More James Memorial Plaza docs unaccount for $85K

Inweekly has received more documents concerning the finances of the Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. Memorial Foundation, which for the past five years has been working to build a memorial to honor the war hero.

Background: A Pensacola native and Washington High School graduate, James served in the Air Force and made history in 1975 as the first Black officer to be promoted to a four-star general. His military career spanned four decades, beginning as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II. He later served as a fighter pilot in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The documents – a budget and list of milestones – were provided to the Tourist Development Council in February, but were not given to the City of Pensacola:

HOW DOES THIS BUDGET RECONCILE WITH FORM 990?

Our analysis shows $85K unaccounted for, which means the City of Pensacola must inspect the books to determine what is happening.

What we know: According to the 2023 Form 990, the Foundation had $154,012 in the bank on 1/1/2024. Based on the above information, the nonprofit received $50,000 from Boeing. The other corporate gifts – FPL and Montway Auto—we accounted for in 2023. The Individual Gifts shown at $120,866 need to be reduced by the March 2023 fundraiser donations of $15,037 ($65,037-FPL $50,000) to $104,963.

The March 31, 2025 Balance Sheet states $675,000 of the State Grant is still outstanding, so the Foundation received $25,000 of that grant. The City of Pensacola has allocated $250,000, and the Balance Sheet shows $82,000 outstanding, so the Foundation received $168,000 of that grant.

Cash before Expenses:

Checking 1/1/2024	$ 154,012
Boeing Donation	$ 50,000
Individuals	$ 104,963
City	$ 168,000
State Grant	$ 25,000
Total Cash	$ 501,975

The Budget given to the TDC shows $356,194 paid to date, but it accounted for the flagpole and fundraising in the Form 990 for 2023. Plus, the Balance Sheet shows the $100,000 loan from Dosev was paid.

Cash Paid Out:

Sculpture	$ 170,163
Aircraft	$ 96,404
Design, Engineering	$ 20,437
Pay Dosev Loan	$ 100,000
Total disbursements	$ 387,004

As of March 31, 2025, the Foundation should have $114,971 in its checking account. However, the Balance Sheet only shows $200,412 – a variance of $85,441. More money is good, but why don’t the numbers match?

Cash In	$ 501,975
Paid Out	$ (387,004)
Checking Should Be	$ 114,971

Balance Sheet	$ 200,412

Variance	$ 85,441

WHAT’S NEEDED TO COMPLETE & MAINTAIN?

According to the Budget presented, the project needs $1,964,692 to complete, but let’s remove the $250,000 that Secretary Ken Pyle said would be the endowment to maintain the monument and plaza. Cost to Complete: $1.7 million. of which $1.2 million is the massive plaza.

Sculptor	$ 82,000
Aircraft	$ 250,000
Plaza	$ 1,164,060
Flagpole installation	$ 25,000
General	$ 193,632
	$ 1,714,692

With the remaining state and city grants and the checking account balance, if accurate, the Foundation needs $760K to complete the project. It would still have to raise $250,000 to cover the maintenance required by the City Stewardship agreement.

Checking	$ 200,412
State Grant	$ 672,000
City Grant	$ 82,000
	$ 954,412

Shortfall	$ 760,280

SIMPLE SOLUTION

Chappie_5684-2 - Rick's Blog — 2018 Version

The simplest solution would be to scale back the plaza—the largest cash need—and return to the original design published in the PNJ on Feb. 19, 2018. The Foundation would then have the funds to cover the construction cost and maintenance.

1 thought on “More James Memorial Plaza docs unaccount for $85K”

Question: what exactly is that scale? It’s impossible to tell from the original design.

And actually it doesn’t matter what was originally proposed; it needs to be wrestled into a non-Spinal-Tap-Stonehenge outcome.

What’s horrible is that the sculptor, like so many others, did not need to get dragged into the middle of this Dosevian mess of self-promotion. Goodness knows what the Air Force may be thinking of its decision to loan the plane at this point.

But most important, it is such a dishonour to the memory of a man Dosev claims to be honoring. Seven years this garbage has been going on. Maybe if any governmental officials had listened back when Tracy Olson McAdams and other County citizen advocates (including Kevin and me, and there were others, but Tracy was all over it from the start) brought public repeatedly the need to audit these books. So grateful that the attempt to land this in the TDC’s lap as a political hit missed the mark and turned back on where the attention should have been all along. Maybe *now* there can be a reasonable discussion about how to complete a memorial statue in a responsible and respectful manner. Hope springs eternal.

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More James Memorial Plaza docs unaccount for $85K

HOW DOES THIS BUDGET RECONCILE WITH FORM 990?

Cash before Expenses:

Cash Paid Out:

WHAT’S NEEDED TO COMPLETE & MAINTAIN?

SIMPLE SOLUTION

1 thought on “More James Memorial Plaza docs unaccount for $85K”

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