Chank-yes, I believe that patriot club donations go through the foundation, mostly, if not entirely. From the patriot club FAQ:
"...The check for tickets is payable to George Mason University and the check for donations is payable to the George Mason University Foundation."
Then why is mason paying rent to this organization? Where is that money going if not to private investors? "Fundraising arm" probably doesn't just mean donations.
The foundation owns most of the university's non-campus properties and assets. Since everything the foundation takes in is used for the benefit of the university, the rent is really a wash. I don't know all of the technicalities but I believe there are multiple reasons to do it this way, including:
Allows the university to invest in things it might not otherwise be able to invest in, thus increasing its return.
It helps to protect assets from the money grabbers in Richmond. A couple years back, when things were really tight in the state budget, the legislature was going to confiscate a percentage of all state university liquid assets to close the budget gap. Assets in the foundation don't count as state assets. Fortunately, Mason has most of it's liquid assets in the foundation, so the impact was significantly reduced.
There is no plot here. Everything with the foundation is public knowledge. The financials for past years are all available on the website. The relationship is plastered all over the website. To think there is a plot of some sort would mean your google is broken....
The foundation is just good money management and asset protection on the part of the university.
