Follow The 990
A casual study of the 990 forms of local nonprofits creates context in a field reinventing itself
My family has a long history of involvement with craft movements on both the British and the American sides. Above is a page of a journal of the branch of the Camden-Rockland branch of the Maine Craftsmen Association dated 1948. Dad arrived on Southport Island in 1952 and was the last person to keep this journal, thus we have it in our possession. After that, my father helped to form the Boothbay Art Foundation, which still exists today.
Dad didn't stay active in the art foundation for long because he encountered the same categorization issues that have persisted through the history of Andersen Design. The decision to create a handcrafted product affordable to the middle class was not understood in conventional thinking, Using production as an artform was difficult to assimilate even after Andy Warhol legitimized the concept in the bluechip art world, which it stayed within the blue chips and did not transcend it.
Today we have lost our production, but, after the overlords of wealth concentration and redistribution in the arts (Fractured Atlas) rejected our application as a social enterprise citing my use of a word (production), reinvented and forbidden by the Fractured Atlas NewSpeak, they offered us the booby prize of applying as a museum or a school, but as a school, the wealthy board of Fractured Atlas forbids us from teaching others how to make our line, which in God's will, as I interpret it, is what we should be doing.
I chose the museum. I wrote up an application in about half an hour and it was approved for fiscal sponsorship by the overlords.
Finding a board has long been an obstacle in its course. I approached my local tax-payer-funded economic development council, who would engage in no such conversation as a museum started by one of the locals and told me to go get help from my own peer group. Later. after we lost our home, which housed our production, our historical property was bulldozed over by a developer of the "New" Boothbay. I observed on Zillow that we had been charged six times the property tax rate as the current replacement structure that now occupies the landscape, so excluding Andersen Design and the community of grassroots maker-entrepreneurs from the economic development plans for the Boothbay Peninsula, was not actually a lucrative move for the pocketbook of the JECD.
Today I have shaken Fractured Atlas a fiscal sponsor and I am going for starting a 501(3)(C) Museum for American Designer Craftsman that favors the grassroots entrepreneurs and which will set up as a fiscal sponsor for that community. In this link, you will see that I have used the non-profit purpose codified into the statute chartering the Maine Technology Institute as a model purpose for the museum, but I want to include other purposes related to housing, as well. It is a work in progress that I believe should be completed when the museum has a board.
For some, the word museum conjures up a large building of institutional character representative of power and wealth, but in my heart, that style leaves me cold, and fearful that the purpose of the museum will all too quickly evolve toward the interests of the institution rather than the community of artists, designers, and small entrepreneurs.
I entertain the idea of a museum that is a network of museums in many communities in natural and or historical structures. That is a sister image to my vision of Andersen Design production as a network of small productions that may or may not be in or attached to a home, creating a linked community within the world outside the metaverse. It is only necessary for one museum in the network to be a 501(3)(C) as it could fiscally sponsor the others as free enterprise operations, or there could be many museums set up as 501(3)(C)s. I see the museums as living community centers of the small entrepreneurial world, centered in a new middle class.
In the days when I was trying the get the museum-going as a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, I envisioned the museum located in the church at 25 Fort Hill St in Wiscasset, which sold last May. Even that historical location verges on the institutional but the institution is a church. The first vendor’s markets of the Middle Ages were formed around churches and in the beginning, the vendors were all makers and not mere merchants. A former church situated in a town that hosts an antique market seemed perfect.
After I was given the cold shoulder by the Joint Economic Development Council of Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, I read about comprehensive fiscal sponsorship on the Edward Charles Foundation website. It seems like a better form of fiscal sponsorship to use for a museum and I wanted to learn more about it and contacted the organization but somehow, quite accidentally, contacted the law firm of the same name.
I provided information about 25 Fort Hill St along with images of Andersen Design’s work and the firm set up an appointment to talk. I thought it was an appointment for an informational inquiry to learn more about the firm’s services but the name owner and top-level people were present and I realized on the spot that I was expected to give a presentation of the project proposal. I was not even close to being prepared for that level of presentation and so the meeting was quite awkward but nonetheless enlightening that the combination of the right space and images of Andersen Design’s work opened the door to the top. This is not an uncommon experience and so I feel that we don’t need a board populated with big money donors, megacorporate CEOs, academics, and financial managers to open the door to grant funding, but we do need to have a presentable working team and the organizational basics in place appropriate for the stage of development that we are in.
