Certified Public Manager® Education Foundation Making Progress

By Bill Herman, CPM
townadmin@townofauburnnh.com

Since the first of the year, the Board of Directors of the newly established Certified Public Manager® Education Foundation has been working to put a basic organization in place and complete an application for recognition by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity.

The Foundation was established as a New Hampshire non-profit corporation in October 2007 as a separate, non-profit entity dedicated to furthering the education of CPMers.

During the past year, the Foundation Board of Directors has taken organizational steps necessary to establish the basic structure of the Foundation, including writing and adopting a basic set of by-laws and a formal Conflict of Interest policy to govern future activities of the Board of Directors.

Work is complete on the Foundation’s application to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to be recognized as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity, and the application was submitted in early August. This process is an extremely detail laden one which Sharon Kelley, CPM, of Wisconsin has been painstakingly shepherding for the Foundation. This is ahead of the goal for submission by the time of the 20th Annual AACPM Professional Development Conference is held in Columbus, Ohio in September.

With the August application submission, it is possible the Foundation could receive its recognition from the IRS before the end of 2008.

To be in compliance with the IRS regulations, the Certified Public Manager® Education Foundation has been established as a totally separate entity from either the American Academy of Certified Public Managers® or the National CPM Consortium in order to secure a 501(c)(3) charitable designation. The Foundation can not be governed by or directly be part of another entity, such as the Academy, that is something other than a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

As outlined in its corporation documents, by-laws and IRS applications, the Foundation will work to support activities of the AACPM, but is not going to take over any Academy program or operation. To that end, discussions have already begun with Host Society members for the 21st Annual AACPM Professional Development Conference about the potential of seeking financial sponsors for the conference program through the Foundation.

The Foundation is intended to provide a vehicle that could make it easier to solicit and receive financial donations or seek grants from individuals, businesses or other entities to help support various educational programs or professional development activities of the AACPM or its member societies. The AACPM and most of its member societies are established as business associations under IRS code 501(c)(6). For some charitable or corporate entities, this does not provide the full tax-deductible advantage as making a contribution to a 501(c)(3) entity would.

In addition to these efforts, the Foundation will be conducting its first election for an at-large Director in September. Three AACPM members have agreed to be nominated and stand for election to the Board. They include Kay Eldridge of Arizona; Julie Felice of Utah and Tony Smith of Kentucky. One of these individuals will be elected by ballots to be cast by the Presidents of the CPM Societies currently chartered by the AACPM, and will take office in January 2009.

Who ever is elected will be replacing current Foundation Director Ronald Buchholz of Wisconsin, who chose not to seek election to the Board. In addition, current AACPM President-elect Stephen Mastro will replace AACPM President Greg Hyland on the Foundation Board next year, while the successful candidate for AACPM Treasurer will replace current AACPM Treasurer Larry Gordon.

These three individuals will be joining current Directors Sharon Kelley of Wisconsin and Bill Herman of New Hampshire on the Foundation Board. The Board will also be appointing two alternate members to the Foundation Board next year.

There remains considerable work ahead for the Foundation Board to establish more permanent operating structures and guidelines. The potential benefits of the Foundation will be realized in future years.

© Copyright 2008, American Association of Certified Public Managers®