Burnout 2018 Update

After much discussion and deliberation, Precipitation Northwest has decided to cancel Burnout 2018. The board came to this decision after months of discussions among ourselves, with RC’s, current and past event producers, and various community members. Due to lack of interest from the community to help produce the event, the board has decided to focus community resources towards future events and beyond.

Outreach for the production volunteer position via Facebook and personal outreach did not result in any applicants. While we are disappointed by the lack of interest for producing this event, we feel this is a clear message that perhaps what the community needs are more leadership development opportunities. We have a few ideas we’re working on, including potentially creating a Northwest Leadership Summit (similar to Burning Man’s Global Leadership Conference) and working to re-imagine a better Burnout that the community can get behind.

If you have an interest in participating in the Northwest Leadership Summit, helping us create an awesome Burnout 2019, or have any other event ideas that you think align with Precipitation Northwest’s mission statement, please contact us by sending an email to programs@precipitationnw.org.

Want to stay in contact with the local Portland Burner community throughout the year?

• Meet local burners at Woosday, an unofficial burner gathering, every Tuesday night at Roadside Attraction beginning around 6pm.

• Join the Portland Burners group on Facebook

• Follow the Burning Man Portland page on Facebook

• Contact the Precipitation NW Board for volunteer opportunities by emailing board@precipitationnw.org

Happy New Year from the Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors!

As we look forward to an exciting new year, we wanted to take a moment to pause and look back on what was a very busy 2017 for us.

Milestones this year:

• January: We brought on 2 new board members to kick off the new year, Ariel Rigney and Ryan Krellwitz. We also published a Joint Statement to the SOAK Community with SOAK LLC, which provided information about the status of our organization and our new role regarding our region’s burner activities and sanctioned regional event, SOAK.

• February: We presented at Town Hall 2017, the annual meeting to update the community about Burning Man and our regional, SOAK. We shared about our activities over the past year, challenges, and next steps for our organization. (Mark your calendars: we’ll be presenting at Town Hall 2018 on Sunday, February 18th! Click here to see the Facebook event.)

• March: We had the first meeting of our newly created Development Committee, which is responsible for fundraising, marketing, promotions, external communications, and branding.

• April: We launched our Logo Development Project, which allowed us to identify and partner with an artist to develop a logo for our new organization. We learned a lot about this process and want to thank the community for their feedback regarding our initial logo competition.

• May: We served as members of the SOAK Event Operations team alongside SOAK LLC and Producers Honeybee and Starfish, shadowing the team and contributing to high-level decision making. We also also successfully administered the SOAK*2017 art grants program for the second year in a row. With a budget of $6,000, and we are proud to have funded 28 projects. We also had a great time chatting with many of you at our board’s Meet & Greet at Business Casual.

• June: We held our first annual board retreat, where we spent two intense days strategizing our new organization, as well as creating a new mission statement and vision statement.

• August: Big news --- we were granted federal 501c3 nonprofit tax exempt status!

• October: This was a busy month for us. We launched our updated website with our new mission and vision, and unveiled our new logo - Nimbus. (Special thanks to graphic designer Ka(Ren) Green who created our fabulous new look for us. Read more about this process in our Special Branding Press Release). This month we also produced our first event, BurnOut 2017. Shout-out to Producer Ice Queen, Assistant Producers Starfish and Pablovex, and all our volunteers for helping us throw such an amazing event! Over 520 people joined in the fun, we received $280 in tax-deductible donations, and donated $1,128 to support artists in our community.

In addition to looking back on our past year of activities, here are some projects we are currently working on.

Introducing the new Conduct Review Panel: It is our intent to be responsive to the needs of our community and to help make our community and events more transparent. As a result, we have begun the process of launching a Conduct Review Panel that will be responsible for receiving and investigating reports of misconduct within the Precipitation Northwest community and events. The policies and procedures established and enforced by this Panel will be applicable to all events that our organization is legally and financially responsible for managing (including but not limited to SOAK and BurnOut.) We have worked closely with RCs and other regionals to establish a transparent structure for this Panel. This process is being led by Adrian “Cucumber” Thomas-Eikmann, and anyone who has questions, concerns, or would like more information about this program are encouraged to contact us directly at board@precipitationnw.org. We announce more details about this program and post a call for volunteers on our website soon.

