Reason Alliance, Ltd: Difference between revisions
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==Founding== | ==Founding== | ||
The nonprofit corporation was founded Sep. 26, 2014, in Somerville, MA, registered to a UPS Store at 519 Somerville Ave #288, Somerville, MA 02143 before being updated in February 2018 to [[64 Bridge Street]], the physical headquarters of [[The Satanic Temple|The Satanic Temples]] and [[Salem Art Gallery]].<ref name=":0" /> | |||
In addition to sharing ownership and a physical headquarters, since their foundings in 2014, Reason Alliance has also worked closely with TST on fundraising projects, has an almost identical list of values, and at some point, and has updated its Twitter profile logo to include TST's goat skull and lettering.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Reason_Alliance Twitter.com], @Reason_Alliance with owl-based logo for header but TST logo for profile picture</ref> Its funding of TST-related projects has continued until as late as January 2021 for The Satanic Temple's [[The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Lamar Advertising of Louisiana, LLC|"abortion ritual" billboard campaign]], but social media activity for Reason Alliance largely ceased by summer 2018, as well as new fundraising by the end of that same year.<ref>[[ | In addition to sharing ownership and a physical headquarters, since their foundings in 2014, Reason Alliance has also worked closely with TST on fundraising projects, has an almost identical list of values, and at some point, and has updated its Twitter profile logo to include TST's goat skull and lettering.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Reason_Alliance Twitter.com], @Reason_Alliance with owl-based logo for header but TST logo for profile picture</ref> Its funding of TST-related projects has continued until as late as January 2021 for The Satanic Temple's [[The Satanic Temple, Inc. v. Lamar Advertising of Louisiana, LLC|"abortion ritual" billboard campaign]], but social media activity for Reason Alliance largely ceased by summer 2018, as well as new fundraising by the end of that same year.<ref>[[Media:Satanic_Temple_Billboard_Dec2020.jpg|"Abortion Saves Lives" billboard]], paid for by Reason Alliance Ltd.</ref><ref name="Facebook" /> In February 2019, [[The Satanic Temple Inc.]] received public charity status as a church.<ref>[https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/detailsPage?ein=823404757&name=Satanic%20Temple&city=Salem&state=MA&countryAbbr=US&dba=&type=CHARITIES,%20DETERMINATIONLETTERS&orgTags=CHARITIES&orgTags=DETERMINATIONLETTERS The Satanic Temple], FEIN 82-3404757</ref> | ||
==Purpose== | ==Purpose== | ||
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== Public Financial History == | == Public Financial History == | ||
Reason Alliance Ltd. has worked closely with the [[United Federation of Churches, LLC]], which does business as "The Satanic Temple", but was particularly active prior to [[The Satanic Temple Inc.]] receiving nonprofit designation from the Internal Revenue Service, Feb. 6, 2019. | Slightly more than a month after its founding, the IRS determined on Oct. 31, 2014, that Reason Alliance Ltd. was exempt from federal income tax as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which was re-affirmed Sep. 14, 2017; as of October 2021, the IRS reports the entity maintains 501(c)(3) status.<ref>[https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/detailsPage?ein=471933964&name=Reason%20Alliance%20Ltd.&city=Salem&state=MA&countryAbbr=US&dba=&type=CHARITIES,%20DETERMINATIONLETTERS,%20EPOSTCARD,%20REVOCATION,%20COPYOFRETURNS&orgTags=CHARITIES&orgTags=DETERMINATIONLETTERS&orgTags=EPOSTCARD&orgTags=REVOCATION&orgTags=COPYOFRETURNS IRS.gov], EIN: 47-1933964</ref> Reason Alliance Ltd. has worked closely with the [[United Federation of Churches, LLC]], which does business as "The Satanic Temple", but was particularly active prior to [[The Satanic Temple Inc.]] receiving nonprofit designation from the Internal Revenue Service, Feb. 6, 2019. | ||
In 2016, the then-Seattle chapter of The Satanic Temple provided an "[[After School Satan Club]]" in the Tacoma Public School District; however, a public records request by right-wing arctivist group Judicial Watch discovered that the nominal fees for the club's use of an artroom to meet were paid for by a check from Reason Alliance Ltd.<ref>[http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Satanclub1.pdf JudicialWatch.org], Invoice for December 2016 to June 2017 indicates seven monthly two-hour room rent and utilities amounted to a cost of $154.00, with the official requestor group "Reason Alliance Ltd" and funds provided by Reason Alliance Ltd. (PDF, pages 3-14)</ref> | |||
