About
A small organization with a long horizon.
What we are, how we are structured, who is accountable, and what we have not figured out yet.
Mission
Why this exists.
The Maumee River Collective protects the land and water of the Maumee River valley and the western Lake Erie watershed, and preserves the region's oral, written, and visual history.
Those two aims are usually handled by two different kinds of organizations. We think that split is a mistake here. The reason this valley is worth caring about is not only ecological — it is that people have made a life alongside this water for generations, and almost none of that has been written down. A cleaned-up riverbank with no one left who remembers what it used to be is only half the job.
We are deliberately regional. We are not trying to be a statewide land trust or a national publisher. The subject is the Maumee River, its tributaries, the marshes of the western basin, and the towns along all of it.
How we work
Four commitments we intend to be held to.
Volunteer-first, not staff-first
For now there is no paid staff. Work gets done by members and volunteers, and the money goes to equipment, storage, printing, and permits. When we do hire, we will say what the job pays and why.
Broad-based funding
A single funder is a single point of failure, and it changes what an organization is willing to say. Membership dues and small gifts are the target, not a standing subsidy from any one business.
Open books
We will publish an annual report with real numbers — what came in, what went out, and what it bought — starting with our first full year.
No self-dealing
Board members and officers do not take royalties, fees, or preferential treatment from the press or any other program. Anyone with an interest in a decision leaves the room for the vote and it gets written into the minutes.
Governance
Board in formation.
We are recruiting an independent board of five to seven people. Independence matters: a majority of the board should have no financial relationship to the founder or to any business that supports us.
Seats we are actively looking to fill:
- Treasurer — accounting or finance background; nonprofit bookkeeping experience preferred.
- Watershed / conservation seat — someone working in soil and water, park systems, or a river or lake advocacy group.
- History and archives seat — a librarian, archivist, historical society member, or local history teacher.
- Publishing seat — an editor, designer, bookseller, or writer who understands what small-press economics actually look like.
- Community seat — a maker, farmer, or tradesperson from the valley who will tell us when we are wrong.
Status & transparency
Where we stand legally.
Important, and we would rather say it up front. The Maumee River Collective is an Ohio nonprofit corporation, incorporated in the spring of 2026. Our application for federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is in preparation and has not yet been granted.
Until the IRS issues a determination letter, gifts to the Collective are not tax-deductible. If exemption is granted, it is normally retroactive to our date of formation, and we will notify every donor and member in writing at that point. We would rather have you decide with that in hand than find out later.
Our founding support came from Wild Side Brewing Co., a brewery owned by our founder. That funding got the organization off the ground; it is not meant to be the model. The reason we are pushing membership so hard in year one is that an organization funded by hundreds of people behaves differently than one funded by its founder.
Get involved
Help us get past year one.
A young nonprofit either builds a real base of support in its first eighteen months or it quietly becomes a hobby. We would like to be the first kind.