Earlier this week we were saddened to report that the San Francisco-based humanitarian nonprofit Architecture for Humanity had shuttered its headquarters near Union Square after a fund-raising shortfall. Yesterday the organization—which just celebrated its 15-year anniversary and at last count boasted a network of 59 chapters in 16 countries—posted a message on the AFH website announcing its filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy. The organization also stopped taking donations as of January 1, the same day it laid off all its staff.
In the statement, board chair Matt Charney is careful to distinguish between the work of the now-defunct parent organization and the many chapters around the world, which are separate legal entities.
.@CurbedSF The local volunteer chapters are still around and the Burrows pocket park started as a chapter project.
— AFH SF Chapter (@afh_sf) January 21, 2015
As Architecture for Humanity's San Francisco chapter reassured us in a tweet, the chapters still exist. According to Charney, the volunteer directors of the US-based chapters have said they will continue the organization's work, possibly under a different name. "It is a testament to what Architecture for Humanity has meant to the profession that the work will continue," he writes. Here's more of Charney's statement:
Even with this sad news, it is important to remember what the thousands of Architecture for Humanity volunteers and staff accomplished and inspired over the last 15 years. In 2006, the TED Prize was given in recognition of this work and spawned the Open Architecture Network, a platform that allowed a community to be born surrounding open source design and connected the world of humanitarian design globally in the digital space like no one had done before. · Farewells [Curbed SF]
· Statement: From Board of Directors, Architecture for Humanity [AFH]
· United We Stand, Stronger Than Ever! [AFH Chapter Network]
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