Imagine if the JECD were really a community economic development resource and had helped us with our development needs at the previous stage and all was in order when I found myself speaking with a top-level legal firm in the comprehensive fiscal sponsorship industry.
Instead of serving the existing community, the JECD was using public property tax dollars, including ours, to support its own “peer group” that centered around the Botanical Gardens and Boothbay Harbor merchants. Every article in the Register featured the JECD’s complaint that Southport and Edgecomb were not paying up for the JECD services which, as I was informed, exclusively benefit the JECD’s peer group- the wealthiest people in town or the people who would create what the JECD considered the right sort of environment to attract more of their own. It was clear that the JECD believed that economic development means gentrification and the crowning glory of the gentrification caucus is the Botanical Gardens, around which all of the JEDC’s efforts were focused at the time I contacted them.
The JECD, apparently having no vision or data mining capabilities of their own, had just spent 79000,00 public dollars for a plan for the Boothbay Region created by a consulting firm, appropriately, in the world view of the JECD, located in New York.
The plan not only called for a focus on museums but also on the region’s history, which the JECD appeared to know very little about. What does history matter when the definition of economic development is gentrification, driving out those of ordinary means to make way for the wealthy and “the new” on a peninsula with its own Garden of Versailles in close quarters to the expanding country club, as a contemporary stand-in for the castle, and even the roads have been reconfigured with public money to create a direct link between the gardens and the country club, causing every traveler to negotiate through unnecessary merges just to get from Boothbay to Boothbay Harbor?
This infrastructure catastrophe was supported by the JECD with Wendy Wolf saying in support of the four million dollar mess that it wasn’t a “referendum on country club owner, Paul Coulombe” willfully obfuscating the real issues, in the manner of a polished politician.
On weekends from late spring to early autumn, the administration of the museum sponsors the Grandes Eaux – spectacles during which all the fountains in the gardens are in full play. Designed by André Le Nôtre, the Grand Canal is the masterpiece of the Gardens of Versailles. In the Gardens too, the Grand Trianon was built to provide Sun King with the retreat he wanted. The Petit Trianon is associated with Marie-Antoinette, who spent her time there with her closest relatives and friends.
In 1979, the gardens along with the château were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List due to its cultural importance during the 17th and 18th centuries. Wikipedia
At this creative and visualizing stage of the museum, I do not want the types that typically populate the boards that I have been studying through the 990 tax forms, acknowledging that I am just beginning that study so I may find some other examples with a different sort of board.
The Gardens are an example of how far a non-profit can stray from its original purpose when letting in the big money people. According to the write-up on the Garden’s website “Our journey began in 1991 when a small group of MidCoast residents dreamed of building a world-class public garden on 148 acres of rocky coastal forest that would one day be both an economic engine and cultural anchor for our region.”
According to the articles of incorporation, the purpose was:
To own or lease ground, to erect buildings and improvements thereon, for the. purpose of creating, maintaining, operating, and exhibiting botanical garden(s); and for the protection and propagation of endangered plant, tree and flower species: and for hybriding of species; and for educating the public in the display, propagation, preservation and protection of all Maine plant life.
"See also Article Eighth of these Articles.
According to its 990 tax form, the garden’s current mission is:
The mission of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is to inspire meaningful connections among people, plants, and nature through horticulture, education, and research.
Mission creep?
Opponents of the plan charge the gardens with losing sight of its original mission, which included the language “to protect, preserve, and enhance the botanical heritage and natural landscapes of coastal Maine,” with misrepresenting the project to the town and in general being bad neighbors. Beauty or beast? Neighbors fight Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ expansion by Beth Brogan Bangor Daily News February 8, 2017
An examination of previous years’ 990 forms reveals that the Gardens non-profit purpose was changed in the 2015 return. Below is the 2014 purpose statement:
THE MISSION OF COASTAL MAINE BOTANICAL GARDENS IS TO PROTECT, PRESERVE, AND ENHANCE THE BOTANICAL HERITAGE AND NATURAL LANDSCAPES OF COASTAL MAINE FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES THROUGH HORTICULUTRE, EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
Although references to protecting the environment have been removed from the Gardens mission statement, it retains this classification:
Classification (NTEE)
Botanical Gardens, Arboreta and Botanical Organizations (Environmental Quality, Protection and Beautification )
The current mission statement makes little sense as a meaningful connection to nature is not to be had through the institutions of man, a meaningful connection with nature is experienced within nature which is all around the Peninsula
Man’s institutions that study our effect on nature are important but the gardens do not heed the concerns of those institutions when environmental research challenges its gentrification mission. Given the reality of the gardens and their history, the words in its mission statement are just word salad nonsense.
