American Homebrewers Association Files for 501(c) Status

I am pleased with this result! While BA provided valuable support for many years, it is apparent that homebrewers need to set their own course. Things will get small, but they will get better.

I look forward to restarting annual conferences when things in AHA have stabilized!

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What is involved? Message me.

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This is exciting news, indeed. I never worried about the hobby surviving and still don’t - but this is a nice step forward for homebrewers. There are new homebrewers coming on board every day and I hope that the membership pace can pick up again toward a vibrant, healthy hobby. Congratulations to the board and staff.

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Right on @ynotbrusum and wonderful enthusiasm you share. Cheers.

My only question is: “What took you so long”. This is great news. Although the two organizations share some common interests, the main focus of the associations is different. I’ve been a member of the BA and AHA for many years and I get different benefits from each organization. I’m looking forward to the return of HomebrewCon and more member focused benefits.

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Henry no time like the present and appreciate your positive comments. To the future!

Great news for the homebrew world best of luck with the transition!
My club is taking the next step forward of becoming our own 501C3 non profit organization.
Do you have any advice or direction on facilitating this process?
Also, do you see a time in the future when local clubs may become non profit entities under the parent organization of AHA?
Thank you!
Vic Sbailo. Ocean County, NJ

Thanks Pat. I did get through the process later in the day.

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Vic - I wrote a guide years ago about this - Making Your Homebrew Club 'Official' - American Homebrewers Association

But that’s for a c7, which seems more appropriate for clubs, in general. (We looked at c3 status back in the day but our lawyers and accountants waved us off of it)

Excellent, Drew.
yes i recently read that and actually used it as a template for our by laws.
Good advice on the c7, I will keep that in mind as we work on the details. Thanks so much for your help!

Love what the AHA is doing–I am renewing (and will select the multi-year/Lifetime when or if those options are there)!

As enthusiastic homebrewers who want our new AHA to thrive, how else can we help?

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What a great post to read. Thank you as we aim to do more and more members will help.

  1. Volunteer opportunities here Volunteer

  2. Before Feb 6 share your thoughts on AHA’s vision here.

  3. Before Feb 19 enter the National Homebrew Competiton here.

Cheers to a great future for homebrewing.

Hi Kevin. “More actual homebrewing, beer making content”, I’ll get right on that! The upcoming May/June issue is all about Lost, Ancient, and Obscure Beer Styles–maybe it’ll be right up your alley. Cheers.

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I just submitted my comments on the AHA Member Input form (Member Input on New AHA Vision)! Deadline is tomorrow; don’t delay!
In case members are wondering what some other members are thinking about, I posted all of my comments at my blog, as submitted on the form. Head on over and check it out! My comments are through the lens of being a director of a non-profit (a very different kind of organization, but this stuff is very much in my head-space)…so take them with that grain of salt.

Andy I look forward to reviewing your (and everyone’s input).

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I put in a few minimal suggestions. I think one that might be help is to rebuild AHA from the local club up rather than top down. I don’t know exactly what that means.

Maybe it’s a certified club program-

Maybe it’s taking ideas from the clubs and propagating them to the national level.

Maybe it’s folding local club competitions into the NHC as a regular season of sorts.

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RE: Andy’s post.

I think the answer is in the name. I think membership should be open to anyone, but the organization’s focus has to remain finite and manageable.

I, too, like the push towards anything that lowers the barrier to entry. One-gallon, kitchen recipes are nice part of that.

1,000% agree.

10,000% agree. This is the reason I don’t enter competitions and will never enter the NHC as things stand.

Yep. Club meetings at breweries are illegal in the places I’ve lived. It was tolerated for a while in Oklahoma, but they clamped down on it about two years ago.

This and the question of shipping are the two areas that we still need effective lobbying for legal changes.

I really hope Zymurgy and the recipe archive transfer cleanly over to the
newly independent AHA.

I don’t think we need an app.

Beer should remain the focus, but I think we need to embrace other fermentations like lacto-sodas and kombuchas … and NA beer.

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Thanks for the comments Drew. If willing please add these to the vision input form so we can catalog input in one place? https://brewersassociation.wufoo.com/forms/z1prrkcz1vagwld/

WILCO. As long as the form let’s me submit a second input.

Should be fine on multiple entries and let me know if not. Thank you!