PLEASANT POINT – A memorial fund for a popular Passamaquoddy governor who died in January in a tragic accident has taken a major step forward.

The Chief Melvin Francis Memorial Fund has been granted tax-exempt status, Passamaquoddy tribe attorney Craig Francis said recently.

In a letter to the foundation dated March 23, the Internal Revenue Service said that the designation now allows for tax deductible donations.

“[We] have determined that you are exempt from Federal Income Tax under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code,” the IRS said in its letter to the foundation.

The Passamaquoddy governor, who was elected in 2002, was involved with the business of his community when his pickup truck collided with an oil truck on Route 9 in Amherst in Hancock County on Jan. 12.

Francis was returning home from Indian Island in Penobscot County, where he had participated in the signing of an agreement by Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum to donate heating oil to four Maine tribes this past winter.

The inspiration for the foundation started with Craig Francis. He said he came up with the idea shortly after Francis’ funeral.

In February the fund’s board of directors was appointed. Passamaquoddy Tribal Housing Authority director Clayton Cleaves was appointed chairman of the foundation’s board of directors. The former governor’s wife, Carol, was appointed executive director.

The attorney said shortly after the group organized that the foundation would start slowly by funding smaller projects. Among the suggestions were buying sneakers for the tribe’s youths or gym shorts for Beatrice Rafferty elementary students.

The attorney said that the group still was organizing and planned to set up a Web site. “The Web site should be done in the next couple of weeks,” the attorney said Saturday.

They also plan to appeal to other tribes to donate to the foundation as well as other businesses and organizations.

Because the governor was so well-known nationally among other tribes as well as in-state among American Indians, foundation members plan to travel to New York in June for the United South and Eastern Tribe Conference.

There they will be able to present information about the foundation to members of the conference’s board of directors.

To date, the group has raised about $1,200.

Those who wish to donate can make checks payable to: the Chief Melvin Francis Memorial Fund. Checks can be sent to Bangor Savings Bank or to the housing authority at 15 Elders Way, Pleasant Point-Perry, 04667. Or they may call Cleaves at 853-6021 or Craig Francis at 775-7271.