In 2018, Reason Alliance listed its legal fees in the amount of $90,393 with an additional $28,052 in professional fees; in 2019, this number was $65,345 for legal fees and $70,913 in professional fees.<ref>[https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/reason-alliance,471933964/ CauseIQ.com], Reason Alliance summary</ref> Additionally, in 2019 there were $8,378 spent on "occupancy." It was not immediately obvious what legal fees were spent on or if they had any relationship to [[United_Federation_of_Churches,_LLC#Lawsuits|The Satanic Temple's lawsuits]] during those years. It was also not obvious why the occupancy expenses increased from year to year as co-owner Cevin Soling also is the sole owner of [[64 Bridge LLC]], the company that owns Reason Alliance Ltd's headquarters, 64 Bridge St, Salem, MA 01970. | In 2018, Reason Alliance listed its legal fees in the amount of $90,393 with an additional $28,052 in professional fees; in 2019, this number was $65,345 for legal fees and $70,913 in professional fees.<ref>[https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/reason-alliance,471933964/ CauseIQ.com], Reason Alliance summary</ref> Additionally, in 2019 there were $8,378 spent on "occupancy." It was not immediately obvious what legal fees were spent on or if they had any relationship to [[United_Federation_of_Churches,_LLC#Lawsuits|The Satanic Temple's lawsuits]] during those years. It was also not obvious why the occupancy expenses increased from year to year as co-owner Cevin Soling also is the sole owner of [[64 Bridge LLC]], the company that owns Reason Alliance Ltd's headquarters, 64 Bridge St, Salem, MA 01970. | ||
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!Net Assets | !Net Assets | ||
!References | !References | ||
|- | |||
|2020 | |||
|$76,267 | |||
|$267,065 | |||
|$-190,798 | |||
|$24,897 | |||
|0 | |||
|$24,897 | |||
|<ref>[https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/471933964 ProPublica.org], 2020 Form 990 Filing</ref><ref>''Due to delays affecting the United States IRS only financials have been released.''</ref> | |||
|- | |- | ||
|2019 | |2019 | ||
Latest revision as of 19:10, 13 January 2023
 Reason Alliance | |
| Reason Alliance Ltd | |
|---|---|
| Established | 9/26/2014 |
| Entity Type | Nonprofit |
| Incorporated State | Massachusetts |
| State ID# | 471933964 |
| EIN | 47-1933964 |
| Physical Address | 64 BRIDGE STREET, SALEM, MA 01970 |
| Mail Address | 64 BRIDGE STREET, SALEM, MA 01970 |
| Registered Agent | Malcolm Jarry |
| Doing Business As | N/A |
| Past Names | N/A |
| Website | reasonalliance.com |
Reason Alliance, Ltd. is a Nonprofit Corporation registered in the state of Massachusetts.
Due to its status as a public nonchurch, nonprofit receiving donations in excess of $50,000, Reason Alliance is the only corporation associated with The Satanic Temple known to have public financial documents that can be scrutinized.
Officer History
| Year | Douglas Misicko |
Doug Mesner |
Cevin Soling |
Malcom Jarry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | ✓ | |||
| 2015 | ✓ | |||
| 2016 | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| 2017 | ✓ | |||
| 2018 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 2019 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 2020 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 2021 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| 2022 |
Eventual attorney in TST reproductive rights cases in Missouri, New Jersey lawyer James MacNaughton, served as witness on the articles of incorporation, but at the time of its incorporation in 2014 through its 2015 annual filing, Douglas Misicko was the only listed officer for Reason Alliance Ltd. In 2016, Cevin Soling joined under his own name as Director, but Soling was missing again in the Nov. 6, 2017, annual filing, with only Misicko listed for all officer roles and terms expiring "01/01/16", in an apparent oversight.
Feb. 18, 2018, involved a flurry of activity. At 11:13 a.m., "Malcolm Jarry" replaced Misicko as registered agent, utilizing the address of 64 Bridge Street. An additional filing at 11:32 a.m. added the title of Assistant Clerk to Jarry's responsibilities, with terms of service expiring in 2025 (Misicko's still had expired in 2016). At 11:39 a.m., "Malcolm Jarry" filled out the certificate of change naming himself President and Treasurer, and Misicko's listings were changed to the pseudonym "Doug Mesner" but with terms extended through 2025. Eight months later for the annual report, Misicko named himself in all officer positions once again, though "Malcolm Jarry" remained registered agent.