New & Retired Board Members: We are pleased to announce our newest board member, Harry Nedley, who joined our Board of Directors in January 2018. (Click here to read his bio!)  While we are not accepting applications at this time, you can learn more about what it takes to be on our board by reading our recruitment announcement here. We’d like to acknowledge two former board members who retired in 2017 - Julia Betts and Tomcat Martin. Julia’s service concluded at the end of October, and Tomcat completed his service at the end of December.We’re so grateful to them both for their hard work and volunteerism over the last two years, and wish them the best of luck as they move on to new and exciting personal and professional projects.

BurnOut*2017 Survey Feedback: Thank you to the 114 people who took the time to fill out our survey in November. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback about what was great and what can be improved for next year, and look forward to integrating this into our plans for BurnOut*2018.

SOAK*2018 Update: After applying in September, our Outdoor Mass Gathering Permit was approved as of December 6th. We trekked out to Tygh Valley to attend the public hearing with the Wasco County Commissioners. SOAK Producer Honeybee and RC Ice Queen spoke on the event’s behalf, and the hearing was attended by two Precipitation Northwest board members, as well as several SOAK leads, volunteers, and community members. Also in attendance were the Wasco County fire chief and one of the Justesen family members who spoke in support of our event. This was the first major step in the SOAK*2018 event cycle, along with recruitment of the Leads team and two new Associate Producers. We are grateful to Pablovex and Tacy “Sweet Pea” for stepping up into this leadership role, and are working with them and Honeybee to facilitate the event production process. Make sure to check the official Facebook page for SOAK*2018: Parallel Multiverse for the most recent updates!

Strategic Planning: After taking our first two years to get on our proverbial feet as an organization, we’re excited to announce the launch of a strategic planning process that will result in a template for measuring our success and growth over the next 3-4 years. Plans for this process and what the final product will look like are still taking shape, but we plan to involve the community in gathering the information and feedback that will inform our objectives. Stay tuned for updates as this project unfolds!

In closing, we’d like to thank you, our community, for your continued support and patience. Building Portland’s brand-new burner nonprofit business from the ground up is a lot of work, and don’t forget, we are not only community members just like you, but we are also all volunteers! We’re honored and grateful to be able to support our local community through our organization, and encourage you to reach out to us with ideas, questions, and comments at board@precipitationnw.org.

- Becca, Ryan, Ariel, Harry, Amelia, Adrian

Board of Directors, Precipitation Northwest

Precipitation Northwest Board Recruitment

Update: The deadline for board recruitment has passed. Thank you all for your interest in participating!

Foster and inspire our greater Portland community in producing “engaging, participatory, socially and environmentally responsible projects and events that support collaborative art, civic involvement and skill development” as the newest Board Member of Precipitation NW.

We are actively recruiting civically engaged professionals to join our enthusiastic and skilled Board of Directors. Do you have experience in nonprofit accounting? Program development? Are you passionate about Human Resources and Volunteer Management? Find out more at the board page. 

The board of Precipitation NorthWest is hosting a meet and greet at Manifestation PDX on Monday November 28th from 6:30pm to 9pm. Please RSVP via Facebook.

Board members provide leadership, oversight, and strategic governance of all activities led by Precipitation NW. Board members participate in active fundraising events and activities.  

NOTE: Service on Precipitation NW’s Board of Directors is without remuneration, except for administrative support, travel, and accommodation costs in relation to board member’s duties.

Interested? Please email Board@precipitationnw.org; include your resume or CV, cover letter, and three professional references with the Subject line “Board Recruitment”.

Applications will be accepted for consideration through Friday, December 9th.

