Who owns the Aurora Foundation LLC?
See excerpt of Rowland Foundation's 2004 IRS Form-990 below or download complete document.
Although always presented to the public as a jointly owned "partnership" between Wells College and Pleasant Rowland, the Aurora Foundation LLC was described to the Internal Revenue Serivces as a "wholly-owned subsidiary" of Rowland's own private foundation.
The IRS filing also makes it clear, once and for all, that the Aurora Foundation LLC is not a charitable non-profit organization, in spite of its rather deceptive adoption of the term "foundation."
Reportedly no profits have been realized to date, but note that possible future profits from the Aurora Foundation LLC businesses will be used to improve the buildings housing these very same businesses. Can that re-cycling of cash from a business to a business really pass IRS muster as a charitable purpose of the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation?
Compare the Aurora Foundation LLC description given the IRS with those found in Wells College press releases and statements:
February 5, 2001:
Wells College announces plans to revitalize economic activity in the heart of village of Aurora (pres release)
This week...the Board of Trustees unanimously endorsed a plan that allows the College to enter into a not-for-profit partnership with the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. This partnership enables the two to combine efforts to create a separate foundation, tentatively titled the Aurora Foundation, which will be a not-for-profit real estate title holding entity...
May 16, 2001: Rowland Talks to Aurora (Syracuse Post-Standard article)
Ryerson said the Aurora Foundation will be jointly owned by the college
(49 percent) and The Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation (51 percent), and
run by five people, chaired by Rowland.
June 1, 2001: Aurora in Rowland's Grip (Auburn Citizen article)
The Rowland Foundation will control 51 percent of the Aurora Foundation and Wells will control 49 percent. A board of managers for the foundation, to be chaired by Rowland, will consist of an executive director who has not yet been named, Ryerson, Wells College Trustee George Edwards, and three members appointed by the Rowland Foundation, who also have yet to be named.
The Aurora foundation was introduced as a non-profit real estate holding organization... Since the announcement of the Wells-Rowland partnership, however, the foundation has become a limited liability corporation. As an LLC, the organization can earn a profit...
November, 2002: Fargo Renovations Move Forward (press release)
...The Aurora Foundation is a partnership between Wells College and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation whose purpose is to support the college's mission by improving the college's commercial properties and enhancing economic development in the village.
March 2006: Wells College Assumes Management of Village Properties (press release)
...President Lisa Marsh Ryerson announced today that effective June 1, 2006, management of the College’s commercial properties in the Village of Aurora will be transferred from the Aurora Foundation to Aurora Inn, Inc., a subsidiary of the College.
The Aurora Foundation LLC is is still listed as an Active Limited Liability Corporation by the NYS Department of State as of February 1,2007.
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This page updated February 9, 2007.