COSTA MESA : Foundation to Seek More City Funds

The Feedback Foundation, which successfully persuaded several cities to donate more money than ever in the past year, might face a tougher challenge today as the City Council decides whether to grant additional funding to Feedback’s senior citizen meal program.

While recommending awarding the second half of a grant promised last November, a staff report asks the council to withhold a proposed $25,000 grant until two audits for the last fiscal year are completed. The report cited a 1989-90 audit, conducted by the foundation, that showed Feedback ended that fiscal year with a $75,078 deficit, had asked for loans from other nonprofit organizations and had worked out a payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service for delinquent payroll taxes.

Executive Director Shirley A. Cohen, who gave a personal loan of $75,000 to Feedback, said the foundation’s financial difficulties are being resolved and the organization expects to report balanced budgets for the two fiscal years after the audits are completed.

The debts “are from (providing) more meals than we had money for, and we’re not going to do that anymore,” Cohen said. “We have been working real hard and we are getting better.”

Several cities, including Santa Ana, Huntington Beach and Placentia, significantly increased their donations to the foundation after its finance director, Ronald Gray, worked out a grant formula for each of the 14 cities it serves. Gray calculated the costs incurred in each of the cities and asked for officials to provide their “fair share” to keep the program alive.

Other cities, such as Orange and Villa Park, approved their first donations to Feedback in recent months.

Over the past eight years, Cohen said, federal grants have decreased and donations from cities have remained about the same while food costs have risen, leaving fiscal troubles for the nonprofit organization.

The Costa Mesa city staff report found that Feedback served an estimated 9,200, or 15.7%, fewer meals, at Rea Community Center and to homebound seniors during the past fiscal year while receiving more money from the city.

Cohen said the higher costs of food and delivery expenses made it impossible to deliver the same number of meals even with the additional money. The foundation delivered 49,479 meals to seniors either at Rea or at their homes during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The foundation currently has a budget of about $3 million for its meal program, Cohen said.