[sudo-discuss] [BAPS-Organizing] Re: [omni-consensus] Proposal: Repurpose 'Omni1' 501c3 into a Land Trust

Tue Jan 3 08:00:59 PST 2017

You know I'm down with this project! And so very relieved that our crazy
organizational brain-switch can be useful for something as important as
helping our sister spaces in this difficult time.. I'd like to sesh on it
all, when I get back after the 15th.

I can take care of many of the logistics re: the 501c3 switchover with
Jesse. If anyone is interested in helping with the nitty-gritty of such a
transition, which is necessary regardless of whether this proposal is
approved given Omni Oakland Commons -> Sudo Room -> Omni Commons, please
get in touch!

I'll put this on the pad for tomorrow's sudo meeting, but can't do much
other than that as I'm in Tanzania and 11 hours in the future (and nope,
not waking at 6am for anything!). DK, if you're able to attend, and also be
patient as we don't tend to reach critical mass until ~8pm, there may be
quorum to pass via sudo. But really don't stress about it, because if no
one objects then sudo abstains, and the proposal will likely pass anyways.

Mad love from the land of lively monkeys,

Jenny

Help open a people-powered common space in Oakland, California!
https://omnicommons.org/donate

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
 -Hannah Arendt

"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

On Tue, Jan 3, 2017 at 3:09 AM, David Keenan <dkeenan44 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> So sorry to spam all the lists..
>
> After a month, I'm bumping this proposal up again for this Thursday's omni
> delegates' meeting / GA, because it has become suddenly pressing in the
> wake of the Ghostship fire.
>
> I was really hoping member collectives might be able have had some
> discussion about this and hopefully attned this thursday's meeting to
> achieve quorum (and maybe even, pass the proposal? :)
>
> The proposal is in essence the following:
>
> 1. Repurpose Omni's 'extra' 501c3 corporation we no longer need, which
> originally was going to be wound down, to be used as a non-profit Land
> Trust and resource specifically for DIY / community spaces (also for DIY
> living spaces) currently in need of much support as they are presently
> facing a wave of punitive code enforcement and eviction.
>
> 2. For this to happen, some logistical hoops have to be jumped through:
>
> - Complete the disengagement of omni's finances of last year, from our old
> 501c3. Yes, I'm told this could take a while, but I'm optimistic :)
>
> - Mild modifications to the old c3's statement of purpose, charitable
> activities, bylaws (this being mostly low-level stuff.) Jesse, our lawyer,
> has verified this should be possible.
>
> 3. After such a proposal was approved and the necessary logistical steps
> taken, this land trust could then optionally become omni's land trust, at
> the collective's choosing -- i.e., a Trust ensuring that the building stays
> used for community use into the foreseeable future and follows its own
> bylaws, founding document, statement of solidarity etc long after we are
> all gone.
>
> Personally I think this is very important to the long-term survival of
> omni, but that particular aspect, of being Omni's land trust specifically,
> is *not* part of the scope of this proposal at this time, as it would
> have to be a later and more substantial proposal unto itself, encompassing
> many logistical aspects.
>
> So this proposal is just a proposed use for our old 501c3, for when we
> have fully disengaged our finances from it and no longer need it.
>
> 4. In the immediate wake of Ghostship (note: which occurred after I made
> the original proposal), members of the wider oakland community assembled to
> help DIY spaces stave off eviction, code-related closures, and to commit
> core fire life-safety improvements: The 'DIY Safety Group'. This group,
> which I (among many) helped to assemble, currently raises donations for
> such work, and this money is presently being stewarded by Omni as a
> fiscally sponsored project to the tune of ~7% in fees (not atypical for a
> sponsoring 501c3.)
>
> The sooner Omni is able able to unmoor our 'extra' 501c3 corporation to
> use as a land trust dedicated to helping and preserving DIY spaces like
> Omni, the sooner that group can take on the accounting overhead, eliminate
> this 7% fee and rather use 100% of funds raised to help other critical
> community spaces are currently being actively threatened.
>
> Anyhow I am hoping the dire needs of the community at large in this time
> is enough to get quorum Thursday and hopefully, consensus on the productive