In May 2019, Misicko submitted an annual report that listing Soling (under that name) as President, which Soling also filled out for the annual report in October 2019 with identical roles, affirming it. In 2020, Soling added the title "Treasurer" under his own name, the last most recent report available. Despite not appearing on the reports, Malcolm Jarry has remained registered agent since 2018.[1]
Founding
The nonprofit corporation was founded Sep. 26, 2014, in Somerville, MA, registered to a UPS Store at 519 Somerville Ave #288, Somerville, MA 02143 before being updated in February 2018 to 64 Bridge Street, the physical headquarters of The Satanic Temples and Salem Art Gallery.[1]
In addition to sharing ownership and a physical headquarters, since their foundings in 2014, Reason Alliance has also worked closely with TST on fundraising projects, has an almost identical list of values, and at some point, and has updated its Twitter profile logo to include TST's goat skull and lettering.[2] Its funding of TST-related projects has continued until as late as January 2021 for The Satanic Temple's "abortion ritual" billboard campaign, but social media activity for Reason Alliance largely ceased by summer 2018, as well as new fundraising by the end of that same year.[3][4] In February 2019, The Satanic Temple Inc. received public charity status as a church.[5]
Purpose
On its website, Reason Alliance states it was "formed in 2014 by directors Malcolm Jarry and Douglas Mesner", with the Facebook page additionally identifying them as "founders of The Satanic Temple (TST)".[6][4] In both places, Reason Alliance describes itself as "a non-profit organization that promotes religious pluralism, fights for reproductive rights, protects children from abuse at school, and defends the unfairly and unjustly marginalized."[6]
However, in the earliest archived version of the site in October 2016, it also stated:[7]
- As TST does not believe religious organizations should be tax exempt, founders Malcolm Jarry and Douglas Mesner created a separate non-profit entity for donors to contribute money and receive a tax exemption. The entity fulfills the mission of promoting secular humanistic values as well as the core beliefs of TST which defend individual sovereignty and reject autocratic authority.
In its 2018 Form 990EZ Filing and 2019 Form 990 filing, the organization's mission is described as "to encourage reason and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, promote justice, and advocate pragmatic common sense."
Values
The section "The Values We Promote" includes seven items identical to The Satanic Temple's better-known "Seven Tenets," but in a different order.
| Tenet/Value | The Satanic Temple | Reason Alliance |
|---|---|---|
| One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason. | 1 | 1 |
| The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions. | 2 | 5 |
| One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone. | 3 | 4 |
| The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own. | 4 | 7 |
| Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs. | 5 | 2 |
| People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused. | 6 | 3 |
| Every [tenet/value] is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word. | 7 | 6 |
Self-Described Activities
Reason Alliance gives primary three areas of interest:
- Reproductive rights advocacy to "ensure that women (sic) are able to receive reproductive care including access to abortion services," and claims it partners with religious organizations to utilize exemptions afforded them.
- Protecting children from abuse in schools, covering similar subjects critical of public schools also found to Soling's 2009 film "War On Kids" and book The Student Resistance Handbook.
- Mental Health Advocacy, covering similar subjects to Misicko's ongoing feuds with self-described child abuse victims, including but not restricted to the Satanic Panic, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and those who become aware of child sexual abuse as adults, pejoratively called "False Memory Syndrome."
Public Financial History
Slightly more than a month after its founding, the IRS determined on Oct. 31, 2014, that Reason Alliance Ltd. was exempt from federal income tax as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which was re-affirmed Sep. 14, 2017; as of October 2021, the IRS reports the entity maintains 501(c)(3) status.[8] Reason Alliance Ltd. has worked closely with the United Federation of Churches, LLC, which does business as "The Satanic Temple", but was particularly active prior to The Satanic Temple Inc. receiving nonprofit designation from the Internal Revenue Service, Feb. 6, 2019.
In 2016, the then-Seattle chapter of The Satanic Temple provided an "After School Satan Club" in the Tacoma Public School District; however, a public records request by right-wing arctivist group Judicial Watch discovered that the nominal fees for the club's use of an artroom to meet were paid for by a check from Reason Alliance Ltd.[9]
In 2018, Reason Alliance listed its legal fees in the amount of $90,393 with an additional $28,052 in professional fees; in 2019, this number was $65,345 for legal fees and $70,913 in professional fees.[10] Additionally, in 2019 there were $8,378 spent on "occupancy." It was not immediately obvious what legal fees were spent on or if they had any relationship to The Satanic Temple's lawsuits during those years. It was also not obvious why the occupancy expenses increased from year to year as co-owner Cevin Soling also is the sole owner of 64 Bridge LLC, the company that owns Reason Alliance Ltd's headquarters, 64 Bridge St, Salem, MA 01970.
