logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Historic Preservation Takes Over When College Moves Out

Marian Conway
August 23, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
By Omorefranklin [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

August 21, 2018; Tennessean

No, not that Heritage Foundation, the ultra-conservative Washington DC think tank with assets of $240 million. This one was established three years earlier in 1970 and has assets of almost $11 million. (A word to the wise for anyone starting a new nonprofit: Avoid that word. GuideStar lists over 11,000 organizations with “Heritage” in their name.)

The Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, located south of Nashville in Tennessee, protects and preserves local historic resources. The Foundation is planning to purchase the campus of the O’More College of Design, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The main building on the campus is the Abbey Leix Mansion, built in the 1870s following the Civil War. O’More College of Design, a nonprofit four-year school, was only nine years old when it moved to the site in 1979. The property was appraised in 2016 for $4.78 million, according to the Williamson County’s property assessor, Brad Coleman.

O’More is merging with nonprofit Belmont University, a Christian Liberal Arts and Professional school in Nashville. Smaller colleges face an uphill battle for students, and Belmont was happy to take on O’More.

The college landscape is difficult, said Christopher Loss, a Vanderbilt professor and expert in the social, political and policy history of higher education.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

“I think it is a combination of pretty fierce competition for students and the rising costs of operating a university,” Loss said. “It has made it harder for small, independent colleges to stay afloat.”

This is a merging of assets, not a purchase. O’More vacated the building at the end of the semester in May, and Belmont announced at that time it would sell the campus and use the funds for the merger transition and an endowed scholarship.

David Garrett, the board president for the Heritage Foundation, said they will purchase the property for about $6 million, the largest purchase to date for the preservation group.

“This is an exciting day,” Belmont University President Bob Fisher said. ”We are hopeful that we can celebrate the closing of this purchase in the near future, as it represents optimal preservation of this property. Clearly, we are excited about the vision the Heritage Foundation has and the ways in which it continues the history, traditions and educational legacy of this property.”

Bari Beasley, the CEO of Heritage, explained that with the plan for the property occurring in three phases, the first step is to raise the dollars to buy the historic site. Heritage did not provide a timeline, but a $6 million capital campaign will keep them busy.—Marian Conway

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Marian Conway

Marian Conway, the executive director of the NY Community Bank Foundation, has a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies, Writing and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nonprofit Management. She has discovered that her job and education have made her a popular person with nonprofits and a prime candidate for their boards. Marian keeps things in perspective, not allowing all that to go to her head, but it is difficult to say no to a challenge, especially participating in change, in remaking a board. She is currently on eleven boards of various sizes and has learned to say no.

More about: nonprofit real estateManagement and LeadershipNonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights Movements
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb Plutocracy
Alan Davis
Healing-Centered Leadership: A Path to Transformation
Shawn A. Ginwright
Into the Fire: Lessons from Movement Conflicts
Ingrid Benedict, Weyam Ghadbian and Jovida Ross
How Nonprofits Can Truly Advance Change
Hildy Gottlieb

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Hierarchy and Justice
Cyndi Suarez
Salvadoran Foreign Agent Law Threatens Human Rights...
Devon Kearney
Charitable Tax Reform: Why Half Measures Won’t Curb...
Alan Davis

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.