From the mailbag

Watkinsville City Councilman Toby Smith, who also is a local CPA, offers some of this thoughts on the Nuci's Space case ...

I am still at a loss as to how (Nuci's Space) is engaging in a commercial enterprise that is not part of the mission of the charitable institution. Unless, the judgment was made that the musicians renting to the space were not in need of counseling, etc., or the action was in no way supported the mission. I’m not completely familiar with Nuci's and how much they “rent” the facility, if it is a large component of their revenue, there seems to be an easy fix.

They should just require, document with a legally binding contract, that anyone who rents their facility must declare their event as a fundraiser for Nuci's where net proceeds (rental) are donated to Nuci's. This would be the equivalent to what The Salvation Army/Goodwill does. There is an implicit understanding that purchases from these institutions are part of their mission. Buying clothes from The Salvation Army doesn’t directly keep people from being homeless, etc.; however it does provide donations to help The Salvation Army’s Mission. Nuci's just needs to create the same exact implicit correlation (which one would think they already have). I actually think this would be a better way for Nuci's to raise funds. Who wouldn’t rather have a philanthropic jam session/birthday party/concert than a regular one? This would make the rental a commercial enterprise for the institution, which for some reason seems to be the reason they lost the judgment.