Reporting Our Progress to TNNA

If you are coming to TNNA, join us for an update. This week industry leaders in the world of knitting and crochet will convene in Long Beach California for the winter sales show of The National NeedleArts Association,TNNA. TNNA is a member organization consisting of manufacturers, wholesalers, distributers and retailers of quality yarns, tools, books and supplies that support all of the needle arts. TNNA’s Yarn Group sponsored the Symposium: Knit and Crochet Heritage Museum: A Work in Progress, November 8-10,2012, Madison Wisconsin, where the Center for Knit and Crochet was formed. The Yarn Group of TNNA “is an industry-encompassing group that promotes the growth of the yarn industry, creates awareness and appreciation of the craft, and encourages partnerships between members of the community”. Karen Kendrick-Hands, President of the Center will report on the progress since establishing the Center for Knit and Crochet at the TNNA’s Member Meeting and the Yarn Group’s Meeting and will be in TNNA Lounge Sunday afternoon for personal updates.

Start-up progress by the  Center for Knit and Crochet

The Center was incorporated as a Wisconsin non-stock corporation on Dec. 13, 2012. The CKC Advisory Board, created at the Symposium, is an interim board of nine volunteer members who are shepherding the Center’s initial phases of development. Interim Treasurer Marilyn Huset, a CPA, secured our federal ID number, paid the Symposium bills and established our bank and Paypal accounts so that we can receive your donations. Our legal counsel has advised, that when, the Center is declared to be a 501(c)(3), all contributions made from the day of incorporation forward will be retroactively tax-deductible. While there is no guarantee that your deduction will be tax deductible if the Center fails to become eligible for tax exempt status as a charitable organization 501(c)(3), we hope that you will consider making a donation to help us defray the legal fees and application fees that are associated with this process, and the other expenses we are anticipating as part of start-up, which are outlined more fully below.

Our Vice President, Jennifer Lindsay, is heading the effort to review best practices for museums and other similar entities in order to draft Bylaws for our organization that will define membership categories, rights, obligations, and benefits, and other essential operating principles. Before being approved, the draft Bylaws will be reviewed and approved by the Bylaws Committee, the CKC Advisory Board as a whole, and our legal counsel Preparing the Bylaws is required as part of the application to receive 501(c)(3) status from the US Internal Revenue Service.

Thanks to the TNNA’s Yarn Group, who provided a generous grant of seed money to fund our Symposium in November, and to the hosting support provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society and its Foundation, some of the money raised from Symposium registration fees and Book Festival sales will help finance start-up costs. CKC Advisory Board members and symposium attendees are donating their time and talents to facilitate the process of establishing the center as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity, and to provide other essential services in accounting, logo design, creating and editing web and newsletter content, and developing a taxonomy or nomenclature that can be used as a basis to develop a digital collection of objects. A big “thanks” to the Center’s Secretary, Nicole Scalessa, and her sister for developing the Center’s new logo.

Social media efforts – all volunteer to date – have garnered a following on line of over 800 on our Facebook page, nearly 190in our Ravelry Group, and 123 blog followers, the Center pays money to maintain a web presence and to create, host and circulate the on-line newsletter.

However, starting a non-profit organization also entails spending money to retain legal counsel to advise us on filing our 501(c)(3) application, and to pay the filing and registration fees. Initial start-up expenses (legal fees, filing fees) will exhaust most of our current funds. In addition, the Center pays money to maintain a web presence and to create, host and circulate the on-line newsletter. Donations during this provisional start-up period, will ensure that we can cover these expense.
The Center also needs to plan and budget for future growth and development – to consult professionals in web design, photography and image hosting, and to create a provisional web site that will allow us to communicate more effectively. There will likely be costs associated with sharing and vetting the knit and crochet taxonomy or nomenclature we are developing to underpin the digital repository. There are also costs associated with other essential outreach, e.g., the development and sharing of guidelines for preserving and documenting knitting and crochet at home, or as a function of your local guild or group.

Finally, we will be planning a second Symposium. Jack Blumenthal of Lion Brand Yarn, has offered to host the next Symposium at Lion Brand Yarn’s New Jersey facilities. Your donations will keep our dream alive of creating an organization – the first of its kind – that will properly preserve and promote the art, craft, and scholarship of knitting and crochet. Once we are able to confer memberships, we can apply any donations you have made toward an annual membership in the Center for Knit and Crochet, and we will, of course, be looking for additional sources of funding, like grants and other donations, that we can secure to help us on our way.