Click here to make your donation to help us get through the winter...

Dear Brick House supporter,

Tax time is just around the corner.

And right now is the time to make any last minute charitable contributions for the 2008 tax year.

So let us gently remind you:

The Brick House (Brycc House Inc.) is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
Contributions to it are tax-deductible
and are a great way to support our efforts at
fostering self-reliance, creativity, and the independent DIY spirit.

We face a tough next couple of months. In January, for example, we have an $800 down payment due on our annual insurance policy. And we are working on significant repairs to the building to stay compliant with various codes and to make the building more energy efficient. All this, plus ongoing mortgage and utilities amounting to about $1200 per month.

Your contribution at this time would be greatly appreciated by the Brick House. (And you might appreciate the tax deduction come April 15.)

You can donate via PayPal by clicking here.

(You don't have to be a member of PayPal. You can use your debit or credit card or bank account.)

And of course you may mail a check to us at: Brycc House, Inc., 1101 S. 2nd St., Louisville, Kentucky 40203.

Thank you very much for your consideration,

John Hicks
Treasurer, Brycc House Inc.
1101 South Second Street
Louisville Kentucky 40203
502-213-0428

Donate now.

Become a sustaining member of the Brick House with a monthly pledge and your name will be entered in our monthly raffle.

Click here to become a sustaining member with a monthly pledge OR donate monthly via PayPal:
$5 per month

$10 per month

$30 per month

$60 per month

$100 per month

$ per month

Donate now to help us pay December's mortgage and get through the winter...

The Brick House Community Center currently has monthly expenses of about $1500, but as we all know monthly expenses often don't include the necessities for arts programs and new bike parts. We are always accepting donations and volunteer work hours to improve our center and assist our staff in providing safe and enjoyable events in Old Louisville.

We hope that you will consider joining our monthly on-line donation to help us raise the $772 mortgage payment each month. Only $10 from 200 people a month could lead to regular mortgage payments AND an improved HVAC system this summer. Just imagine what $20 a month could do!!! Click here to make a donation.

Our mission statement encourges all members to become an oppression-free community which shares knowledge and responsibility with neighbors in a meaningful way as a means of embracing life long terms of independent education through self-reliance and financial and ecological sustainability promoting a healthier world for all. This means all of us who use the Brick House need to pitch in and help ... it is our goal to build our list of sustaining members and community partners along with other steady sources of income. Your help in any of these efforts is greatly appreciated. Donate now.. Thanks!

Or click below to donate by PayPal:

What is the Brick House?

It's first of all a public space, centrally located at Second and St. Catherine Streets in Old Louisville, a space that fosters people coming together and doing positive things for the public good.

Many think of it as a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) community center that encourages individual and community self-reliance and sustainability.

And some think of it as a PAZ (a permanent autonomous zone), a special space where the human spirit is free from authoritarian force.

Whatever it is, the Brick House serves as an umbrella organization that provides space and resources for semi-autonomous groups to organize and work in a creative environment.

Some of the current groups operating out of the Brick House are:
  * the "Noize Collective," which produces all-ages concerts,
  * the "FreeWheel Collective," which operates a bicycle workshop,
  * Food Not Bombs, which uses our kitchen to prepare meals for the homeless
  * a weekly art workshop
  * WXBH-LP, our new low-power radio station (soon to be on the air)

And there's the potential to accommodate a lot more groups and activities if we can hold onto the building.

Our non-profit organization (Brycc House, Inc.) went out on a limb to buy this building in 2002 for $125.000. Although of sound construction, its interior was in poor shape and we have not had the resources to fix it up since then. This hasn't prevented us from using it as a community center, but we feel there is much more potential to be realized in the future.

Who is the Brick House
(and why can't you pay your own bills)?

You are the Brick House if you have ever attended a concert there or fixed your bike there or attended a meeting there. As a non-profit organization the Brick House doesn't have formal membership or dues, so we are all members just by participating in its DIY activities.

Like many non-profits, we've scraped by over the years through a combination of grants and fundraisers. Right now we have increasing revenues from our new concert series and the prospect of more revenue from our new radio station, but we are in a short-term cash bind because a grant just ran out.

(Our monthly expenses are about $1200. Concerts and other receipts are bringing in about $700 and growing. But right now we still have a shortfall of at least $500 per month.)

So why do we need this money right now?

Just as a grant ran out, someone made an offer to buy the Brick House building from us for $125,000. Although this is probably well below market value (our tax assessment is $222,000), a majority of our directors say they are inclined to accept the offer and sell the building because it would allow us to pay our debts, bank a few thousand, and concentrate on getting our new radio station on the air.

But these directors also say they will reconsider the sale if we can demonstrate the need to keep the building, the manpower to run it, and a realistic plan to pay the bills.

Maybe they're right and we should sell the building and concentrate on radio?

Hold on a minute. Some of us feel there is significant value in this building as a public place and are reluctant to sell it, particularly in such a hurry and at a fire-sale price.

Selling it now would yield some equity that could be banked, but so little that it is unlikely that another building would be bought any time soon. The directors have said they will try to find new homes for the bicycle workshop and the all-ages concerts, but these must be recognized as the good intentions that they are. And even if they are followed through, a central communal public space will have been lost.

The building has a crude performance area that is nonetheless generating significant income. This space could be enlarged, perhaps converted to a multi-use media room, and utilized much more intensively. There has been some discussion of housing an independent media center in the building. And its central location lends itself to being a great meeting place for social activist groups of all sorts.

If the building must be sold, we feel it should be marketed properly and the proceeds used to buy another public space. It is a large (40x120 feet) metal commercial building at a very strategic location (right off two I-65 exit ramps) and it has valuable commercial zoning.

So, um, why not just look for another grant?

No time for that. Besides, remember?, we're the ones who believe in self-reliance and sustainability! So it's time to practice what we preach. We must each do our part to make our own organization self-reliant and sustainable (or else fold up and all go home).

OK, OK. How do I do my part?

Please make a modest $5 monthly pledge. One hundred such pledges before Tuesday evening may sway the directors to turn down the offer, keep the building for a while at least, and thereby buy enough time for us to build broader support through a more thoughtful campaign than this last-minute blitz.

Of course we will be grateful for one-time donations, but we feel the directors will be most impressed by an indication of ongoing support. (You may cancel your monthly donation at any time. And if the board votes to sell the building on Tuesday, we will notify you so you can take appropriate action.)

Please click here to make your pledge by credit or debit card. Be sure to check the "monthly pledge" box. All donations are tax deductible*.

If you have any questions or comments, you can write brick@brickhouse.cc or join our "brickhouse-discuss" open discussion mailing list here.

This page was prepared by John Hicks, one of the members of the Brycc House, Inc., board of directors. You are welcome to write me at johnhicks@gulfbridge.net or call me at 213-0428 if you have questions or wish to discuss this matter.

*Brycc House, Inc., is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational organization. (You can verify this by searching the IRS charity database for "BRYCC".)