Two Open Board Positions: Application deadline Friday, December 1

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The board supports the work of Precipitation Northwest and provides leadership, oversight, and strategic governance. Board members currently oversee certain programs and projects within the community. The board does not produce events or manage general operations, but have important legal and fiduciary responsibility for PNW. Specific board member responsibilities include:

• Developing and implementing PNW’s strategic plan

• Reviewing outcomes of projects produced by PNW and evaluating their impact towards the organization's mission

• Reviewing agendas and supporting materials prior to board and committee meetings

• Approving PNW's annual budget, auditing reports, and material business decisions; keeping informed of, and meeting all, legal and fiduciary responsibilities

• Assisting the board chair in identifying and recruiting other Board Members

• Partnering with other board members to ensure that board resolutions are carried out

• Serving on committees or task forces and taking on special assignments

• Representing PNW to stakeholders; acting as an ambassador for the organization

• Ensuring PNW’s commitment to a diverse board and staff that reflects the communities that PNW serves

QUALIFICATIONS

Ideal candidates will have the following qualifications:

• A commitment to and understanding of the mission of PNW and the diversity of the community

• Extensive professional experience with executive leadership in business, government, philanthropy, or the nonprofit sector

• Specific experience with non-profit accounting and legal support, fundraising, program development, human resources and volunteer management

• Knows how to internet, including Google Drive and other productivity apps

• Commitment to a minimum term of 3 years

• An affinity for persuading, convening, facilitating, and building consensus among diverse individuals

• Personal qualities of integrity and credibility

• Engagement with PNW activities and events

• The ideal candidate will play well with others too

• Must not serve as either a SOAK or BurnOut Producer or Lead during their term on the board

SERVICE ON PNW’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS IS WITHOUT REMUNERATION, EXCEPT FOR ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT, TRAVEL, AND ACCOMMODATION COSTS IN RELATION TO BOARD MEMBERS’ DUTIES.

STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

Under the Oregon Revised Statute for nonprofits, Chapter 65, each board member must meet certain standards of conduct. These standards are typically described as Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty, and Duty of Obedience. For additional information please see ORS Ch. 65.

Interested? Please email Board@precipitationnw.org include your resume or CV, cover letter, and three professional references.

Thank you for attending BurnOut 2017!

We're so grateful to each and every one of you who joined us on Saturday night at The North Warehouse for BurnOut 2017. It was a night of music, art, fire, light, and community. Over 520 people joined in the fun, and we received over $280 in tax-deductible donations to support our new nonprofit organization. We are pleased to announce that we helped fund 7 different projects this year through the annual Artist Reimbursement Program, and donated $1,128 to support local artists. 

Thank you for making our kickoff event such a huge success! 

Special thanks to our BurnOut Operation team, who have been instrumental in making this event happen: 

• @pp and SOAK LLC
• Event Producer Xandra Green
• Assistant Producers Starfish and Pablovex
• Volunteer Department Leads
• Event Volunteers

* Email Photography Credit: Available Light Photography.
Contact Chumlee at (971) 207-0088 or TheChumlee-photos@yahoo.com

Special Update: Branding & BurnOut

Hello from your Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors,

We have big news to share with you - we have a new logo, an updated mission statement, and an updated website!

New logo - meet Nimbus!

After months of collaboration with local artist Ka(Ren) Green we’re excited to unveil our new logo, Nimbus.

Click on our new cloud logo to learn more about our design and the philosophy behind it.

Special thanks to Ren for the generous donation of her time and talent to create this logo for us, and for teaching us so much along the way. Check out her portfolio to see the other great stuff she’s created!
 

UPDATED MISSION & VISION STATEMENTS

Our original mission statement was developed by committee and provided to the new board of Precipitation Northwest in February 2016. We are excited to share our new and simplified mission statement that we feel aligns with our vision for our organization’s future, along with a brand-new vision statement.

Mission: Precipitation Northwest’s mission is to foster opportunities for collaborative art, civic engagement, and leadership development.

Our Vision: We envision an inclusive Greater Portland community that thrives on civic contribution, non-commodified participatory art, education, events, and open-source leadership development. All are welcome to participate in this community, and participants are actively encouraged and enabled to share their creative gifts, learn, and grow together.

