RFP Announcement

On Wednesday, the Board of Directors met and decided on a path forward for the organization. This was the culmination of months of effort of all involved, both on the board and in the teams that submitted proposals for the next stage of the CSPC's existence.

First, we're pleased to report that the Center for Sex Positive Culture and the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture will be sharing the same building. The FSPC will run the building, and we will focus on hosting events for our membership. This is a natural alliance which should ensure the new space's long-term sustainability. Additionally, we expect that the FSPC's experience in the fine arts should result in a beautiful space, which should help the CSPC better reach a wide range of sex-positive communities.

Perhaps even more significantly for the long term, we're pleased to report a radical transformation and invigoration of the CSPC's leadership: over the next few months almost every member of the CSPC's current board of directors will resign, to be replaced by new leaders including (but not limited to) every member of one proposal-submitting team, and an expert in non-profit development from a second proposal-submitting team. We believe, as you meet these new board members, that you will be pleased with the enthusiasm, skills, and new ideas they bring. Those of us stepping back to make way for this new generation will remain available to provide whatever of our collective experience they wish - this organization remains important to us, and we want it to succeed.

Taken together, we believe these changes can be characterized as our organization getting back to its roots. The FSPC and the CSPC used to be the same organization, after all. It's unlikely there will be full-time paid staff, making our organization wholy volunteer-run again. Your new board will be a fully working board, instead of largely a policy-making board. And although there might be fewer weekly events, each one will receive far more passion and care.

Our organization was founded in 1999 on a three-part dream: that it be a real non-profit (both to ensure volunteer confidence that their work benefits only the community and to ensure peaceful leadership transitions), that it follow a community center model (so that its participants could form the kind of long-term friendships which can transcend play), and that it strive to serve all the distinct facets of contemporary sex-positive culture (not only out of a belief that we have more in common than separates us but because it's often at the boundaries between communities where interesting things happen). We believe this dream is just as valid today, and that this combination of a reinvigorated alliance with the FSPC, new board members every bit as enthusiastic and capable as those at its inception, and hopefully your personal choice to proactively find the best ways your unique skills can support it, will together make this dream new again.

Sincerely,
Russell Harmon for the CSPC Board of Directors
(I had to send the bad-news announcements, I get to send the good-news announcement)

A letter from the CSPC President

 From the CSPC President

I have some very unfortunate news; our new building is no longer viable, due to the cost of required seismic improvements. We are negotiating with the landlord to find a way out from under the lease. Conversations about how we want to move forward from here are ongoing.

We knew this building would require a lot of work, and we budgeted for that plus a healthy margin. Before we signed the lease in November, we had a structural engineer give us a preliminary seismic assessment of what it would take to bring the building up to code. Based on that professional assessment, we decided to move forward with the lease. In the middle of March, they came back to us with a surprising update of several times their initial estimate. We were unable to reach an agreement with the building owner to share or assist with financing those projected costs, or find any other way to mitigate them.

The time, rent, and construction expenses for this process have used a lot of our reserves. Given the long timeline for construction permits, we have no way to continue with paid staff until a future buildout is finished - for the foreseeable future, the organization will have to be entirely volunteer driven. At her own recommendation Jeanette, the Managing Director, will be laid off after helping us get out of the new space and other ongoing costs. She is not at fault in this set of events, she's done an amazing job in an incredibly difficult situation and has earned our gratitude.

I can't begin to describe how personally upsetting this is to me, and the rest of the board. The Wet Spot, then The Sex Positive Community Center, then the Center for Sex Positive Culture, have been the social core of seventeen years of my adult life. So many people have put so much into this, and to have a setback of this magnitude is disheartening to all of us. This organization has had tremendous positive impact on countless lives, and we still hope to find a way to further the goal of a sex positive space in years to come.

As we know more, we will keep you updated. The next board meeting is 7pm on May 10, at 1514 NW 46th St. Comments and questions in the meantime can be directed to Elizabeth, our Community Board Member, at cbm@thecspc.org.

Russell Harmon
Center for Sex Positive Culture Board President