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

Nonprofit Newswire | Money on the Barrel for Packard Foundation Green Building Plan

Rick Cohen
August 13, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

{source}[[span style=”float: right; border-left: 1px solid gray; border-bottom: 1px solid gray; margin: 0pt 0pt 5px 5px; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 5px;width:250px;”]][[h3]]Related Articles[[/h3]][[br /]]{loadposition related}[[/span]]{/source}

August 11, 2010; Source: Mercury News | Seems like there was a slight communications breakdown between the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the City of Los Altos, Calif. where the foundation hangs its hat. The city says the foundation owes it money.

For those who haven’t visited the foundation, our recollection is that the Packard Foundation headquarters on Second Street in Los Altos are pretty modest compared to the lavish accommodations of similarly sized and many smaller foundations around the country (staff actually also work in a couple of additional buildings around town).

Now apparently the Foundation would like to build a new, two-story 45,000 square-foot office across the street from its current site, utilizing the latest in green construction technology (Net Zero Energy, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design [LEED] Platinum certification, etc.).

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.

Real estate development triggers zoning and land use reviews and approvals, especially since Packard’s plan calls for less than half the city’s code for required parking (the Foundation plans to substitute an “alternative transportation management plan” providing shuttles, Caltrain passes, and other incentives to discourage employees from driving to work), and that probably meant that city officials saw dollar signs dancing in front of them as they talked to representatives of the $5.5 billion foundation.

To make the whole project work, Packard and the city negotiated a comprehensive “development agreement,” including a payment from the foundation to the tune of $3.4 million to help the city with environmental programs or parking efforts. But the city and the foundation seemed to have a slight problem in communications.

The City Council thought the payment was meant to be a one-time, up front, lump sum check, “cash on the barrel” as one Councilmember put it. But the Foundation intended to spread the payments over 10 years—without interest. The City’s Mayor Pro Tem alleged that it was the Packard Foundation “who made the offer, and if they intended it to be over time, they should have said that.”

Council members hinted that they’d accept a delay of a couple of years if the agreement included interest payments. Foundation reps haven’t hinted anything, because the Merc couldn’t reach them for comment. It looks like something was lost in translation here between philanthropy and government.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit 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
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Remaking the Economy: Caring for the Care Economy
Steve Dubb, Adria Powell and Jenn Stowe
Race, Class, and Climate: Organizing for a Better Future in Pueblo, Colorado
Jamie Valdez
Faith as a Pathway to Climate Action
Anmol Irfan
Countering Authoritarianism: Forging a Progressive Response to Fragmentation
john a. powell and Sara Grossman

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
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

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.