Compare with the mission statement of the Boothbay Region Land Trust:
The mission statement of the Boothbay Region Land Trust:
To Conserve for the public benefit, natural habit, scenic beauty, and working land of the Boothbay Region of Maine by providing stewardship, public access and environmental programs 990 form Boothbay Region Land Trust
This mission statement is consistent with what the Land Trust does. Public access to Land Trust locations is free to all, while the Gardens charge a fee that is prohibitive to many. The fee benefits the Gardens, which shows a generous surplus income on its 990 forms. The fee does not serve a public mission.
There are no asphalt parking lots on Land Trust sites, consistent with its stewardship and environmental mission. It is well known that asphalt surfaces are damaging to air quality and water supplies, and consistent with that concern, Land Trust parking lots are small in size with gravel surfaces, if not dirt. There are no large urban styles institutional buildings, which is the second phenomenon to greet the Botanical Gardens visitor after the large asphalt parking lots. Entering the gardens feels like a jarring confrontation with an urban city block dropped down into the natural Maine woods.
You can’t build large asphalt parking lots without the involvement of the wealth-culture to pay for it.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2018
PORTLAND, MAINE — The Harold Alfond® Foundation today announced a grant commitment of $7.5 million to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, the largest gift in the gardens’ history. The gift is in support of Cultivating Joy, a $50 million initiative to expand the gardens’ research capacity, to better accommodate the growing number of annual visitors to the gardens and to develop year-round programming, all of which will enhance the economic vibrancy of the region. The initial phase of Cultivating Joy was completed last summer, with improved vehicle access and a new visitor and administrative center.
“Cultivating Joy”. Why doesn’t the Gardens just use that as its non-profit mission?
Someone needs to bring this slick idea up with the Vice-Chair of the Board, Barbara Alfond, wife of Ted Alfond, Son of Harry Alfond.
In seeking a board for the Andersen Design Museum of American Designer Craftsmen, I am conscientious that boards seem to be where organizations go astray in serving their missions. In my experience, the persons with whom the public interfaces directly act much more consistently with the mission of the organization than the board, whose members are often inaccessible to the public. I would like the startup board for the Andersen Design Museum of American Designer Craftsmen to be capable people of ordinary backgrounds, with resumes significant in practical experience to make a good impression in applying for funding, but backgrounds need not be academic or corporate executives, philanthropists, and fundraising professionals, though I would also not exclude someone of such background provided they are convincingly on board with the Museum's grassroots mission.
If desirable, the museum can bring in the wealth-culture connections at a later date, but it seems less likely to evolve in the other direction, toward decision-makers made up of competent and talented people of working-class backgrounds.
John Abbot was the Chair of the Board of the Botanical Gardens reported on its last 990 tax form. He was also listed as the Board President of the Boothbay Opera House. John Abbot was the treasurer of the gardens before becoming chair. John Abbot lives in the Nashville metropolitan area where he currently is the director of a real estate investment trust called Healthcare Realty and spent 15 years in asset management at GE Capital. His listed skills are in the aerospace and financial industries.
The new Chair of the Board is Mary Neal for whom it is difficult to find a professional resume. An article announcing the new president and CEO of the gardens, states that Mary Neal is Vice-Chair of Administration & Operations and Volunteer CEO, but I found no further mentions of this position anywhere that would establish how long Mary Neil has held that position. Neither Mary Neal nor the position of Vice-Chair of Administration & Operations is mentioned on the Botanical Garden’s Staff Directory
However, this Boothbay Register article from the days when Wendy Wolf, the once head of the JECD, was running for state representative identifies that Mary Neal is the life partner of Wendy Wolf.
Wolf and her partner of 32 years, Mary Neal, bought their West Boothbay Harbor home in 1993. The couple has two adult children, Alice and Sarah. District 89 Challenger Focuses on Access to Health Care
Nick Ullo is the only paid employee of the Land trust but he works a forty-hour week and the rest of the directors work only work 2 hours a week. Mr. Ullo has a background and interests related to the purpose of the Land Trust.
