Lake Merritt Dance is fundraising
Keep the Veteran’s Memorial Hall Open for Dancing!
A few months ago dancers in the Lake Merritt Building were informed by the City of Oakland that starting in January 2020, the dance programs would be shut down. Separately, the Master Renter who holds the lease for the building with the city decided to step down.
A group of leaders from our community joined together to form a new non-profit to negotiate a new agreement with the city and keep the programs alive.
The good news: the City of Oakland wants to work with us and keep the dance programs in the building! We are taking over the lease as of January 1, 2020. They have cut our hours and we lost renters. But at least we are not at risk of the city kicking us out – unless we cannot pay the rent.
The not so great news: income from our current renters is several thousand dollars short of the rent due to the city on a monthly basis. We are working hard to form a new non-profit, get new renters, and set the organization up for long term sustainability. However, that takes time and we are going to need some help with the transition if we want to keep the programs going.
Simply stated, we don’t have enough money to pay our rent in the first part of of 2020.
We need all of your support to get us through the next six months. We need to raise: $10,000 by December 15, 2019 and an additional $10,000 by March 15, 2020.
These funds will enable us to pay the rent to the city, cover modest administrative costs and create a small reserve fund in case we lose renters. Right now everyone who is working on this effort is a volunteer – no one is getting paid - however the work needed to run accounting, invoicing, and scheduling in order to keep the space available to new renters is constant. We are all volunteers and can only do this in the short term, so we need to set up this nonprofit to be financially sustainable for now and for the future. We will use part of these funds to hire someone to help with the administration, and within six months from our launch, we expect to be fully solvent with income from renters sufficient to cover our expenses
We don’t want to be overly dramatic – but the truth is, if we don’t raise the funds we need, we can’t keep our lease with the building. And the programs will close. But that won’t happen if we keep moving forward! Our steering committee is doing everything in their power to keep the programs going and now we need your help.
Will you support us?
A lot of you donating are dancers, and if you just donate the equivalent of 1 night of your dancing per month, we can hit our target!
The people behind Lake Merritt Dance
The steering committee behind Lake Merritt Dance is comprised of volunteers from our very own dance organizers who are renting the space:
Robert Friedman - Swing Out - West Coast Swing
Cheryl Rosenthal - Texas Rose Dance - Queer Women’s Country Western Dance
Zoe Balfour - Trip the Light Fantastic - LGBTQ Ballroom dance
How are we organizing the nonprofit?
We are in the process of creating a nonprofit called Lake Merritt Dance Organizers Foundation, Inc (aka Lake Merritt Dance), which is a registered California nonprofit charitable and public benefit corporation formed in October, 2019 to serve as Master Renter in the Lake Merritt Veteran’s Memorial Hall. Our mission is to provide a beautiful space at affordable rates to local dance programs to allow them to thrive at a time when dance venues in the East Bay are closing and space is becoming prohibitively expensive. We are preparing the application to gain 501c3 status from the IRS.
Where does my money go if I donate? Who is this Texas Rose Dance?
Since the process takes time to get 501(c)3 status and we need to raise funds now, Lake Merritt Dance will operate under the fiscal sponsorship of Texas Rose, a 501c3 corporation, so that all donations will be tax deductible as allowed by the IRS. Texas Rose is one of our nonprofit renters and Cheryl Rosenthal, who is on the board of Texas Rose, is also on the steering committee of Lake Merritt Dance. They have volunteered to be our fiscal sponsor in this time of need. All donations will go through GoFundMe, then through Paypal Giving Services, and then delivered directly to Texas Rose Dance in an account dedicated to Lake Merritt Dance.
Wait what is a fiscal sponsorship?
Fiscal sponsorship is very common for nonprofits just starting out. From the Council of Nonprofits :
“Using a fiscal sponsorship arrangement offers a way for a cause to attract donors even when it is not yet recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). In essence the fiscal sponsor serves as the administrative "home" of the cause. Charitable contributions are given to the fiscal sponsor, which then grants them to support the cause. “
Tell me more about Texas Rose Dance... Are they in Texas? And why am I donating to “Texus Rose” instead of “Texas Rose”?
Texas Rose is a trans-inclusive queer women’s country western dance community. Check out their website here. They are located here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The “Texus Rose” is a clerical error by the government but the organizations are exactly the same. You can look at their 990-N here with the IRS and their registration with state of California here and compare their FEINs and addresses.
Want to donate some way other than online?
We will have some donation galas in the new year, and kicking it off will be the I WILL SURVIVE dance on January 4, 2020, run by our LGBT dance communities.
Please give generously. Every little bit helps and we would love everyone’s support. If you are in a position to be a Host Sponsor or Legacy Donor for those events, we would be especially grateful.
If you want to donate some other way, please feel free to reach out your dance community directly and they will be able to help make sure the funds reach the nonprofit.
