Associated Charities gives last donations

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

It’s been around longer than The Van Wert County Foundation or The Marsh Foundation, but rules governing private charities, coupled with low interest rates, are two of the factors that forced Associated Charities Inc. to hand out its final distribution this year.

Bryce Beckman, Associated Charities president, said the physical assets of the entity, other than the farmland, will be sold and those funds, the farmland and the private foundation’s other assets will be turned over to The Van Wert County Foundation. The Board of Trustees of that entity approved the transfer at its semiannual meeting held this month.

“This decision wasn’t taken very easily,” Beckman said of disbanding the organization, noting that IRS regulations for private foundations such as Associated Charities requiring them to distribute an amount equal to at least 5 percent of their total assets each year was a major reason for the decision.

The problem, Executive Director Keith Harman said, is that Associated Charities is “land rich” and “cash poor.”

The fact that the organization owns a 200-acre farm, as well as some other physical property: stocks, bonds and savings accounts, created a concern when it came time to make an annual distribution. With farmland values increasing significantly during the recent tax valuation, that also increases the value of Associated Charities’ assets – and the amount that would need to be paid out, per the IRS.

But with interest rates among the lowest in U.S. history, the organization, which was handing out approximately $18,000 annually, needed to distribute more than $40,000 this year, while not generating anywhere near the revenues needed to pay such a large distribution.

The executive director said Associated Charities had to sell its sole remaining certificate of deposit to pay this year’s distribution, and would have eventually had to sell off all the assets of the foundation just to make ends meet.

Harman did note the Associated Charities Board of Directors, which in addition to him, includes Beckman, Mike Gearhart (vice president), Nancy Dixon (treasurer), Jane Harris (secretary), Chuck Koch, Pat Ryan and Dennis Kimmet, did consider changing the group’s status to that of a public foundation from of a private foundation — something The Van Wert County Foundation did a few years ago to end problems created by the IRS regulations — but felt in the long run it wasn’t a viable option for such a small foundation.

“We looked at it,” Harman said of going to a public foundation. “We just found ourselves in a position where it was no longer economically feasible to operate.”

As part of its total distribution of $43,250, Associated Charities gave The Van Wert County Foundation a check for $25,750, so that entity could use its status as a public foundation to provide more options for disbursing that money.

Recipients this year, other the Van Wert County Foundation, include Van Wert Fire Department ($1,000), Van Wert Police Department ($1,000), Delphos Fire Department ($1,000), Delphos Police Department ($1,000), Convoy Fire Department ($1,000), Wren Fire Department ($1,000), Willshire Fire Department ($1,000), Scott Fire Department ($1,000), Ohio City Fire Department ($1,000), Middle Point Fire Department ($1,000); Venedocia Park Association ($500), Van Wert Police Department DARE program ($500), Van Wert County DARE program ($500), the Sheriff’s Department’s Kids Christmas Project ($300), Toys for Tots ($300), Salvation Army Food Pantry ($1,000), Trinity Friends Food Pantry ($1,000), First United Methodist Food Pantry $1,000), Boys Scouts (250), Junior Achievement ($250), and the National Child Safety Council ($100).

Associated Charities was founded on February 13, 1917, with several prominent local residents providing funds and assets to the organization. Those making donations early on included John Strandler, who also left funds to establish the YMCA; W.B. Jones (in 1927), John H. Koch (1932), and Phillip J. Rader, who left his 200-acre farm to the private foundation.

Associated Charities also received funds from the Curtis Nash estate, while Hazel Gleason, whose family was one of the early settlers in Van Wert County, gave funds to the organization in 1968.

Over the years, Associated Charities, in addition to this year’s recipients, has given money to senior citizens, the indigent poor and needy student programs in county schools.