01-23-2013 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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From League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo Public Purpose Expenditure 9/11/2012 Pages 6 & 7 I. Donations to organizations Cities are often asked to make donations to organizations operating for good causes. Without express authority by charter or statutory provision, cities have no authority to appropriate or give away public funds as donations to any person, corporation or private institution. While there's no statutory authority to donate in general, there are some alternatives to consider. And there is statutory authority to donate for some specific causes or situations. 1. Nonprofit organizations in general The attorney general has considered the question of donating public funds to various groups and found the following public expenditures to be improper due to a lack of specific authority to donate: • To support the Boy Scouts. • To sponsor a local bowling team. • To sponsor a local kittenball team (similar to softball). • To help the American Legion build a Legion Hall. • To help support the Red Cross. • To support a campaign to stop expansion of a neighboring city airport. There are, however, other options. One idea is for the city to use the contracting power to give effect to another power of council, such as contracting for a club to spend a Saturday cleaning up public grounds in exchange for money. Also, if a city maintains a fund created from gambling proceeds, those proceeds may be used for many types of charitable contributions.