Marijke Klören
I think in the end Ed
Christian Day
“He who controls the spice controls the universe.”
In this case, it's whoever controls the copyright. And yeah, from what I keep hearing, that would be Ed.
Vivian Dewey
Yes, he posted that he owns all the copyrights to Don's books and several other things. It was a shock to me to see the list of all he owns.
Christian Day
Not a shock to me at all. I figured out very early on when he was vending at my psychic fair in the late 2000’s that he was in charge but that may be because he was hoping for me to invest. I was happy to give him all the coaching I could give for him to succeed but there were too many red flags for me to bind myself to him in any way business wise.
I’m very sad for the people who became devotees of the goddess of the witches through his work only to find out that he was deceiving them. He really is one of my least favorite people on the planet and that’s really saying something with the rogue’s gallery of villains I have.
Rev. Liomsa
If I recall a few years back shares of ownership were offered for purchase by the public.
M.A. Slosson
Well 'Correllian Education Ministry' is incorporated in Illinois as a non-profit (https://apps.ilsos.gov/businessentitysearch/), therefore it technically don't have a 'owner' as nonprofits dont have owners (https://cullinanelaw.com/nonprofit-law-basics-who-owns-a.../). According to theoir most recent filing, the board of directors is PHOENIX COFFIN-WILLIAMS, STEPHANIE NEAL, and JASON MYCROFT
Business Entity Search
APPS.ILSOS.GOV
Lily Greene
On page 2 of the 2023 filing Don Lewis and Ed Hubbard are also listed on the 6\20\23 filing. Looks like there may be a new filing on 7\31\23, but I’m not able to view the listing at the time of this post.
Christian Day
And here we come to the age old chasm between de jure and de facto. What is the Correllian Education Ministery if it doesn't actually own any content to educate with? If Ed Hubbard owns the copyright on the content, then the ministry isn't much beyond an empty shell … corporation.
M.A. Slosson
Sadly I figure that's most likely the case.
Vivian Dewey
The Witchschool website says they have 297,191 members from 195 countries.
Basic membership is free.
Supporting Membership is
1. $20 USD a month
2. $100 USD every 6 months
3. $180 USD a year
4. Lifeetime $299 US Dollars.
My understanding is that volunteers provide almost all the work. I was a Mentor and then a Dean of Mentoring and I did not receive anything. I think that most if not all the courses offered there are also donated. I donated my time and effort into providing a course. I have never at any time received any payment. Has anyone received any payment for work they did for Witchschool?
Phoenix Knormalle
As a nonprofit, my understanding is that Witchschool is entirely volunteer run and they are transparent about this.
Tara Zynel
Non-profit does not mean that no one can get paid. The Susan G Komen foundation for example is a nonprofit organization, and their board, etc., absolutely gets paid. I have friends who are Lutheran ministers and that's how they provide for their family, they are paid as clergy belonging to the non profit that is the church.
Just because an organization is non profit does not mean that you cannot and should not be able to be paid for your services rendered.
Phoenix Knormalle
Okay, this is fair and a good point, but Witchschool specifically states that they are entirely volunteer run on their website and in other areas.
Vivian Dewey
Out of the 297,191 members, how many do you think pay the $20 US dollars a month membership fee?
Tara Zynel
My estimation from years of sales and fundraising, etc., is probably about 20% are paying members in some form
Phoenix Knormalle
I'd say less than 15%. That's a cumulative number and for years WSI offered a lifetime option, which most Correllians I know have purchased. At one point it was only $50 for lifetime membership. They've also offered it to low income individuals for less/possibly free so I think very very few people are paying $20/month for WSI.
Vivian Dewey
So you guys think between 45,000 to 60,000 people are paying $20 US Dollars a month?
Tara Zynel
No, I think approx. 20% of members have paid *something*, maybe lifetime maybe supporting membership, but some money given
Phoenix Knormalle
The ~200,000 is a culminative number over the lifetime of Witchschool, over 20yrs, so likely very few of those people are actually still members or still involved. I'd guess it's more around 100 to 1000 range. From my understanding the almost 200,000 members is anyone who's ever signed up, including duplicate accounts that forgot their original email. No, it's not 45k people, but knowing these numbers and financial transparency would be helpful and important. It should be available publicly by law as a non profit institution (not sure if WSI is a nonprofit but it is the seminary for the Tradition, who is a nonprofit)
Michael Neal
Witch School, or CEM, operates as the education arm of Corellian Nativist Church and is incorporated in the 501c3 standing. From my involvement in recent years only Ed and Don have been paid from revenues. The sale of shares many years ago, ultimately did not work and shareholders lost all of their investment, causing it to return to the Church.
