Salinas nonprofit ranks alongside corporate interests in making donations at Gov. Brown’s request

Gov. Jerry Brown terms out and can’t seek re-election in 2016, but that doesn’t mean donors have to stop giving.

Through another mechanism called “behested payments,” donors give to charities of Brown’s choosing – a chance to spend politically without giving directly to a politician.

So far in 2015, donors have given $2.7 million in tax-deductible gifts to two Oakland charter schools Brown helped found when he was Oakland’s mayor.

One of those checks, $50,000 to the Oakland Military Institute, came on March 1 from the Salinas-based Action Council of Monterey County, California Fair Political Practices Commission records show.

The donation puts the nonprofit in powerful company: Biotech firm Gilead Sciences, the California Association of Realtors PAC, Gallo Winery and AT&T have also given $50,000 each to the school.

The Action Council manages gifts from multiple donors. “It’s our practice to not disclose donors’ names without their approval,” Executive Director Larry Imwalle says.

The local donor, in this case, did not authorize disclosure or agree to speak with the Weekly.

But Imwalle says the gift was not a surprise: “Making a $50,000 donation out of this particular fund is not an uncommon practice.”

What did surprise him: that this gift came at Gov. Brown’s request, which Imwalle didn’t realize until the Weekly asked. The first hint, however, came when Brown sent a thank-you note to the Action Council.

Under Action Council policy, donors are not allowed to give to political action committees or candidates, only to registered nonprofits. Charter schools are fair game.

But Imwalle remains uncertain of the rules for behested payments.

“This is a new experience,” he says. “I don’t have a specific policy around those.”