Former Akron Mayor scholarship foundation loaned to political campaign and lost

by Gary Snyder

Former Akron (OH) Mayor Don Plusquellic formed a foundation in the early 2000s to ask donors to support scholarships for Akron Public School students. 

Then, in the name of even more scholarships, Plusquellic legally and quietly transferred $75,000 out of his non-profit scholarship fund and loaned it to a political campaign committee called Keep Akron Strong.

That year, Keep Akron Strong promoted a ballot measure that would have sold the city's sewer system to a private operator to raise money for University of Akron and technical school scholarships.

The issue failed on the 2008 ballot.

The Don Plusquellic Scholarship Foundation has since dried up. The loan depleted the foundations coffers from more $109,000 at the beginning of 2008 to $17,586 the following year. As of 2012, the most recent year financial statements are available online, $73,000 of the loan remained outstanding.

Since 2008, the organization paid $16,500 in qualified charitable contributions in 2009; $9,000 in 2010; $8,250 in 2012; and zero in 2012.

The head of the foundation said that there are no definite plans to rebuild the scholarship fund. (source)

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