Group Did Assist Young Philanthropists

To the Editor:

In your article on the Pine Crest Community Foundation (“Young and Philanthropic,” February 26), you reported that the Council on Foundations turned down Pine Crest’s request for membership because it is not a free-standing tax-exempt organization. I would like to clarify that.

Although we did turn down the group for membership because the Council on Foundations’ eligibility criteria for community foundations are based on a definition of a community foundation used by the Internal Revenue Service and the community-foundation field, we are very supportive of these young philanthropists. We offered to assist them as much as possible in their work by providing them with information on other efforts involving young people in philanthropy, and we gave them referrals to community foundations that hold school endowment funds.

We also sent materials, including “Building Successful Community Foundations: The Basics.” If, in the future, they do meet the criteria established for a community foundation, we encourage them to re-apply for membership.

John Welch
Membership Director
Council on Foundations
Washington