This document describes the roles and relationships of the entities relevant to AllWays Intentional Community. It also provides elaborations on why this particular structure of entities was chosen.
In some cases in this document, there will be tension between the needs of transparency in organizational functions and respect for individual privacy.
The main entities are:
- AllWays Lands And Grounds Association, LLC
- AllWays Intentional Community
- Wind Dance Equine Rescue and Therapy
- Athens Area Pagans, Inc
- The River Temple
AllWays Lands And Grounds Association, LLC
This entity might also get called:
- The LLC
- AllWays LLC
- AllWays LAGA LLC
- ALAGA LLC
- AllWays (we try to avoid, due to confusion with the IC)
This is a regular business. That is, it is not a non-profit. Reasons for this are described below. The purpose of this entity is to own the land and to take care of whatever business relates to that ownership. For example, it pays taxes on the land, ensures that the gas pipeline easement is treated properly, etc. The exact division between the responsibilities of The LLC and Athens Area Pagans, Inc., is not fully determined yet. For example, let’s say that a road gets built on the land. Is payment for and upkeep of the road the responsibility of The LLC or AAP? In the coming months, we will be working out these details.
AllWays Intentional Community
This entity might also get called:
- AllWays
- The Intentional Community
- The IC
- AllWays IC
This is a Project of Athens Area Pagans, Inc. (AAP). That is, AllWays IC is not a separate business. There has been a line-item for an intentional community in the annual budget of AAP for many years. Only recently has the IC been named, but the IC is still a Project of AAP. The purpose of the IC is to provide religious, spiritual and community spaces for Pagans in the Athens area and to support these spaces by actions and income generated from a small, onsite ecovillage.
Wind Dance Equine Rescue and Therapy
This is a pet project of one of the members of the LLC, but all the LLC members, and no small number of other AAP members, think it’s a great project for the land. It is still in the paperwork phase of generation. But, when ready, we expect it to be a 501(c)(3) non-profit of some sort. We plan to use the pipeline easement as pasture and exercise area for the horses. Wind Dance, like AAP, will rent land from the LLC.
Athens Area Pagans, Inc.
This entity might also get called:
- AAP
This is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization. It’s purpose is, generally, to serve Pagans in the Athens area. As part of that service, AAP began planning an intentional community several years ago. Recently, seven members of AAP formed AllWays LLC for the purpose of providing land for this endeavor.
AAP will rent and manage most of the land.
The River Temple
This entity might also be called:
- RT
This is another project of Athens Area Pagans. AAP’s purpose is to serve Pagans of all Paths, so, at first, AAP did not do rituals. But, people in the group who did not have a spiritual practice group wanted rituals, which is totally understandable. A couple of AAP’s members started doing rituals using the name The River Temple. After a few months, it turned out to be a good thing, so, The River Temple (RT) became the official ‘church’ part of AAP. But, this doesn’t mean AAP has an official ‘Path’. This just gives folks a chance to practice when they might not otherwise be able to. in fact, RT makes public notices of all rituals so that any who wish it may participate. AAP is here for all Pagans.
The River Temple’s rituals are informal, relaxed and eclectic. We try to be accessible to newcomers, so the rituals are rarely complicated. Scripts are usually available so that all participants, even the very new, can take part if they wish. Not everyone likes the very laid-back style of RT, and that’s ok. Folks are welcome to drop in whenever they want to, and if someone finds another group that is a better fit, we are happy for them. A few like our sometimes chaotic and occasionally haphazard approach and stick around, and that’s fine, too. We also welcome guests to lead us in a ritual appropriate to their Path, if doing so is acceptable to their Path. Just let us know if you want to do that.
Once we get infrastructure in place on the land, RT will begin doing rituals over there regularly. We already do rituals there occasionally.
Choice of Business Arrangements
We must work, the best we can, within the existing business and tax laws. In this section, we explain why each entity exists as it does.
