St. Charles considering charitable initiative to fund public projects

St. Charles officials are considering a new approach to funding public projects through endowments and donations from the community.

Aldermen offered their preliminary support Monday for establishing a charitable initiative aimed at creating public-private partnerships to benefit St. Charles. The program - and any donations supporting it - would be managed by the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley, an Aurora-based nonprofit that connects donors with a specific cause or project.

If the city council approves the partnership, the foundation will form an independent advisory committee made up of residents, community leaders and some of its own board members. Serving as a liaison between the city and the foundation, the group would help solicit charitable contributions and make recommendations for how the money should be used, according to a proposed memorandum of understanding.

The concept stems from the city's recent analysis of how other governmental bodies collect revenue, City Administrator Mark Koenen said. The proposed initiative could offer an alternative funding mechanism to help pay for capital projects, new programs and other city improvements, he said.

"There's an opportunity out there to ask people in the community who want to leave a legacy, who want to make a difference in the community and who want to be generous, that they give back to their community with a donation," Koenen said.

Donors would have the option of giving to specific city-related projects or making a general contribution to the overarching St. Charles initiative, said Jeff Hartman, the foundation's president and chief executive officer. The program's model, based on a similar partnership between Glen Ellyn and the DuPage Foundation, is designed to ensure donations stay local, he said.

The city could incur some costs related to promoting the initiative or holding events, Koenen said. The memorandum of understanding calls for establishing a budget and coordinating resources with the foundation and advisory committee.

The foundation's relationships with donors and expertise with managing financial contributions could help the city "raise funds for projects that we've all identified here as important to us," Alderman Lora Vitek said. "I think it's a good move on our part."