We hope the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation’s denial of an extension of conditional approval for the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation’s development plan at Quonset Point is a temporary setback. The non-profit group has proposed a Heritage & Technology Park, using as its centerpiece a decommissioned aircraft carrier, the 1,063-foot-long, 25-story tall USS Saratoga. In 1999 the EDC gave the foundation conditional approval for its plans, pending the group’s ability to secure $7.5 million in financing before it can sign a lease for state land near the old carrier pier at Quonset Point. Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,… To date, the foundation has received commitments for $2.5 million, but it remains confident that it can raise the money it needs — about $8.5 million. The RIEDC has made significant progress in recent years in steering economic development projects to the massive, underutilized former Navy base. The agency is justifiably leery of leasing land to the foundation while financing for the project is in question. But if the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation makes strides in the coming months in its efforts to secure additional financing, we hope the RIEDC would act quickly to reconsider last week’s move and again extend conditional approval for the project. The Heritage & Technology Park is an exciting proposal. It is a project that will not only create jobs and expand state revenues, but also establish a tourist destination site unlike anything the state can currently claim. One only has to look as far away as Fall River, where Battleship Cove shines as a popular tourist destination. Already, legislators have given $50,000 in legislative grants to the effort and The Champlin Foundations has offered to contribute $500,000 once the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation has $2 million in hand. Leaders of the non-profit group have said there would be no problem in the park’s co-existing with a container port, if in fact one is ultimately built at the former Navy base. So there does not seem to be any concern that one project would preclude the other. We simply see the Heritage & Technology Park as a project worthy of special attention.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
The USS Saratoga proposal
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