CLOSED FOR 2019.
Dear Baxter Foundation Recipients Past and Present,
The Baxter Foundation was established to support youth sports associated with the Fort Madison Community School District. To date, the Baxter Foundation has donated over $200,000.00 to local youth athletic programs in the community and Baxter Construction has provided more than $1,000,000.00 in support for local events and athletic programs (including the Baxter Sports Complex).
As you probably know, the School District is seeking to pass a bond to facilitate the construction of a new elementary school in Fort Madison. To support those activities, the District solicited ideas and plans from local contractors. Baxter Construction presented plans and proposals for the School District that would have allowed the District to cost-effectively construct the school and, at the same time, enhance athletic facilities for its athletic programs. As a local business with deep community roots and a long history of giving back, Baxter Construction would have represented its hometown with pride and focused on joining the community together to get the bond passed. Baxter Construction’s proposal would have benefited the children the Baxter Foundation annually supports as well as the Baxter Sports Complex. Unfortunately, the School District elected to use an out of town firm to represent it in this year’s bond election with little history of supporting local youth athletics or the Sports Complex. Furthermore, the taxes imposed upon the payments to the selected firm will not benefit the Fort Madison Community School District, but will benefit another Iowa District.
Since the School District has opted to disregard the plans presented by Baxter Construction, unnecessarily spend additional taxpayer money, and implement a program that does not benefit young athletes in the fashion proposed by Baxter Construction the Foundation cannot continue to supplement the School District’s efforts to grow its youth sports programs; especially, when the District itself chose to ignore the presented plans and waste available financial resources. As a result the Foundation is sorry to inform you that it will not be funding any further donation requests in 2019.
The Baxter Foundation truly cares about the young athletes that have benefited from its past donations. The Foundation hopes the community understands the deep impact the School District’s actions have had in dissuading local business from contributing for its benefit when it mismanages resources to the detriment of the Fort Madison citizens and its children. The Foundation sincerely hopes a new school is constructed in Fort Madison; but, it needs to be done in a fashion that maximizes available resources, prevents wasteful spending, and focuses upon the needs of the community’s youth. Once the School District can demonstrate that it has committed to those goals, the Foundation will re-evaluate its position regarding future donations. We want to see our community thrive and to do so we must support each other.