UPDATED WEBSITE

To go along with our new logo, updated mission statement, and new vision statement, we’ve also updated our website. Among other updates, we now have Board Member Biographies, details about how you can Get Involved with us, as well as details about making tax-deductible donations. It is our hope that our new website is a better reflection of who we are, and helps our community learn more about us, our mission, and our ongoing activities. Please take a look around! http://www.precipitationnw.org/

BURNOUT 2017

Finally, we’re hoping that you all will join us for our organization’s kickoff event this weekend. As a reminder, BurnOut 2017: Portland’s Official Decompression is happening this Saturday, October 7th at The North Warehouse in north Portland. Presale tickets are $22 and are available online until Friday, and then door tickets will be available for $28. Come decompress from the dust and connect with your year-round regional burner community. Click images below for more information and to purchase tickets now!

In service,

The Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors
Amelia, Becca, Julia, Ariel, Adrian, Ryan, and Tomcat

Summer 2017 Update

Hello from the Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors!

We hope you are having a fantastic summer. Despite the heat, we’ve been keeping busy. Below are some highlights about what we’ve been working on since our last update back in May. (Click here to see our previous update)
 

Tax Exempt Nonprofit Status Has Been Acquired!: Precipitation Northwest was established as an Oregon nonprofit corporation back in February 2016. Since then, we’ve been working on getting systems and policies in place in order to submit the necessary paperwork to the IRS applying for 501(c)3 federal tax exempt status. On August 1, 2017, we submitted our application to the IRS for consideration, and effective August 9, 2017, Precipitation Northwest is thrilled to announce that we have officially been granted tax exemption as a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit! We will be rolling out information regarding tax-exempt gifts and what this means for our ongoing operations as well as SOAK and BurnOut in the coming weeks.

New Logo Has Been Finalized & Will Be Announced Soon: As a result of our open call for artist portfolios, we selected an awesome graphic designer Ka(Ren) Green who has graciously donated her time and talent to develop our organization’s first logo. We have worked closely with her over the last few months and will be unveiling our new logo soon - we can’t wait to share it with you!

BurnOut 2017 Location Secured: Our region’s annual post-Burning Man decompression event BurnOut has been under the management of SOAK LLC for the last several years and has been produced by Xandra (Ice Queen), one of our region’s Burning Man Regional Contacts (RC)s. Starting in 2017, Precipitation Northwest will assume ownership of the event from SOAK LLC and will work closely with Xandra to help produce this year’s event. We already have a new location booked, and the date set: mark your calendars for Saturday, October 7th at the North Warehouse! (Facebook invite coming soon.)

SOAK*2017 Final Wrap Up: As we close the books on SOAK*2017, we want to take moment to share some final thoughts on this year’s event.

• Our final population count was 1,566 --- making 2017 our biggest year ever!

• We received some feedback from the community about some of the language in our Art Grant contracts, and as a result, will be making some slight adjustments to address these specific concerns for 2018. We will be working with artists in our community to ensure the language included in our contracts works for everyone.

We want to take a moment to thank our fantastic volunteer team for their tireless efforts to make this event happen. THANK YOU to:

• @pparatus and SOAK LLC for sponsoring the event
• The Justesen family for being gracious hosts and longtime supporters
• Our fabulous Event Producers, Starfish and Honeybee
• Production Assistant and Cartographer, Hero
• Our Regional Contacts (RCs): Porn Star, Ice Queen, and Ghostess
• All of our Volunteer Department Leads:

  • Ambassador Leads: Choo Choo & Touchy; Artist Liaison: Sepia;
    Box Office Leads: Pantsless & Chew Toy; D’Corps Lead: Rally;
    DPW Leads: Hatchet & Cupcake; Fire Safety Lead: Dapper;
    Conclave Shin: Sabrina; Gate Leads: Bubbles & Nipple;
    Hospitality Lead: Ruby; Ice Lead: Ice Queen;
    LNT Lead: Tusk; MBS Leads: Jinx & KosherBacon;
    Media Leads: Browse & Space Cadet; Medical Lead: Honey Badger;
    Parks & Wrecks Leads: Cabin Boy & Coco; Pathlighters Leads: Alisa & JJ;
    Placement Leads: BlindSpot, Ceres, & Joshy; Ranger Leads: Sinamox & Hazelnut; Power & Comms Leads: Brandon & Not-A-Cop; Sanctuary Leads: Me2 & Juliana

• All of the volunteers, artists, and participants who helped make this event wonderful!