AllWays LAGA LLC
To understand why the entity owning the land is a regular business rather than a non-profit, it is necessary to understand a little about the laws governing non-profits. It is also necessary to understand that the people who formed AllWays LLC are not wealthy. For them to be able to realistically afford to undertake this project, they needed to do it in a way that minimized the chances they would become bankrupt as a result. This meant considering what might happen if things go horribly wrong and the whole thing might need to be sold.
In America, when a non-profit business folds, all its assets – or the proceeds from the liquidation of the assets – must be turned over to another non-profit. They cannot be returned to the donors, etc. The seven AAP members who formed AllWays LLC are using money that would normally go to other essential purposes, such as retirement savings, to purchase the land and provide it to AAP for use in the religious areas and the IC. They cannot afford to have that money just disappear should AAP fold or need to discontinue the project. For this reason, it was not realistic for the members to donate the land to AAP.
They also could not realistically provide this land for AAP’s use without receiving some sort of benefit from it. The chosen benefit is modest, but certainly not insignificant: each member receives, out of the 48+ acres of land, 25,000 sq ft that they can use, free of charge, for as long as they are members of the LLC, in any way that is consistent with local laws and that does not conflict with the wishes of the other LLC members. Most LLC members plan to build houses on these plots and become members of the onsite ecovillage. To give an idea of scale, the total of the seven 25,000 sq ft land allocations amounts to ~4 acres out of the nearly 49. So, they are not being greedy. The number, 25,000 sq ft, was chosen because that is the minimum lot size for the zoning (RS-25) in the area that will become the main part of the ecovillage. Note that the members still do not own these pieces of land. The LLC still owns the land. The members merely have the right to use the land. The specific regions for each 25,000 sq ft space have not yet been allotted because not enough is known about the land, and local sentiment, to make informed choices.
Specifics of the Land Purchase
It is very difficult for any religious organization to obtain a loan, but it is even more difficult for AAP. One of the main reasons for this is that AAP does not tithe. That is, AAP does not regularly request money from members (although a few regularly give anyway, and thanks!!!). AAP’s general behavior has been to only ask for money when we need money for a specific thing. By the way… we do need money for the IC! Click here to help us out! Tithing is important because it is one of the ways lenders determine if a religious organization is likely to be able to repay a loan. They speak in terms of ‘giving units’. A giving unit is an individual, family, or other grouping of individuals, that regularly gives money to the religious organization. More giving units equates to a greater ability to repay. This is not a terrible way to approach the problem, but it doesn’t apply well to us. This is part of the reason for the formation of the LLC. The LLC, not being a religious organization, and also not being a non-profit, has a little more flexibility in how things can happen.
Even the LLC had trouble finding lenders who would consider this sort of loan. From their point of view, there would be little to recommend the loan. While we do plan to improve the land in numerous ways (ecovillage, religious practice areas), they are not necessarily ways that will significantly increase the value of the land.
So, when faced with a particularly appropriate opportunity, one of the members decided to risk $140,000 of yake retirement funds in the form of a loan to the LLC. The loan is very unusual because it is a charitable loan rather than a loan designed to generate income. The terms of the loan were crafted to reduce, the member’s loss on the loaned money. There is no chance of profit from the loan. There is interest on the loan, but it works in an unusual manner. The member did build in significant incentive for early pay-off.
