Help AHRC Grow

The Acid Horizon Research Commons exists to make rigorous, experimental education accessible — not just to those who can afford it. This page explains how you can directly support students and instructors, and how we are building toward a more equitable organizational model.

The AHRC is in its nascent phase of development. We are currently staffed by three people who collectively handle administration, accounting, bookkeeping, seasonal programming, and promotion. Our immediate goal is straightforward: maintain a minimum level of financial support for our organizers, pay our instructors at a premium rate, and direct any surpluses toward income targets and a safety net fund that allows us to absorb risk as we grow.
Everything beyond that goes toward access. That means you.

A note on our organizational status

The AHRC currently operates under a for-profit structure — a provisional necessity that allowed us to launch and grow without institutional delay. It does not reflect our long-term organizational vision.

We are actively exploring fiscal sponsorship arrangements and nonprofit organizational models as we develop a plan for cooperative management and chart the school's evolution over time. Fiscal sponsorship, in particular, would allow us to receive tax-deductible contributions on behalf of the school while that longer transition is underway — and we are in active conversation toward that end.

It is worth saying plainly that neither designation — for-profit nor nonprofit — captures what the AHRC actually is. These are legal containers, not statements of character. What holds this school together is not a tax status but the good faith of the people who teach here, study here, and choose to support it. We take that trust seriously, and it is what orients every decision we make about how this institution grows and changes.

We believe the community that has built this school deserves to understand exactly where it stands, and where it is headed. We will update this page as that picture becomes clearer.

Please note: Because the AHRC currently operates under a for-profit structure, contributions made through this page are not tax-deductible as charitable donations under U.S. tax law. Your support goes directly to students and instructors — not to institutional overhead — and we are working to establish a structure that will make that support tax-deductible as soon as possible.