I inadvertently caused I think some confusion in a lot of people when I posted about our upcoming Town Hall without the context of what may be wrong. Everything would be wayyyy easier if everyone could just be in my head, but until the singularity or HMI are reality, I’ll apologize profusely and backup to provide what I can in the way of that missing context…
In an effort to not bury the lead on anything, I want to start with the TL;DR: the makerspace hasn’t been able to stay consistently in the black since we moved to our new location. We’ve fundraised to extend the length of time we have to survive a few times now, but haven’t followed through on the basic promise to create a stable organization. Most recently this struggle with follow through has resulted in the auto-revocation of our 501c3 exempt status.
Our exempt status was auto-revoked after our 2021 and 2022 information filings with the IRS were inadvertently not transmitted to the IRS and our 2023 extension request wasn’t submitted prior to the filing deadline. This is rectifiable and we’re actively working to rectify it. When successfully rectified, our exempt status will be retroactively reinstated to the date of revocation. This isn’t to diminish the seriousness of having allowed this to happen, just to point out that there is a path to remedy this specific problem and we’re working to do so. We’ve put notices on our donate links and I’m working on more information for everyone.
As for the broader picture of LMN’s financial health and stability I would suggest considering three different aspects:
Where do we go from here? This document is the current working version of what we’re doing and planning to break the cycle and put us on the path to stability. This is a work in progress and is being solidified sort of front-to-back if that makes sense.
How did we get here? There are rightly going to be a number of different takes on the answer to this question. I take a great deal of personal responsibility here. I have tried to answer this in as honest a way I can in this document.
How can you help? Lex has put together this wonderful document with loads of ways you can help us both short and long term. We’re also in need of some shift coverage if you’re interested in volunteering and I’m working on a more centralized location for our more specific needs and I’d welcome help putting it together. Stop by ED Office Hours or setup a meeting.
Please come to the town hall and let us know where we’re missing the mark, where you want to help, or anything else that feels right.
Lastly, we’re going to be sharing these situations on our social media and mailing lists in the coming days—often with links back to this post for context. Just please be sensitive to the role we all play in showcasing our community as you very rightfully skewer my (and our) failures.
I cannot thank you enough if you made it the end. This only represents the beginning of the work we need to do so please keep listening for more ways you can help and opportunities to share your thoughts.
Oh and come MAKE 
The best way to show off the makerspace is to use the makerspace (ok this may be way too lame, It’s time to hit create topic). 