Who took that amazing photo?
That was taken by an amazing dance photograph that is part of The Breakaway dance community Auey Santos
A group of leaders from our community joined together to form a new non-profit to negotiate a new agreement with the city and keep the programs alive.
The good news: the City of Oakland wants to work with us and keep the dance programs in the building! We are taking over the lease as of January 1, 2020. They have cut our hours and we lost renters. But at least we are not at risk of the city kicking us out – unless we cannot pay the rent.
The not so great news: income from our current renters is several thousand dollars short of the rent due to the city on a monthly basis. We are working hard to form a new non-profit, get new renters, and set the organization up for long term sustainability. However, that takes time and we are going to need some help with the transition if we want to keep the programs going.
Simply stated, we don’t have enough money to pay our rent in the first part of of 2020.
We need all of your support to get us through the next six months. We need to raise: $10,000 by December 15, 2019 and an additional $10,000 by March 15, 2020.
These funds will enable us to pay the rent to the city, cover modest administrative costs and create a small reserve fund in case we lose renters. Right now everyone who is working on this effort is a volunteer – no one is getting paid - however the work needed to run accounting, invoicing, and scheduling in order to keep the space available to new renters is constant. We are all volunteers and can only do this in the short term, so we need to set up this nonprofit to be financially sustainable for now and for the future. We will use part of these funds to hire someone to help with the administration, and within six months from our launch, we expect to be fully solvent with income from renters sufficient to cover our expenses
We don’t want to be overly dramatic – but the truth is, if we don’t raise the funds we need, we can’t keep our lease with the building. And the programs will close. But that won’t happen if we keep moving forward! Our steering committee is doing everything in their power to keep the programs going and now we need your help.
Will you support us?
A lot of you donating are dancers, and if you just donate the equivalent of 1 night of your dancing per month, we can hit our target!
The people behind Lake Merritt Dance
The steering committee behind Lake Merritt Dance is comprised of volunteers from our very own dance organizers who are renting the space:
Robert Friedman - Swing Out - West Coast Swing
Cheryl Rosenthal - Texas Rose Dance - Queer Women’s Country Western Dance
Zoe Balfour - Trip the Light Fantastic - LGBTQ Ballroom dance
How are we organizing the nonprofit?
We are in the process of creating a nonprofit called Lake Merritt Dance Organizers Foundation, Inc (aka Lake Merritt Dance), which is a registered California nonprofit charitable and public benefit corporation formed in October, 2019 to serve as Master Renter in the Lake Merritt Veteran’s Memorial Hall. Our mission is to provide a beautiful space at affordable rates to local dance programs to allow them to thrive at a time when dance venues in the East Bay are closing and space is becoming prohibitively expensive. We are preparing the application to gain 501c3 status from the IRS.
Where does my money go if I donate? Who is this Texas Rose Dance?
Since the process takes time to get 501(c)3 status and we need to raise funds now, Lake Merritt Dance will operate under the fiscal sponsorship of Texas Rose, a 501c3 corporation, so that all donations will be tax deductible as allowed by the IRS. Texas Rose is one of our nonprofit renters and Cheryl Rosenthal, who is on the board of Texas Rose, is also on the steering committee of Lake Merritt Dance. They have volunteered to be our fiscal sponsor in this time of need. All donations will go through GoFundMe, then through Paypal Giving Services, and then delivered directly to Texas Rose Dance in an account dedicated to Lake Merritt Dance.
Wait what is a fiscal sponsorship?
Fiscal sponsorship is very common for nonprofits just starting out. From the Council of Nonprofits :
“Using a fiscal sponsorship arrangement offers a way for a cause to attract donors even when it is not yet recognized as tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). In essence the fiscal sponsor serves as the administrative "home" of the cause. Charitable contributions are given to the fiscal sponsor, which then grants them to support the cause. “
Tell me more about Texas Rose Dance... Are they in Texas? And why am I donating to “Texus Rose” instead of “Texas Rose”?
Texas Rose is a trans-inclusive queer women’s country western dance community. Check out their website here. They are located here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The “Texus Rose” is a clerical error by the government but the organizations are exactly the same. You can look at their 990-N here with the IRS and their registration with state of California here and compare their FEINs and addresses.
Want to donate some way other than online?
We will have some donation galas in the new year, and kicking it off will be the I WILL SURVIVE dance on January 4, 2020, run by our LGBT dance communities.
Please give generously. Every little bit helps and we would love everyone’s support. If you are in a position to be a Host Sponsor or Legacy Donor for those events, we would be especially grateful.
If you want to donate some other way, please feel free to reach out your dance community directly and they will be able to help make sure the funds reach the nonprofit.
Who took that amazing photo?
That was taken by an amazing dance photograph that is part of The Breakaway dance community Auey Santos
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