Opinion ID: 2392136
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Application to the Foundation Property at Issue

Text: With the exception of its determination that the Nuci Phillips Foundation engages in non-charitable and charitable incomeproducing activities only incidentally, which is irrelevant in my view, I believe the plurality opinion correctly applies the law to the Foundation. See Plurality Op. at 652-53. The Nuci's Space property qualifies as an institution of purely public charity under OCGA § 48-5-41(a)(4) and York Rite. The property owning Foundation is devoted entirely to the charitable pursuit of providing a safe gathering place for musicians and young people and aiding those with mental illnesses, including paying for mental health care. The Foundation's charitable pursuits are for the benefit of the public, available to all who seek help there, and particularly for `the classes for whose relief [the property] was intended.' Plurality Op. at 652-53 (citation omitted). Finally, the Foundation's use of the property [is] exclusively devoted to those charitable pursuits. York Rite, 261 Ga. at 558, 408 S.E.2d 699. To be sure, the building is used to generate income in various ways, including the sale of musical supplies and the rental of rehearsal space and space for receptions and parties. But as the plurality recognizes, those activities have the sole purpose of raising funds to be used for the organization's charitable services. Plurality Op. at 652. Thus, in accordance with the statute, the income is used exclusively for the operation of [the] charitable institution, OCGA § 48-5-41(d)(2), and none of it is diverted to shareholders or for other private gain, see OCGA § 48-5-41(c). In my view, those activities are therefore authorized and do not preclude the property's tax exemptionand they would be even if the property were used for the primary purpose of securing such income. Consistent with the legislative policy judgments expressed in the 2006 and 2007 amendments, the Foundation's securing of such income, while it may create somewhat unfair competition for tax-paying Athens businesses providing similar goods and rental space, provides the Foundation with greater resources to advance its laudable charitable mission.