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  • From: Todd Siegel <todd.siegel@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Transition Town Initiative US
  • Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:25:18 -0700

The tax thing is not an issue. It shouldn't affect your status with Transition US. Being accepted as an official initiative is really just a promise follow the Transition model and to share your experiences with others.

As Larry mentioned in another email the Transition rules are loose and not meant to be followed too strictly. Transition is, after all, community permaculture so observe and interact and take it from there.

Transition is also designed to play nicely with others. If fact, you're supposed to seek out like-minded groups. It's called "Laying the Foundations" in Transition speak so you shouldn't have to ditch your umbrella group (as long as their mission isn't drill here, drill now. :-)

The Transition Handbook is a good read so get your hands on a copy.

Good luck.

Peace,
Todd

On Feb 19, 2009, at 10:55 PM, Thomas Allen wrote:

To clarify the tax issue:
TI US has told us, if I understand them correctly, that we can be a
chapter and operate under their 501c3 tax status by virtue of their
arrangement with Post Carbon Institute. Our regional umbrella group
has told us we can be a chapter and operate under their non-profit
status, too... When they get it. Application has been made.

I'm not yet sure what it means to be an "official" TI US site. We
would like the convenience of operating under someone's non-profit
status other than our own. We would also like to adopt some of the
methods of TI US. I have read the manual and I think they have a lot
to offer. But the regional umbrella group does too and they are a lot
closer to home. We'd really rather not be forced to chose. But for
the tax status issue I don't think we would have to choose. We'd just
adopt whatever part of TI US methods suit us and go on our merry way.
BTW we have the great fortune to have 4 PDC grads on the board.

On Feb 19, 2009, at 12:27 PM, Todd Siegel wrote:

I'm curious, what's this issue with being a non-profit? The
initiative that I'm a part of is putting an application together and
it's my understanding that legal status doesn't matter. Your group
can be an informal group of neighbors, formal non-profit, whatever.
Unless something's changed that I don't know about.

As for PCI dropping support for the Relocalization groups, that was
just an official announcement of what has been understood for a while
now. PCI wasn't providing much support for the groups other than
hosting a website. In the announcement that I saw, PCI is
"encouraging" Relocalization groups to join Transition, not to
compete. I am no expert on PCI's Relocalization movement, but it
seemed very loosely structured, whereas Rob Hopkins and the Transition
Network in the UK have created a model and support system for
neighborhoods to use.

Todd

On Feb 19, 2009, at 12:20 PM, Thomas Allen wrote:

Transition Town Initiative US is apparently growing quickly in the
US. No news there. My newly-formed neighborhood group in Seattle has
made application to join with them as an official site. This action
is complicated by the issue of non-profit status as we are also a
part of the Puget Sound region umbrella group, SCALLOPS. They and TI
US are, or soon will be, US tax exempt organizations. So it seems we
must be either fish or fowl.

This issue is of interest to several groups in the area. As I have
researched the TI US group and its adoption by Post Carbon Institute
I have created more questions than I have had answered. In
particular, the sudden demise of PCI's Relocalization outposts has
raised more than one eyebrow. So far, no one I have talked to in the
region's existing sustainability groups has any idea of what the
relationship between PCI and TI US means for their group, if
anything. But there is a consensus that there's no time to reinvent
the wheel nor form competing camps. There are groups in our area that
have been active for nearly forty years and would like to amplify
their efforts but not at the expense of entanglements they don't
understand.

Post Carbon Institute is rather new on the scene and we really don't
know much about it or Julian Darley, its founder. Any comments that
could enlighten us are appreciated.

--Tom Allen
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