> use of this extra c3 per this proposal :)
>
> If anyone has any questions or objections, please fire away :)
>
> Best,
> David
>
> On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 8:19 AM, Kazoo Studios <lovekazoo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey David!
>>
>> I like the way you're thinking, and the direction things are moving.
>> Creating the land trust out of the former c3 seems prudent in terms of
>> effort, money, and time. Also, making the building a community land trust
>> feels like a ray of sunshine in the darkness of the next 4 years. We could
>> be very useful in helping other spaces resist the rampant privatization
>> that will likely follow in the near future.
>>
>> I'm out of the country for the next week so won't be able to comment
>> more, but appreciate the creative thinking and resourcefulness of this
>> plan.
>>
>> Thanks for all that you do,
>> Kazoo
>>
>> Kazoo Studios
>> www.KazooStudios.net <http://www.kazoostudios.net>
>>
>> On Dec 1, 2016, at 4:37 PM, David Keenan <dkeenan44 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> With the 'Omni1' > 'Omni2' switcheroo required by the building purchase
>> arrangement currently in escrow, Omni's current 501c3 and EIN will no
>> longer be used.
>>
>> *(More explicitly: In order to intake tax-free the large donation that
>> makes the building purchase possible, Sudo Room's 501c3 corporation will be
>> intaking that donation and renaming itself Omni Commons -- and
>> subsequently, Sudo Room will become will become a fiscally-sponsored
>> project of Omni. This in turn leaves us with Omni Oakland Commons' 501c3
>> corporation basically no longer in use.)*
>>
>> Rather than let this incredibly-hard-earned 501c3 corporation lapse into
>> disuse, my proposal is to repurpose our c3 corp into a Land Trust focusing
>> on being a resource and trust for non-residential collective / radical
>> spaces and commons's like Omni. Per our lawyer Jesse, doing so would also
>> largely already be in line with the c3's existing stated charitable
>> activities, and I believe, would require only minor changes to the existing
>> corporate structure, bylaws etc.
>>
>> From the inception of Omni, a major goal was to partner with an existing
>> Land Trust in order to provide a check/balance on Omni into the future,
>> i.e. to ensure that Omni generally follows its bylaws and mission statement
>> (founding document), and essentially *ensure that the building remain
>> off the market and used as a community resource forever into the future*
>> (prevent the building from being sold later on, for example) -- even after
>> all of us volunteers have passed on to greener pastures.
>>
>> My initial thought is that this new Trust could potentially function in
>> that role for Omni, as well as for any other non-residential collective
>> work spaces that desired it, in one of the traditional land trust
>> arrangements (land/improvements split, 99yr lease etc.)
>>
>> However, in terms of this proposal, the potential terms or complications
>> of any Land Trust functioning as such for Omni *not* in the scope of
>> this proposal.
>>
>> This proposal is simply to advocate repurposing this c3 to this end -- a
>> Land Trust for collective / commoned / radical spaces focused on community
>> organizing and related resources like Omni and in line with Omni's values.
>>
>> Another reason for the trust is that existing land trusts and foundations
>> we met with (those with which we had a shared politics), focused primarily
>> on co-housing -- not on 'commercial' spaces for working or organizing, let
>> alone anything as novel as Omni's multi-tenant, inter-collective structure.
>>
>> It became clear that there is not a good local trust that had solid
>> experience with radical spaces for community & collective work, who had
>> principles and politics in line with our own. (This contrasts to the
>> housing front, where there are a number of active land trusts and
>> foundations that are already doing a great job with lots of experience to
>> boot.)
>>
>> In any case, this trust would also function to centralize and disseminate
>> as a resource what I feel is a bounty of experience, information, best
>> practices, and connections built up under the course of Omni to aid in the
>> development and support of other radical spaces centered on similar
>> community organizing.
>>
>> What do people think?
>>
>> Best,
>> David
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> consensus mailing list
>> consensus at lists.omnicommons.org
>> https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/consensus
>>
>>
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