have or will have such arrangements. This arrangement will hopefully be with Harold Koep, a Director of the Board, but it can also be used with any of the repair shops in the community. There will

3 be an arrangement with a franchised dealership as well, and their shop rates will be dramatically different. This dealership (Juettner Motors) may or may not have an employee on the Board. 8.d Explain how the terms are or will be negotiated at arm s length. See 8.b above. 8e Explain how you determine you pay no more than fair market value or you are paid at least fair market value. See 8.b above Part V 1.a Board of Directors Name Title Mailing Address Compensation Colleen Director 3187 Co Rd 82 NW Boesen Alexandria, MN Keith Director 3187 Co Rd 82 NW Forrester Alexandria, MN Tom Klecker Director 3187 Co Rd 82 NW Alexandria, MN Harold Koep Director 3187 County Rd 82 NW Alexandria, MN, Richard Director 3187 County Rd 82 NW Volker Alexandria, MN, Mike Woods Director 3187 County Rd 82 NW Alexandria, MN, Part V 3 3.a For each of your officers, directors, trustees, highest compensated employees, and highest compensated independent contractors listed on lines 1a, 1b, or 1c, attach a list showing their name, qualifications, average hours worked, and duties. The Executive Director will be the highest compensated employee with an anticipated salary at about $50,000. The person should have a BA or BS degree at a minimum with experience in education or social service. The actual hours of work will exceed 50 hours a week. The responsibilities include management of the program and fiscal planning and management, policy development, marketing, personnel management, oversight of volunteer activity and other duties as assigned by the Board.

4 I, Clifford Korkowski, was appointed Executive Director at the organizational Board meeting on without financial consideration because there are no funds against which to draw and payments. I currently have my doctorate in Educational Policy Administration from the University of Minnesota. I have 34 years of experience in social service and education, with 20 years in college administration, with 12 years as a college president. During the past 10 years I served as Executive director of a nonprofit, Free to Be, Inc. Over the past 10 years the average workweek was about 60 hours a week. 9.b Describe any written or oral arrangements that you made or intend to make. Because Harold Koep of Koep s Korner has volunteered the use of his shop for volunteers to work one Saturday a month and to have donated vehicles dropped off at his repair shop, I will try to negotiate a very competitive rate for inspecting donated vehicles and also for the repair rate we will pay when volunteers are not available. This will be evaluated by the Board to determine that there is no conflict of interest and that the fees are lower than the competitive rate. Part VI 1.a In carrying out your exempt purposes, do you provide goods, services, or funds to individuals? If Yes, describe each program that provides goods, services, or funds to individuals. Through the Douglas County Car Care Program, donated cars are provided to needy families who are referred to us from either a faith community or a social service agency in the county. This referral is to validate that the client is in compliance with the agency regulations or requirements. The client must provide proof that there are no other vehicles in the household to be eligible and must meet the federal poverty guidelines. Priority is given to individuals who are trying to get off welfare and go to work. 2. Do any of your programs limit the provision of goods, services, or funds to a specific individual or group of specific individuals? For example, answer Yes, if goods, services, or funds are provided only for a particular individual, your members, individuals who work for a particular employer, or graduates of a particular school. If Yes, explain the limitation and how recipients are selected for each program. The service will be a one-time service to an individual or household for either a car repair or receipt of a donated vehicle. Repair costs will initially be limited to $300 per client car. The program is designed to help the client through a crisis and not make them dependent on the program for their continued car care. Some donors may restrict their contributions to specific clients. For example: A manufacturing company requested that their contribution be used primarily to 4

5 help women who were currently in a shelter and needed transportation to get to work or get to a new dwelling. The shelter was informed of the grant and they referred the eligible clients. Many agencies or programs made referrals for individuals that they were able to provide assistance for at times. These included the dislocated worker program, emergency assistance program, community action agency, faith communities and others. Part VIII 4.a Do you or will you undertake fundraising? Receiving donated vehicles will be critical for the success of the program. Donors will be receipted upon their donation and form 1098c will be provided for those vehicles that are donated to needy families or sold for more than $500. Most of the fundraising will be in the form of foundation grants, sales of vehicles that are not feasible for donation to a needy family, business and service club sponsorships or gifts, and individual contributions. Multimedia formats will be used to market the program. Special efforts will be made to inform faith communities on how they can participate in the program by both contributions of donated vehicles, financial contributions and volunteer activities. 4. e Do you or will you maintain separate accounts for any contributor under which the contributor has right to advise on the use or distribution of funds? Answer Yes if the donor may provide advice on the types of investments, distributions from the types of investments, or the distribution from the donor s contribution account. If Yes, describe this program, including the type of advice that may be provided and submit copies of any written materials provided to donors. If a donor makes a request that a specific population be served with the funds provided, the first determination is if it is a reasonable request and can be readily administered. For example, a grant for car repairs from a State Hospital Auxiliary was received by Free2B! to be used for individuals who were diagnosed with a prior mental illness. The funds were put in a restricted account specifically for those eligible clients. When the funds were expended, a report with general demographic information was given to the Auxiliary to show how their funds were used and how many clients received assistance. As a new program, we have no materials to share yet. 5. Are you affiliated with a governmental unit? If Yes, explain. Although we are not affiliated with the Douglas County Social Services, we will work very closely together. We will validate the eligibility of the clients with the Douglas County Social Services and the director, Mike Woods, serves on the Douglas County Car Care Board. 5

6 Part IX Financial 8. Do you or will you accept contributions of: real property; conservation easements; closely held securities; intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights; works of music or art; licenses; royalties; automobiles, boats, planes, or other vehicles; or collectibles of any type? If Yes, describe each type of contribution, any conditions imposed by the donor on the contribution, and any agreements with the donor regarding the contribution. Because of our mission, we will accept donated vehicles in any condition so that we can determine if they are appropriate for repair and donation to a needy family. We do not guarantee or promise that the vehicle that is donated to us will be donated to a needy client. Donors will be advised of that fact. My experience from Free2B! is that one out of three cars was acceptable to donate to a family. We sold the other vehicles and used the funds to repair the vehicles that we were able to donate. We also accept other vehicles such as trucks, busses, boats, and motor homes if they can be sold to raise revenue for the program. Line 9 Gross receipts Item FY 13 FY14 FY15 Total Title and Transfer fees $1,500 $3,000 $4,500 $9,000 Sale of cars that could not $8,000 $16,000 $24,000 $48,000 be donated to families Total $9,500 $19,000 $28,500 $57,000 Line 15 Item FY13 FY14 FY15 Total Cars donated/value $2,000 $40,000 $80,000 $$120,000 $240,000 Repairs provided to clients $15,000 $30,000 $45,000 $300/client Total $55,000 $110,000 $165,000 $330,000 6

7 Line 23 Itemized expenses not elsewhere identified Line 23 Itemized Expenses nec. Item FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 Liability Insurance 0 7,500 7,725 7,957 Dealer License 0 $ Office Supplies 0 3,000 3,090 3,183 Office Equipment 0 5,000 5,150 5,305 Program Supplies (tools) 0 4,200 4,326 4,456 Marketing 0 7,000 7,210 7,426 Computer Software 0 1,500 1,545 1,591 Repairs on sold cars 0 10,000 10,300 10,609 Repairs on client cars 0 12,500 25,000 30,000 Repairs on donated cars 0 15,000 30,000 45,000 Mileage and training 0 3,400 3,502 3,607 Total 0 69,300 98, ,346 7