Realtor-founded nonprofit unveils new name, content plan after scrutiny over actions in last city election – The Aspen Times

News News | Apr 2, 2024
jtaris@aspentimes.com
The controversial nonprofit whose signs dotted Aspen during the last city election recently got a makeover, now closely following a nonpartisan model for civic health.
CivicAspen is the new name for Aspen Deserves Better, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by two local realtors in 2022 ahead of the March 2023 Aspen City Council election.
The organization caught the ire of local elected officials, columnists, and voters for appearing to endorse real estate-aligned candidates in the 2023 race. Co-founders Peter Grenney, who serves as the alternate citizen-appointed director on the APCHA board, and Alexandra George defended their nonprofit’s dedication to voter participation and engagement, not candidate endorsement.
Still, circumstances surrounding the formation of Aspen Deserves Better and a since-deleted photo on George’s Instagram showing her holding an Aspen Deserves Better sign and tagging real estate-aligned candidates conflicted with the stringent 501(c)(3) regulations on political activity.
After the March 2023 election, new content mostly halted on their social media and website.
The website content and social media presence changed in February, unveiling the new name. The purported mission is the same as Aspen Deserves Better: improving civic health by encouraging participation and education.
“It was sort of an organic process in learning about other communities and how they approach what we were initially trying to do with Aspen Deserves Better,” Grenney said. “‘Civic health’ really resonated with us and fit with what we’re looking to do in terms of engagement — civic health … defined as an ability for a community to work through its problems or its challenges.”
Their main focus now is a bi-weekly newsletter that telegraphs upcoming agenda items for both Aspen City Council and the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners.
It’s an effort to get community members proactively involved in local government, Grenney explained, instead of reacting to the news of the day after it’s happened.
The site also links out to a voter registration page, how to give public comment at government meetings, how to write a letter to the editor for the papers, how to join a citizen board, or how to run for local office.
Grenney said long-term goals for CivicAspen include recruiting a board of directors, hiring staff to generate longer-form content on local issues, and getting CivicAspen folks in attendance at city and county meetings.
Sticking with a newsletter is a way to get in reps to build community trust, Grenney said.
Grenney said they found the inspiration for the nonprofit’s new direction in CivicLex, a 501(c)(3) based in Lexington, Kentucky. CivicLex has been operating for about six years and hosts long issues explainers on its website, links to get involved in the local civic process, and low-cost workshops on the local government, budget, and advocacy.
CivicAspen’s website is closely modeled after its Lexington counterpart, down to a “How we are funded and where our money goes” subhead on the main page.
“CivicLex (has) a great blueprint,” Grenney said. “They started with a newsletter, as well, to build trust and credibility. With time they’ve added a tremendous amount of programming. And so we’re kind of modeling that.”
Currently, the staff of CivicAspen is just Grenney and George. Former City of Aspen Clerk Linda Manning was listed in early filing paperwork for Aspen Deserves Better, but Grenney said she is no longer working with the nonprofit.
The CivicAspen website has links to subscribe and/or donate to the organization. Grenney said they have almost 700 subscribers and plan to host a membership drive in the future.
Lingering questions over the tax-deductible donations
Exactly how much money CivicAspen holds and how they’ve spent it is not clear. They are not registered with the Colorado Secretary of State charitable corporation database. 501(c)(3)s hold the most stringent tax-exempt status as donations to them are tax-deductible for donors.
Charitable organizations that “do not intend to and do not actually raise or receive gross revenue over $25,000 during a fiscal year” are exempt from the state’s requirement. Bank statements from 2023 showed that Aspen Deserves Better held about $20,000 in donations from January, February, and March of that year.
Beyond that, the financial picture is opaque. Without registration with the charitable organization database or a 990 form with the Internal Revenue Service — or a 990-N, the bare-bones form for tax-exempt organizations that receive less than $50,000 annually in donations — an independent financial picture is nearly impossible.
CivicAspen is the new trade name for the same corporation, which was originally filed as Aspen Deserves Better, meaning the funds they collected as Aspen Deserves Better still belong to the same corporation.
The CivicAspen website borrows format and language from CivicLex for its own financial self-reporting. CivicAspen says consulting fees take up the biggest share of their budget, followed by programs, marketing, and administrative costs. How much money they’ve collected and how much they’ve spent are not listed on the site.
Grenney said that the money they do have has gone to paying for services like publishing platform Ghost, nonprofit fundraising platform GiveButter, and online legal consulting Fiverr.
“I don’t want to go back through how we spent money in 2023 for Aspen Deserves Better. There’s nothing to hide. There’s never been anything to hide,” Grenney said. “We are not spending money on anything that another small nonprofit organization wouldn’t be spending money on.”
Some costs laid out on their website are anticipated future expenditures, as the organization is in such early stages that they aren’t ready for programming and staff positions.
George did not respond to requests for comment. Neither she nor Grenney responded to follow-up questions about how much money CivicAspen holds.

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