TURNERS FALLS — The Knighten Guild and Company — the organizer of the local Mutton and Mead medieval festival that came under fire earlier this year when former cast members accused its leadership of lacking transparency around its finances and charitable obligations — has released three years of financial disclosure reports.
The documents show and organizers say that much of the Guild’s charitable activity took the form of donations of food from patrons in exchange for discounts on admission and money generated by a token donating system. Those systems for encouraging food donations, cost organizers about $6,000 in forgone revenue, they said. They also counted as a donation money paid to Montague Common Hall, where performers rehearse before the festival.
Organizers say the group’s request for tax-exempt, nonprofit status is pending with the federal government, and they’ll evaluate how much more money they can donate once they know if the organization will have any lingering tax liability. That’s the reason it has also held money in reserve, instead of giving it to charity, they said.
The filings — known as IRS Form 990 EZ — show that The Knighten Guild and Company spent roughly $87,000 to put on Mutton and Mead in 2015, and took in about $74,000. The difference was made up using reserve funds held over from previous years, the reports show.
Over the three years, the organization has taken in over $206,000, and at the end of 2015, the organization held $58,582 in reserve, the documents show.
The organizers said those funds were held over to be used as seed money for the next year’s event, and to cover committed expenses should something happen that leads to the event’s cancellation.
“Given that almost our entire annual revenue depends on the events of one weekend, which can be affected by many factors, not the least of which is weather, we have a responsibility to maintain a sufficient reserve to cover various scenarios including the possibility of a disastrous event where we have little income to meet committed expenses,” the organizers said in an e-mail Thursday. “Additionally, while we expect to be granted tax-exempt recognition status, we must be prepared for any outcome. If the desired status is not granted, we may have some tax liability to address.”
According to the filings, the organization in 2015 spent $12,765 on occupancy, rent, utilities and maintenance, $3,918 on printing and publications, and $32,741 on other expenses, which included advertising, administration, equipment rentals, costumes, promotion, food and merchandise, entertainment and insurance. That also included $5,000 in donations, which organizers said were to the Montague Common Hall, where event festival’s volunteer performers rehearse.
Expenses for the event include horseback jousters for $5,000, rented port-a potties for about $2,000, as well as paid musical acts, and off-duty police officers and EMTs, organizers previously said.
The organization’s expenses report also included a $38,150 line for “professional services and other fees to independent contractors.” That money, the organizers said, paid for hay rental, tent rental, compost, brewery, decorations, building materials, gas, and outside entertainment including musicians, dancers, fire performers and jesters. In prior years, that line item also paid for website support and advertising.
It also included stipends paid to David Agro, the organization’s president, of $13,150, and Karen Webb, the treasurer, of $5,050. The organizers said stipends were approved by its board of directors in prior years, but were not paid because the money was not there.
“Those payments, while made in 2015, really represent payment for many years of dedicated work for the Festival, including organizing the event — with the help of many others — and Webb’s work as a costumer and Agro’s work as Artistic Director,” they said in an e-mail to The Recorder.
According to advertisements that ran in local media and were posted on Mutton and Mead’s website, the organization serves as a fundraiser for the Western Massachusetts Food Bank and Montague Common Hall, formerly known as the Montague Grange. In 2015, the organization implemented a new system where festival-goers could donate food items in exchange for $1 coins and donate them to a series of charities, or use them to buy items from vendors at the fair.
A food donation system used in prior years offered admission discounts in exchange for food. Those two systems have together provided $6,000 worth of discounted admission in exchange for food items and token donating, the organizers said.
In direct donations, the organization has given $182 to the Dakin Humane Society, $125 to the Western Massachusetts Food Bank and $50 to the Friends of Montague Common Hall from the token system, the organizers said.
The organization said last week that it has also provided in-kind donations by providing space for third-party organizations to set up tents and receive donations, but doesn’t keep track of how they do.
It has also donated $500 to Cancer Connection, a Northampton-based organization that supports cancer patients, as well as free tickets to that organization’s events and tokens to encourage donation to it.
The organization uses the Common Hall to rehearse, and Mutton and Mead has paid between $3,000 and $5,000 each year to rent the space several times a week in the months leading up to the two-day festival, according to the Hall. Festival organizers said those payments are “charitable contributions,” but whether they’ll be considered as such is to be decided by the IRS.
The organizers said there is no contractual obligation for services between the Knighten Guild and the Hall.
“We are just two community organizations that share an objective of building community,” the organizers said. They said the amount given to the Hall exceeds the typical rental value of the hall set by the owners. “Even if some portion of the funds given were characterized by the Internal Revenue Service as other than a charitable donation, the amount donated is in excess of any rental value.”
In April, Agro said that organization had donated $1,500 to the Common Hall this year and $5,000 in 2015.
The festival has also donated to the Food Bank 1,142 pounds of food donated by its patrons at the 2016 fair, according to its website, and “has helped provide 2,397 meals” through other donations to the Food Bank made in 2015, according to a certificate from the Food Bank posted to the website.
Over the life of the festival, the organizers said 7,945 pounds of food has been collected for the Bank.
Agro previously declined to comment on how much of a stipend he receives for his work on the festival, but the 990s for 2015 shows he was compensated $13,150 that year. Co-Treasurer Karen Webb was compensated $5,050 that year.
Directors Denise Milkey and James Brule received no compensation, the forms show.
The forms reported no compensation for any of those individuals in 2014 or 2013.
Organizers insisted in June the event has never made a profit. They said donation totals are not final, and if they’re granted nonprofit tax-exempt status they’ll examine their finances to determine if they can give more.
“Mutton and Mead is an organization, itself, with a deep seated desire to help strengthen the community, by helping other area organizations,” the organizer’s e-mail read. “We have done our best to balance that desire and responsibility with our broader organizational mission and operating needs.”
A Recorder report in June found that an internal row between the festival’s organizers and some of the performance staff over transparency into the organization’s finances and charitable activities had led to the cancellation of the “Robin Hood” show and firing of its cast for the 2016 festival, an apology from organizers for communications breakdowns, and the shuttering of a Facebook group that had become a forum for complaints.
The former cast members called into question the organization’s commitment to donating a portion of its proceeds to charity — a pledge the group has made publicly. They noted that information requested was not provided, and The Recorder found that the organization had failed to file required financial paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service for at least three years.
The organization has since worked with the state Attorney General’s Office this spring and summer to bring itself into compliance as a prospective nonprofit. A spokesperson for the AG’s office said falling out of compliance with financial disclosure and registration requirements is a common problem among small community organizations.
You can reach Tom Relihan at: 413-772-0261 ext 264,
or trelihan@recorder.com. On Twitter, @RecorderTom