CTU FOUNDATION? Grants from the CTU Foundation have totaled millions since 2013, without any review by the union's delegates or members...
Since the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation became an official 501(c)(3) charitable foundation three years ago, the Foundation has given away millions of dollars, as required by federal law governing such legal entities. A lengthy list of all the recipients of the donations from the Foundation can be compiled by anyone with the time and patience to go to the IRS 990 forms filed by the Foundation since it began operations following the sale of the Fewkes Tower by the Fewkes Tower Corporation.
But none of the donations from the Foundation, which after all was established as a result of the liquidation of a major asset of the Chicago Teachers Union, has ever been reported to -- let alone approved by -- the union's House of Delegates or the union's 25,000 members.
By: Jeff Tischauser
CTUF
Dear George Schmidt,
ProPublica runs a database of financials on popular non-profits. On the site, you'll see CTUF's 990s up to 2014:
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237076885
In addition, if you go to CTUF's Grantee List webpage: https://www.ctuf.org/grants/grantees/grantees-list/ which is a public website, you'll see that the Grantees listed in 2015 on this page correspond to the 990 filed in 2015.
I don't know all the rules and regulations that govern 501(c)3's or teacher unions, but as an outsider and long time supporter of CORE, it looks like the CTUF is being upfront with what they do. By supporting community groups, the CTUF is fulfilling its mission.
Maybe a better question would be to ask why some groups get more funding than others. But, I don't think that this is a question for the HoD. I trust the CTUF folks who were hired by CTU folks to do their jobs. I also trust CTU folks to hold the people they hired accountable.
To assume that there is backroom politikiing is cold blooded and takes a degree cynicism that I don't have yet. Maybe I'm reading too much into your article.