It's official - Wonderland Columbus is now a tax-exempt non-profit organization. On December 5th, we received notification that our  request for 501(c)3 status has been approved. This status is retroactive to February 22, 2010 and covers all donations to the project to date.  We'll be sending letters confirming the tax deductible status of donations to our donors for this year's tax filings. We have also gotten assurance from the Ohio Art League, Wonderland's fiscal agent through the filing review, that any donations they've processed will be handled in the same time and manner.

We can also announce that our building search is down to two finalists. Each meets the list of criteria set with help from focus groups and an advisory panel of architects, owner's rep and construction team. We're currently in the process of determining the timelines and financial implications of each location before making a final decision or announcement.

We are consulting with financing and fundraising professionals, city officials and area stakeholders to make sure we put together the best modeling for each site. This search process and investigation has confirmed that the decision to leave the original location was the right one. The project has identified value greater than the original location in each finalist.

This month, we also held our first Skill Swap at the Jury Room. The casual event was attended by 17 people and the skills swapped ranged greatly. Offerings spanned everything from motion graphics lessons, cooking lessons, drink mixology, baking, embroidery, tree identification, Russian through about a dozen more. We hope to continue this program next year.

December 14th is Shirt Show at Union. We look forward to a night with over 25 shirt designs on display, and the gracious Nina West as host. The event is open to the public, and all shirts will be available for purchase.

As always, if there are questions, please feel free to contact us directly at info@wonderlandcolumbus.com.