We are so excited for this next phase of our organization’s growth and are grateful to each and every one of you who have reached out lately offering your support and love --- it means the world to us! Anyone who has ideas, suggestions, or questions for us are encouraged to get in touch via board@precipitationnw.org or send us a message or comment via our Facebook Page.

In service,

Your Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors,
Amelia, Becca, Julia, Ariel, Adrian, Ryan, and Tomcat

Spring 2017 Update

Hello from the Precipitation Northwest Board of Directors!

This is the first of what will be regular quarterly updates about what our organization has been up to lately. We will be posting these updates on our website and also on social media, so make sure youfollow us on Facebook for the latest news.

As a quick reminder, Precipitation Northwest was founded in January 2016 with the goal of adopting ownership and management of SOAK and other Portland regional Burning Man activities from the event's previous owners (and founders), SOAK LLC. We incorporated as an Oregon nonprofit corporation in March 2016, and that year, we administered the SOAK*2016 Art Grant program with a budget of $6,000. We established a strong working relationship with SOAK LLC, the SOAK Production Staff, and Regional Contacts to ensure a smooth organizational transition. We are currently in the process of seeking our federal 501c3 tax exemption, and have been working hard behind the scenes to get our business up and running. (In case you missed our last update on January 23 or our Town Hall presentation, click here to get caught up).

Here are some highlights from the last few months:

Officer Elections: In addition to re-electing Adrian Thomas-Eikmann to a full three-year term and bringing on two new board members (Ariel Rigney and Ryan Krellwitz) in January, we also elected new officers. While board members serve for three year terms, officer positions are re-elected every year. Your 2017 Precipitation Northwest officers are:

• Amelia Lamb - President
• Becca Priddy - Vice President
• Julia Betts - Treasurer
• Ariel Rigney - Secretary

SOAK*2017 Art Grants: We are proud to share that Precipitation Northwest successfully administered the SOAK*2017 art grants program for the second year in a row. Our budget was $6,000, and we funded 28 projects. We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to our generous donors who funded this year's art grants budget: SOAK LLC and an anonymous donor from the Portland regional community.

• Special thanks to the hard work of your volunteer Art Grant Administrators, Sepia and Phuz, for making it all happen - we couldn’t have done it without you!
• Look for new “Funded Art Project” signs at SOAK this year to identify which projects were funded through the Art Grant Program.
• Check out Sepia’s awesome slideshow of funded SOAK*2017 Art Grant Awardees.

Logo Project: On March 27, we launched a logo contest that was met with some criticism from working artists in the community. The criticism was well-taken. We cancelled the logo contest and instead launched a logo project that addressed the concerns that were raised and better communicated our love and respect for our artist community. For more details about our logo project, please visit the post in the News section of our website or by clicking here. We hope to have a finished logo and share our new brand identity with the community by early summer 2017.

Meet & Greet at SOAK: We can’t wait to see everyone in just a few short days at SOAK! Please join us for our Precipitation Northwest Meet & Greet at SOAK. Come mingle, share your ideas, and help us get to know you better. A light brunch will be provided for you to nosh on. BYO cup, plates, bowls, utensils. Join us at Business Casual (located at AC on the SOAK*2017 map, or just look for the office cubicle) from 11:30am-1:00pm on Saturday.

Members of the board will be working closely alongside Event Producers and the Operations Team throughout the entire event to support them and help make sure it’s a huge success, and we will all be serving Peer Security shifts throughout the event. Come say hi!
 

In closing, we’d like to thank you, our community, for your continued support and patience. Building Portland’s brand-new burner nonprofit business from the ground up is a lot of work, and don’t forget, we are not only community members just like you, but we are also all volunteers! We’re honored and grateful to be able to support our local community through our organization, and encourage you to reach out to us with ideas, questions, and comments at board@precipitationnw.org.
 

Amelia, Becca, Julia, Ariel, Adrian, Ryan, and Tomcat
Board of Directors, Precipitation Northwest