Jonathan Board Commits to Renovate Lake Grace Pavilion
At its January 2011 monthly meeting the Jonathan Association Board of Directors voted unanimously to partner with Chaska Boy Scout Troop 589 in a “big hairy audacious goal” – the renovation and restoration of the Lake Grace Pavilion in Jonathan.
“Troop 589 sees the renewal of the Lake Grace Pavilion and surrounding area as fitting the legacy of Henry McKnight,” says Scout Leader Jon Leinen. “His vision of a community area where families and individuals could enjoy the beauty that is unique to Lake Grace drives our Troop’s desire to bring this area back to life.”
Lake Grace, originally dredged so as to create one of the first big amenities in Jonathan, was named after the wife of Jonathan founder Henry McKnight. The Lake Grace Pavilion, one of the first buildings constructed in Jonathan, was designed to serve as a recreational facility for the Jonathan homeowners and other Chaska residents who wanted to enjoy the beach area and beautiful surroundings of Lake Grace.
For much of the last decade, however, the Lake Grace Pavilion has been used as a temporary storage facility for the maintenance equipment of the Jonathan Association. “That was never McKnight’s original intent for that special building,” Board member Dick Hagen has pointed out. With the approval of the Jonathan Board and the City of Chaska over the last 18 months, Jonathan has begun construction of a new storage building on the Karen House headquarters property – thus making it possible to return the Lake Grace Pavilion to its original purpose.
“Boy Scout Troop 589 first brought the idea – Jon Leinen introduced it as a ‘big hairy audacious goal’ - to our Board of Directors at a meeting a couple of months ago,” said Jonathan President Nate Bostrom. “The Board members absolutely loved the idea and were blown away by the exciting scope of the project.” Leinen later revealed that a “big hairy audacious goal” – or BHAG for short – was an important concept he’d read about in a Jim Collins article on business management. “A BHAG encourages organizations to define a visionary goal that is strategic and emotionally compelling,” explains Leinen. “It serves as a unifying focal point of effort.”
Jonathan has been the charter sponsoring organization for Chaska Boy Scout Troop 589 for over 35 years, making it one of the longest-running relationships of its kind in the state. This relationship has developed into a mutually-beneficial partnership for both organizations; Jonathan provides camping equipment for the Scouts, and the Scouts reciprocate with service projects that improve the quality of life for all Jonathan members.
“Jonathan homeowners are exceptionally blessed by the volunteer efforts of Troop 589,” says Bostrom. “In 2010 alone the Scouts helped remove approximately 60 tons of yard waste out of our Jonathan neighborhoods during the Chaska Cleanup Days; in addition to installing a dozen bat houses (homes for those great mosquito eaters!), and ten map markers throughout our extensive trail system.”
“This is such a win-win for both groups,” added Jonathan Board member Walt Ripplinger. “A renovated Lake Grace Pavilion will not only restore a fantastic community resource, but will also provide a great meeting location and activity site for the Boy Scouts who do so much for our Association.”
“Service to community is one of the foundations of Scouting,” says Leinen. “By having the Boy Scouts of Troop 589 work on the renewal of the Lake Grace Pavilion, they will get a unique opportunity to have an impact on a project that represents the fundamental intent of the Jonathan mission.”
The goal of renovating and restoring the Lake Grace Pavilion will involve intentional fundraising and “friend-raising” efforts by the Scouts, and will require the formation of a 501-(c)-3 wholly-owned subsidiary by the Jonathan Association. The IRC (Internal Revenue Code) designation for Jonathan, as a homeowner association, is 501-(c)-4 which identifies the organization as a non-profit but it’s a category that does not allow for tax-favorable treatment of donor gifts.
“Currently, Jonathan can receive gifts from donors but those donors can’t claim them as deductible items on their tax filing forms,” explains Bostrom. “Also, a number of the charitable foundations we’ve looked at will not make grants to non-profit organizations with our tax code identification.”
Several members of the Jonathan Board of Directors mentioned that not only can the Association’s homeowners benefit from the reduced costs of renovating the Pavilion thanks to this partnership with Boy Scout Troop 589, but the possibility exists that Jonathan could collect competitively-priced user fees from individuals, families and groups who might want to rent this beautiful facility for special events. Those revenues could help defray the Association’s costs of maintaining a fully-renovated Lake Grace Pavilion.
“Over the next couple of months we hope to form a 501-(c)-3 subsidiary and assign a Board of Directors,” said Bostrom. “The Jonathan Board is considering names (the ‘Jonathan New Town Legacy Fund’ has been suggested) and the efforts to file the necessary paperwork and recruit Board members for this new organizational unit are underway.”
Leaders of Boy Scout Troop 589 and the Jonathan Association anticipate that various amounts of financial donations, foundation grants, gifts-in-kind, construction materials, and volunteer labor could be received from a wide variety of sources. An official kickoff to a fundraising and “friend-raising” campaign is tentatively scheduled to begin on May 1st, but details are still being discussed.
“Adding value for our homeowners via innovative partnerships with other organizations in the community is one of the Jonathan Board’s strategic priorities,” added Bostrom. “This partnership with Boy Scout Troop 589 exemplifies that commitment.”
“The vision of multiple community groups sharing a meeting space and working together to bring it back to useful life in the community is a project that Henry McKnight himself would be proud of,” says Leinen.