We are pleased to inform you that EAST has completed the necessary legal steps to become a public charity and is registered with the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3), incorporated in Massachusetts. EAST’s growth over the last few years, particularly with the addition of new library consortia members, has positioned us well to take on this new organizational status.This is the first in a series of tasks EAST will be undertaking in the coming months to complete the transition of EAST to this separate tax-exempt legal entity and dissolve our fiscal sponsorship relationship with the BLC. Our goal is to have this work completed to coincide with the end of the BLC’s fiscal year on May 31, 2023.
The current EAST Executive Committee is now our governing body, the first EAST Board of Directors, with the following initial officers:
Scott Warren (Syracuse), President and Co-Chair
Matthew Sheehy (Brandeis), Vice President
Tony Fonseca (Elms), Clerk and Co-Chair
Boaz Nadav Manes (Lehigh), Treasurer.
While there will be additional changes – such as updating the EAST website and transferring the Project Team’s employment from the BLC to EAST – we do not anticipate these will have any impact on current EAST services, our work with new member libraries, or the EAST membership dues for the future.
We will be engaging a new financial services provider and transitioning our funds and accounting services as well as duplicating a technical infrastructure to host our back office services. Both of these will have implications for our member communications as well as billing and payment of EAST annual membership dues. We will be updating you as these additional steps are completed and will be in touch with both operational and billing contacts at your institution to ensure the transition goes smoothly. If you have new contacts at your institution for EAST, please email the information to the EAST Project Manager, Sara Amato, at samato@eastlibraries.org, to ensure we communicate with the correct individuals at your institution. Feel free to contact Susan Stearns, Project Director, at sstearns@eastlibraries.org with any questions.
Thank you for your ongoing support of EAST and of our continued collaboration in support of protecting the print scholarly record.