Stephanie Neal, appointed me as the CFO, so that there would be quarterly financial reports presented to the board of directors. The issue of financial transparency should not have to be written into the by-laws, as financial reporting is the law as specified by Illinois law for not for profit organizations. Also, Laurie Denman would prepare financial reports for CEM. In addition, financial reports for each calendar year would have been available for all members starting this year.
Jefferey Fager
Financial transparency and reporting need to be written in the by laws and the last 3 years must be provided to the public by law upon request.
Nonprofits are required to disclose financial information to the public upon request, and board members must have access to financial information in order to fulfill their fiduciary duty to the nonprofit. To achieve complete nonprofit transparency, you can take the following steps:
-Make your financial reporting available on your website
-Create an annual or impact report
-Send reliable donation receipts
-Add a goal thermometer to your online campaigns
-Communicate with your donors
-Get a nonprofit rating
-Create a conflict of interest policy
-Publicly list board members and key staff
Michael Neal
Either required in the by-laws or by State law, there have not been any annual reports prepared each year. A request was made by a board member Lily Greene requesting the last 3 years be made available by Sept. 9th. Laurie Denman has provided them for CEM. I am in the process of preparing them for my volunteer fundraising efforts, and Rev. Don is preparing them for the Church account. Once prepared and submitted, I believe the board plans to make them available to the membership.
Lily Greene
Jefferey Fager and all, my aim is to keep this message as just a summary,
As of this message, only meeting minutes from last month, along with the associated spreadsheets presented during the 7\9 meeting, have been uploaded to the Board of Directors page for review. On 8\21 I did upload all the Illinois Annual Registrations from 2013 to 2022 and requested the corresponding meeting agendas and minutes to be uploaded for review. So far, none have been provided.
Additionally, starting with the “emergency meeting” on 7\18, there have been numerous actions from Phoenix, Alyssa, and eventually Krystal where I began to question if those actions followed both Illinois and Federal law, which included calling the “emergency meeting” itself. Also, during the 7\18 meeting it was mentioned that the CNC bank account was closed by don (without the BOD vote.) Investigating deeper into both issues has unfortunately raised more questions than answers and speaking with others uncovered more issues. Therefore, I sought assistance from other 501(c)(3) organizations, attorneys with various specialties (contracts, defense, etc.), as well as the Illinois Inspector General’s Office. After speaking with Special Agent Fifer, he directed me to contact the Illinois Charitable Trust Bureau and Attorney Generals Office, in which I have on 8\14. I was informed that it could take between 4 – 6 weeks for a reply from both offices.
Michael Neal was incorrect on the deadline for the financial paperwork, it is 9\5. Jefferey, and anyone else, would you like your name to be included with my request? If so, please dm me with your contact information (name, phone number, email address, and mailing address) in case it is needed in the future. I am not sure if it has been emphasized or not, but Mike Neal was only appointed CFO this year and has NEVER had 100% access to all the bank accounts. So, expect reports, bank statements, etc to come from 2 sources for this request to be fulfilled. If nothing else, please start tagging Donald Lewis with any financial report request.
If these financial documents are not provided by 9\5, further actions will be taken which could include hiring a forensic accountant.
Doing all the above may or may not provide answers to every question asked.
So why the f@&! am I doing all this? For peace of mind – not only mine since as a board member I’m legally tethered to decisions and actions made but also for those who wish to remain in the Tradition. Hopefully, once we reach the end it will be known what needs to be fixed\cleaned up, how to do it, and will give you all a solid foundation to move forward.
Jefferey Fager
This is the behavior that got us into this mess in the beginning. Stating that it was not required based on the by laws and stating financial transparency and annual reporting should not be written in our by laws is poor advice from a non profit CFO. Choosing to work in the shadows and having a single person making the final decisions is an example of a dictatorship. The board was then simply an illusion unable to properly function without an understanding of a budget.
Michael Neal
Yes, you are correct, when I was named CFO in March of this year and all financial activity was being handled together, for the first time, monthly reports were issued to the First Priesthood and at the first quarterly BOD meeting a financial report was presented and reviewed with the newly expanded board members. My comment about the by-laws not stating the requirement for financial reporting did not keep me from doing what I thought as proper and ultimately lawful. When the new by-laws are presented, you will want to verify that provision is included.
Christian Day
Regardless of what's on the documentation, if neither Witch School nor the Correllian tradition itself owns the copyright of its own content, whoever owns the content is the actual owner.