The city is encouraging local residents to take charge in establishing a community foundation that would serve as a parent organization to help other groups raise money as they await government approval to become 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

City staff plan to hold exploratory meetings to gauge community interest in the formation of a Saratoga foundation that would be modeled after the Los Gatos Community Foundation.

The Los Gatos Community Foundation was established about 10 years ago to raise money for one specific project and has since grown to become a "hatchery to help new organizations start up," said foundation President Paul Dubois. While a nonprofit organization is waiting to obtain 501(c)(3) status with the IRS—which would allow donations made to that organization to be tax-deductible—the community foundation collects money on the group's behalf. Once the group obtains 501(c)(3) status—which city officials said can take anywhere from six months to over a year—the foundation transfers the money over to the new group, which by then is ready to stand on its own.

One project born out of the Los Gatos Community Foundation is the Silicon Valley Children's Hospital Foundation, to which Saratoga Councilwoman Kathleen King belongs. It was at the council's retreat on Feb. 1 that King first proposed the idea that Saratoga form its own community foundation.

Council interest in a community foundation also comes at a time when commissioners for the city are seeking opportunities to raise money for various causes.

Recently, the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) sought council approval for an Adopt-a-Tree program to raise money to maintain the Heritage Orchard and to fund future preservation projects. The HPC's previous calendar sale, in which the commission did not officially sell the calendars but encouraged voluntary donations, brought in about $1,000, according to commissioner Phylis Ballingall.

But there should be as much separation between commissioners and fundraising activities as possible, City Attorney Richard Taylor advised. Whenever a commissioner—who's been charged to review city policy—fundraises on behalf of the city, there is a perceived conflict of interest, he explained.

"It's not that it would be illegal or improper, but there's the greater chance that it would be improper," Taylor said.

King, who has started foundations herself, agreed that fundraising should not be the job of commissioners but that of a separate group of residents truly interested in the city. More important than being able to give money themselves, these individuals should be "doers" and "influencers," she said.

"More than you need people with a lot of money, you need people who can get things done" and who have contacts in the community, she said.

One example of a good fundraising effort is the Friends of the Saratoga Libraries' Furnishing the Future campaign, King said. Friends has raised more than $750,000 to date through its campaign to outfit the new library with furniture and enhance its collection.

The council has decided that while large fundraising campaigns should be left in the hands of those without ties to the city, small fundraising activities through the commissions, such as the sale of necklaces by youth commissioners, are most likely acceptable. To be sure, however, the council will call on all commissions to submit for approval a list specifying their small fundraising projects.