The Loft Inc

“Process the organization uses to review the 990 an initial draft of the 990 is reviewed in detail by the finance committee of the board. After changes or corrections, if needed, the near final draft of the 990 is distributed to the full board in pre-read material prior to the first board meeting after finance committee review. The treasurer/finance committee chair reviews the document for the board with assistance of representatives from the independent auditors, if needed. Board members are invited to ask questions and submit any further corrections. The treasurer recommends approval of the 990 (with changes, as needed) and a full vote of the board is called. The board must approve the 990 before it is submitted.”

“Conflict of interest policy each year, typically at the first meeting of the fiscal year as a 'standing agenda item,' all board members are asked to review the conflict of interest policy for the purpose of stating and/or updating their disclosures, and to sign and date the form.”

“Procedure to make decisions regarding executive and staff compensation relying in substantial part on the bi-annual survey of non-profit salaries conducted and published by the minnesota council of non-profits, the board of directors' executive committee establishes the salary for the executive director, within the limits established by the board of directors in approving the organization's budget. The executive director in turn, uses the same procedure for establishing salaries for all other staff, including the managing director.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements the organization makes its financial statements and 990 available to the public on its website. The governing documents and conflict of interest policy are held at the organization's offices and are available upon request.”

“In march 2020, due to the covid-19 pandemic, the loft moved all of its programming online. While some constituents, artists, and partner organizations were comfortable in this format, others were not. As a result, during the first six months of the pandemic the loft saw a significant downturn in participation and revenue. While later, adult participation via online classes began to approach previous levels, event admissions and sponsorship, as well as participation in youth programming continued to decline. Beginning in february 2022, the loft returned to offering a small percentage of classes and events in-person, while maintaining substantial numbers of online offerings. The in-person classes and events adapted to covid-19 concerns with significantly lower capacity limits to afford social distancing. Open book, the organization's home, didn't fully open to the public until april 2022. The return of students, book club room and studio users, and event attendees for in-person settings has been and continues to be slow.”

“Services for writers and the literary community - in fiscal year 2022, the organization provided a wide range of services designed to support writers and the broader literary community. Loft.org, the organization's website, provided regular articles and fostered discussions about the writers' life and craft through the writers' block blog. There, writers found writing exercises, readers found book and event recommendations, and both found literary reviews, commentary, news, and discussion. The site also included interviews, a calendar of readings and events, an online catalog of classes, and resources including information about writing groups, competitions, grants, awards, publishers, and agents. Due to covid-19 and the closure of open book to most visitors, access to the rachel anne gaschott ritchie small press library was limited until april 2022. Thirty-two writers made use of the organization's writers' studios while the four organization-sponsored culturally distinct writing groups were unable to meet at open book, nor was the co-sponsored picture book salon. The book club room was closed to the public until april, but since then, 12 writing or book groups met there for a total of 31 gatherings. The mentor series fellowship in poetry and creative prose and the mirrors and windows fellowship returned from hiatus to serve twelve competitively selected emerging artists each. These writers also received small monetary awards. Mcknight artist fellowships for writers provided five minnesota writers of demonstrated ability with grants of $25,000, buying them time to concentrate on their craft. The writers were competitively selected for awards in poetry and children's book writing.”

“Learning for writers and readers - the organization offered a variety of learning opportunities for writers and readers during fiscal year 2022. Adults and youth (ages 6-90+) at all levels of artistic development furthered their skills in classes focused on fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screen/playwriting, children's literature, graphic novel, and other literary forms; learned more about developing a writing practice and career; and explored literature as readers. All classes were taught by accomplished writers and literary professionals. This year, the organization served 3,557 adults and 357 youth in 360 classes and workshops, schools and community programs. Another 145 writers took advantage of manuscript review or one-on-one coaching services offered by the loft. To mitigate financial barriers to participation in creative writing learning opportunities, the organization provided reduced price access to learnings opportunities (valued at $37,933) in addition to working with youthprise to extend access even further to low income families.”

“Events for readers - readings and spoken word performances helped develop audiences for literature while promoting and advancing the work of individual writers. Panels and discussions featured writers and thought leaders using literature to spur conversations on topical issues and curated literary events engaged audience members in exploration of thought-provoking themes. Despite zoom-fatigue a combined audience of 938 participated in 14 of these events, featuring 94 writers. Due to continuing uncertainty regarding covid-19, the loft chose to cancel the 2022 wordplay festival. It will return as an in-person street festival in 2023.”