Loan details: If you do not care about concepts like interest and inflation, you can safely skip this paragraph. The term of the loan is 30 years. Business loans on property rarely top 20 years. Unlike commercial loans, where the early payments are heavy on interest with little going to principle, this loan charges no interest on any payments made within the first 3 years of the loan term. Starting with month 37, any amount repaid will reflect the previous years’ inflation rates. In months 37-48, the interest applied to any payments is equal to the average inflation rate in months 25-36. However, in months 49-60, the interest applied to payments will be equal to the sum of the average inflation in months 25-36 and in months 37-48. That is, the interest increases each year by the average of the previous year’s inflation rate. There is a cap of 3% interest to be added at the end of each year. Interest added also cannot go below zero (occasionally, a year has a negative inflation rate). There are other caveats and specifications, but this is the gist. The point of this is that any money repaid, starting in month 37 is closer to the real value that the money had on the day that it was lent. The first three years without any interest ensures that the money repaid will be worth less than the money lent. But, this is, after all, a loan for purposes of charity. To make a quick comparison, if you took out a $140,000 loan for 30 years at 3%, you would pay back about $212,500 over the course of the loan. For this loan, in the worst case, the total paid back is about $193,000. Plus, unlike a normal commercial loan, the first three years go to principle rather than interest. So, if the land were to need to be sold in year 4, they payoff would be, essentially, whatever was not paid in years 1-3. On the flip-side, whatever is paid off in year 4 must include a payment of interest as well as the principle. If you are curious about inflation rates… SEE one of numerous websites on the subject, for example: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
AllWays IC
Although the intentional community could have been made a separate business entity, there is really no reason to do so. AAP is already a non-profit, and this community is well within its purpose. In fact, as stated above, AAP has been discussing and planning for the generation of an IC for several years. The precise timing of the beginning of discussions is difficult to know, but the IC has been a line item in the AAP annual budget for serveral years. Because AAP is a non-profit, the IC can receive tax-free donations. But, also because AAP is a non-profit, the requirements for transparency are greatly increased.
Athens Area Pagans, Inc.
Because this entity is the main source of energy for this project, it is worthwhile giving some context and background before discussing the specifics of the business arrangement.
AAP has been wistfully discussing spiritual spaces for the use of the local Pagan community for years. The idea is to give Pagans access to natural areas to use in their practices. Based on our personal experiences, we are aware that it can be difficult for Pagans to find spaces in nature where they can pursue their Paths. We began thinking of ways to make that happen.
The central idea is to have a large amount of land – with ‘large’ being more than 20 acres – that could be divided into spiritual areas of differing sizes and that could be used by members of the local community. But, as we began to consider how to make this happen, we kept running into problems regarding how to pay for it. We know that the Pagan community isn’t wealthy, and AAP is notoriously bad at raising money, so we needed a different plan.
Eventually, we arrived at the idea of forming a community associated with the religious spaces. Rents from members of the community would help keep the bills paid, and some members would help with maintenance of the religious spaces. We liked this idea, but we wanted to keep the burdens on the members to a minimum – yet somehow ensure economic sustainability. We also wanted to keep the community as ecologically sustainable as possible. Doing all these things will not be simple.
As mentioned above, it was clear that the land needed to be purchased by a regular business entity. But, aside from some small perks for those who took the risk to buy the land, we really wanted AAP to be running the show. After all, the fundamental purpose was to provide religious spaces to the community.
So, our current business model is that AAP will rent most of the land from the LLC. The rents charged will be based on the market, but will be skewed to the low end of the market. The LLC isn’t trying to get rich in this venture: it just needs to be able to pay taxes, keep roads maintained, etc. The members of the LLC also want comfortable places to live in the company of friends.
Aside from the use of the land by the LLC members, AAP – or possibly the LLC – intends to provide housing for others with interest in the community. Because most of the land needs to be used for religious purposes, only a small portion will be used for residences. The land, being in the city, is subject to zoning laws, building codes, etc. The plan is to build initially within the current zoning. If there is support, we will later seek approval from the city for a planned development. The current zoning would allow for a maximum of about 13 residences, and there would be restrictions regarding how and where buildings could be placed. On the other hand, a planned development would allow for much greater flexibility. For example, it would allow us to build houses much closer together, leaving much more of the land in its natural state. It would also allow us to mix different sizes and types of dwellings in ways that are not possible in the current zoning. For example, we could have apartment-style dwellings interspersed among detached housing.
The River Temple
This is not a business entity. It is essentially a church. Think of AAP as a convention of churches, with River Temple being one of them. RT will certainly continue to hold gatherings as it does now. But, it will share the religious spaces at AllWays with all the other Pagan groups and individuals in the Athens Area.