Reason Alliance was used for tax-deductible fundraising such as in support of the complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination by attorney Marc J. Randazza against Twitter, Inc, an action which caused many local chapters to resign from TST in protest.[11][12][13] It continues to receive new and recurring donations via FlipCause.com[14].
| Year | Name | Donated | Goal | Fulfilled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ongoing (as of 5/21/21) | $9072.98 | N/A | N/A |
| 2020 | Giving Tuesday | $0 | $5,000 | N/A |
| 2018 | End Of year Giving Campaign | $1,110 | N/A | N/A |
| 2018 | Giving Tuesday | $115 | $666 | N/A |
| 2018 | Bring Baphomet To Arkansas! | $25,842 | $20,000 | ? |
| 2018 | The Satanic Temple vs. Twitter | $5,649 | $50,000 | ? |
| Year | Total Revenue | Total Expenses | Revenue Minus Expenses | Total Assets | Total Liabilities | Net Assets | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $76,267 | $267,065 | $-190,798 | $24,897 | 0 | $24,897 | [15][16] |
| 2019 | $360,418 | $154,903 | $205,515 | $215,695 | 0 | $215,695 | [17][18] |
| 2018 | $130,127 | $124,420 | $5,707 | $11,435 | $1,255 | $10,180 | [19][20] |
| 2017 | $28,824 | $22,448 | $3,376 | $5,728 | $1,255 | $4,473 | [21][22] |
| 2016 | $8,672 | $7,340 | $1,332 | $2,352 | $1,255 | $1,332 | [23][24] |
| 2015 | $0 | $235 | $-235 | - | - | - | [25][26] |
| 2014 | - | - | - | - | - | - | [27][28][29] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Massachusetts Secretary of State, filings for Reason Alliance, Ltd., #471933964
- ↑ Twitter.com, @Reason_Alliance with owl-based logo for header but TST logo for profile picture
- ↑ "Abortion Saves Lives" billboard, paid for by Reason Alliance Ltd.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Facebook.com, "About" section for Reason Alliance page
- ↑ The Satanic Temple, FEIN 82-3404757
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.reasonalliance.com/
- ↑ Archive.org, ReasonAlliance.com Oct. 16, 2016
- ↑ IRS.gov, EIN: 47-1933964
- ↑ JudicialWatch.org, Invoice for December 2016 to June 2017 indicates seven monthly two-hour room rent and utilities amounted to a cost of $154.00, with the official requestor group "Reason Alliance Ltd" and funds provided by Reason Alliance Ltd. (PDF, pages 3-14)
- ↑ CauseIQ.com, Reason Alliance summary
- ↑ Flipcause.com, The Satanic Temple vs. Twitter. Support The Satanic Temple's fight against religious discrimination. ($5,649 Raised of $50,000)
- ↑ Flipcause.com, The Satanic Temple files complaint against Twitter for religious discrimination]
- ↑ The Cut.com, “We believe in most of The Satanic Temple’s causes, its tenets, and its core mission, and we understand the value of the community The Satanic Temple provides […] but we cannot endorse it or be a part of it anymore. We cannot look past partnering with bigots and Nazi sympathizers and justifying that with inapposite and white supremacist appeals to free speech.”
- ↑ Flipcause.com, "Make a tax-deductible contribution to Reason Alliance" with 237 contributions as of 5/22/21
- ↑ ProPublica.org, 2020 Form 990 Filing
- ↑ Due to delays affecting the United States IRS only financials have been released.
- ↑ IRS.gov, 2019 Form 990 Filing
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2019 IRS 990
- ↑ IRS.gov, 2018 Form 990EZ Filing
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2018 IRS 990EZ
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2017 IRS 990EZ
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2017 Annual Report
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2016 IRS 990EZ
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2016 Annual Report
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2015 IRS 990EZ
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2015 Annual Report
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2014 Annual Report
- ↑ Reason Alliance 2014 Bylaws
- ↑ File:02006202 ReasonAlliance 2014 OfficersDirectors.pdf