It is notable that economic development is not mentioned in the Gardens non-profit purpose but it is used as an accomplishment in Part III Statement of Program Service Accomplishments
4a(Code: ) ……. IT IS THE LARGEST PUBLIC GARDEN IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND. THE GARDENS FEATURES A VISITOR CENTER, CURATED GARDENSHOP, AND CAF BUILDING HOUSING A GRAB-AND-GO MARKET AND THE KITCHEN GARDEN CAF. CMBG OFFERS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS ENCOMPASSING PLANT SCIENCE, GARDENING, BOTANICAL ARTS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN OUR LEED- PLATINUM, NET-ZERO BOSARGE FAMILY EDUCATIONAL CENTER. THE CENTER CONTAINS THREE LARGE CLASSROOMS THAT CAN CONVERT TO A SINGLE, 175-PERSON AUDITORIUM FOR LARGER GROUPS; EACH OF THE GARDENS' BUILDINGS ALSO HOUSE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES. CMBG REMAINS AN ECONOMIC ENGINE FOR THE STATE OF MAINE, ATTRACTING OVER 200,000 VISITORS TO THE BOOTHBAY REGION FROM APRIL 1, 2019 THROUGH MARCH 31, 2020.
A ”curated garden shop'“? What shop is not curated? This is the kind of rhetoric that non-profits use to change the rules of the free enterprise market. The Gardens probably isn’t charging a fee for vendors to show their work to the “curators” but I have seen non-profits do so, all the while not establishing terms of acceptance in advance.
The Statement of Program Service Accomplishments for the Boothbay Region Land trust reflects accomplishments consistent with its stated purpose and makes no extraneous claims about accomplishments in unrelated areas. Although the Gardens does not include economic development as a non-profit purpose it justifies its activities as an economic development resource, feeling like the slippery slope of incremental change wherein the original purpose is completely transformed over time. Traditionally economic development is related to job creation. While the Gardens does create jobs, the majority of its employees are unpaid volunteers. What sort of economic development is the Gardens advancing per job creation? Does the reason it does not include economic development in its purpose even though it lists it in its accomplishments have to do with job creation requirements?
In 2014 the Gardens started filing a Form 990T for unrelated business income. classified as space rental income. It doesn’t look like a large amount of income, but the rhetoric in the Statement of Program Service Accomplishments relies heavily on unrelated business accomplishments in real estate development and retail enterprises.
The buildings that the Gardens has built are justifiable as income generators and are also justified as research facilities. Which is it? The statement is talking detail only about real estate, as if real estate acquisition justifies its non-profit status, of inspiring others to connect with nature, through urban-styled institutional buildings. The buildings are called research facilities but there are no further details about the research.
The Andersen Design Museum will include economic development as a non-profit purpose- using language borrowed from the Maine Technology Institute as discussed here. MTI
MTI’s purpose includes a complete description of what Andersen Design did from 1952-2017 when we lost our home and with that our production facility. The difference is that MTI supports new tech fields where the big money lies and uses a matching fund which means it is there to benefit those who already have a leg(or several)-up. The Andersen Design Museum of American Designer Craftsmen will favor the grassroots and the hand-made, a sector that has been missing from the economic development map for far too long, resulting in the present state of affairs with a wealth divide in free fall.
In other local news
The Good News: Desiree Scorcia will be the caucus convener for the Green Independent Party Caucus, on at 4 PM on Wednesday, Feb 23 at the Town Hall. Plus, Alan McDonald, Candidate Hopeful, as a national representative will be there.
All are welcome but only registered Greens can vote and only registered Greens and the unenrolled can sign for a Green Party candidate. So if you want to be part of a grassroots movement to develop a more representational community on the Peninsula, consider registering as a Greene and come to the caucus! I write this newsletter to have a voice and to encourage the same among others who may feel as disconnected as I do to the interests of the organized powers that be in this community. That is what being an Independent is about. As for being a Green, I can say for sure that it is about caring about environmental issues and about the people, and beyond that, it is about what we make it, how we come together and actualize on issues that we discover we have in common. We discover that by coming together.
I have never participated in a caucus or any political organization before. I see it as creating a new space and calling out. How many Independent Greens do we have in Boothbay? If you are interested in changing your party registration, It is easily done at the Town office.
The Bad News: Judge Lance’s ruling didn’t turn out as the Green Party hoped. Taken as an emergency measure it only applied to Libertarians. The Libertarians deserve it since the Secretary of State had unenrolled all of their voters. Now they’re restored and Libertarians can collect candidate signatures from any registered voter. The Green Party is still restricted to enrolled Greens and unenrolled voters, despite the Judge having declared that unconstitutional. The ruling responded to the Libertarian’s requests and did not extend further so there is more work to be done before other parties will see a benefit.