Dear Friends of the Pantheon Foundation,

The last few years have been quiet ones for the Foundation, and as a consequence we have not sent out regular bulletins or communiques. We have been researching and contemplating what to do with the donations given to the Foundation  —  a central concern of ours — in support of our religious community. We asked this distribution for suggestions and we researched other groups with similar aspirations to ours, but no appropriate beneficiary was found due to legal and ethical constraints. Being unable to find any suitable non-profit entity to give the funds to that would fulfill the Foundation’s mission of building and strengthening our Pagan community, for which we were given the donations, we found ourselves at something of a loss on how to proceed.  

In earlier efforts the Foundation promoted the idea of the power of the coin, for which we received not a little criticism. The coin as the elemental tool of Earth is peculiar in its ability to grow, that is to accrue power over time, as well as combine with other coins and create even greater power. This is the power of community and collective action. This momentum is precious and not to be wasted. From these considerations the Pantheon Foundation Board has decided to suspend its planned work of fiscal sponsorship and that form of community development, as well as other initiatives we undertook in the past, including scholarships and online conferences. The community has made it clear it does not desire such services from the Foundation. Nonetheless we are left with something over $6,000 of donor funds, which are unusable in any other way.

Nonetheless we have hope. We have hope in a Pagan future, where we can use our collective strength to support and enrich our spiritual community. Unfortunately that is not today, so we will plan for tomorrow.

We have made the decision — that we hope you will agree with us to be a sound one! — to invest this money, shifting it into the future, where it will become more, and therefore more useful. It will be invested in a Calvert socially responsible fund, one of the oldest and most reliable ethical investment vehicles, putting it to good use while earning interest will add to its value. At $6,000 we can only purchase a ‘commercial’ product, which is not actively managed, so our goal will be to increase this amount to more than $10,000 where a professional manager will be set to maximize its value. 

The Board hereby publishes its final resolution for the Foundation, here

The Board of the Foundation will take on the responsibility of administering the Fund for now. If other people contribute, they get a proportionate voice. As time goes on, our organization will mature, responding to the needs of the participants for foci or governance. Immediately, the Board will report the relevant numbers as the primary content of this Annual Report henceforth, as these duties will be the on-going operations of the Foundation until such time as the Fund becomes operational. We will also have an annual meeting announced through these channels if you wish to get involved.

Currently, we have exactly $6347.12, a round $6k in the Calvert Fund and the rest as cash in the Foundation’s bank account. To this bank account is regularly being added small deposits from Amazon.Smile. Through the Amazon Smile program, you can select a beneficiary organization, and each time you make a purchase at Amazon, they will make a small donation to your chosen recipient. (Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ for more information on how to use this service.)   The Pantheon Foundation participates in this program and, if you buy things from Amazon and if you so desire, please use the Smile site and designate the Foundation as a beneficiary. It costs you nothing, but the future will thank you for putting aside a wee bit with each purchase you make.

Each and all of you, and any other person of good intent, wishing to contribute to this Pagan Future Fund is welcome to do so, and as the Foundation is still a religious 501c3 nonprofit, with all of its paperwork up to date, all donations are tax deductible. The faster we can get the balance to $10,000, the faster it will grow, thereafter being managed.

To what end? Why should we do this? We’ll let this money add to itself for a decade, while those who would nurture this future contribute to it. After that decade, the Board, or whatever successor governance holds jurisdiction, will decide if it is time to use the Fund, in part or in whole, and for what purpose. The Board or its successor will be responsible for the proper and effective use of the Funds for the mission of the Foundation, to the benefit of the Pagan community.

As we all look toward the future and inevitable evolution of this organization, I am poignantly reminded of its inception and the lofty but practical purpose for which it came into being. I therefore want to address you on a more personal note.

As the Executive Director and originator of this project, my sole intention in building this organization has always been to create a means whereby the community in which I’ve lived all my adult life might articulate its power in the larger world effectively, taking its place as one of the Great Religions, influencing the world for good, which for the last nearly 600 years it has. The Foundation is a communitarian project, and I’m committed to decentralized authority structures, as well as consensus decision making. However, to get something built usually requires at least one person who will drive it into being, and for this project I’ve been willing to be that person, that driver, together with my fellow board members. 

I’ve also been putting my money where my mouth is, as the saying goes. I invested a great deal of my personal financial resources to jumpstart the Foundation, anticipating that the fees generated from fiscal sponsorship and other endeavors would allow me to be repaid. Given that this didn’t happen, a natural choice would be to shut down the corporation and pay off what debts it could, ceasing operations. The amount currently in the Foundation’s bank account would in no way compensate me or repay me for my original personal investment.

However, I can’t justify refilling my pockets when there is a collection of funds all donated for a purpose. When that collected power could make something good—if not now, then at some future time—it should stay dedicated to that purpose. That reflects my values. So I’m forgiving the entirety of the Foundation’s debt to me, and taking only a $4,000 tax deduction. I’m also making an immediate donation of $500 to the Fund. This is all too important to waste. Some people, particularly in our community, find matters of money somehow to be distasteful or demeaning. To me all is holy, the rest mostly depends on what you do with it. I see no justifiable reason to abandon one of our great Elemental Tools, called the disk, or pentacle, but also the coin. This is an era in which money is the most abstract and universal power that humans regularly wield. I want my values represented in action. Do you? Few things can make reality happen in the way that money can. Every contribution is a step towards making a future safe for Pagans. If and when you are able to make charitable contributions, I hope you will remember the Pantheon Foundation.

I will close with a final thought: people asked me why we named the organization a foundation. I reminded them of the Foundation in Isaac Asimov’s famous trilogy of the same name, and its purpose: to prepare for a coming dark age and thereby shorten it. Is there any doubt as to why we need to take steps and plan for the future?

With my best wishes,

Sam Webster and the Board of Directors
Pantheon Foundation