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August 30, 2012

Amount of nonprofits’ support of city uncertain

The local nonprofit community’s response to a plan that would provide $2.6 million per year in voluntary support to the city in 2012 and 2013 through the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund will remain undetermined — at least for a few more weeks.

Solicitation letters are being sent this week to organizations that participated in either of the past two agreements — about 150 in all — said consortium co-chair G. Reynolds Clark, Pitt vice chancellor for community initiatives. The letters request that participants declare their financial commitment by Sept. 21, he said.

The consortium includes more than 40 nonprofits, with Pitt, Carnegie Mellon University and Highmark among the main supporters. The group does not disclose the amount of each organization’s donation.

Pittsburgh City Council earlier this summer approved the agreement, which would provide an estimated $5.2 million in support to the city over a two-year span. (See July 12 University Times.)

The new agreement, signed July 3 by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, essentially renews the consortium’s 2010-11 agreement to contribute $2.6 million per year, Clark said.

A plan to send the letters in mid-July was delayed while execution of the agreement between the city and The Pittsburgh Foundation, where the fund is housed, was completed.

In 2005, the consortium, which then included more than 125 nonprofits, agreed to contribute a total of $13.25 million over three years in lieu of taxes to aid the city.

The public service fund contributed $2.68 million in 2011 and nearly $2.63 million in 2010, Clark said. The fund made no contribution in 2008-09 because City Council and the consortium failed to come to an agreement on the amount of the donation.

—Kimberly K. Barlow

Filed under: Feature,Volume 45 Issue 1

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