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January 8, 2009
Latest from FCR's foundation: $100K+ to Markowitz series, BAM, Brooklyn Museum, Polytechnic (+ $1M for WTC memorial)
Atlantic Yards Report
A review of Forest City Ratner Companies Foundation's filing to the IRS shows how goodies are distributed to groups that are friendly with the developer. Recipients include Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Museum, the BAM LDC, and the Polytechnic University
There's some new money for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, but the most dramatic thing about the latest Internal Revenue Service filing from the Forest City Ratner Companies Foundation--which last April I called shadowy because of its lack of transparency--is that the total dispensed during tax year 2007, $1.89 million, exceeds the aggregate given out during the three previous years.
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Corporate generosity, in this case, serves to bolster ties with charitable and nonprofit organizations in Brooklyn that, not coincidentally, can reciprocate support for FCR endeavors. For some other charities, such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, the motivation may be simpler; Bruce Ratner's on the board.
The foundation's activities are often under the radar. Its officers, as I described, are FCR executives and employees; there's no web site for grant-seekers to use, nor listed criteria for grants, nor publicly announced call for contributions. The phone number is the FCR switchboard. Nor is the list of donees described in as much detail (address, purpose) as in the IRS reports from other foundations.
Read the rest to see who got what and what the benefit of such giving is for Forest City Ratner.
Posted by steve at January 8, 2009 5:49 AM