The Atheist Community of Austin’s various media outreach programs and activities afford us the opportunity to speak out on a number of issues. Atheism is misunderstood and misrepresented, and we feel it is important that our community has official, public positions* on a number of issues.

Today we are posting about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which now allows states to ban abortions. Our ACA Position Statement on Reproductive Rights is that individual human rights necessarily include the premise of individual sovereignty with regard to decisions that affect one's person. You can read the full Position Statement on our website https://www.atheist-community.org/positions.

Atheist Community of Austin staff and leadership made a decision to start sharing information on where to get up-to-date information on available resources and calls to action. We are following the lead of nonprofits in the community and across the country who are leaders in the work to defend and protect reproductive rights–their work just took on an even greater significance.

The United State of Women https://usow.org/repro/ has information on national and state-by-state nonprofit organizations who will be working on individual services and safety as well as this issue at an advocacy level. Planned Parenthood https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/ has been fighting to defend reproductive rights and providing health care services for decades.

In addition to the impact this SCOTUS decision has on individuals and families, impact that will vary by state, and impact that will be felt most greatly by those with the fewest resources, we know there is a growing sense of anger and frustration as we all watch rollbacks on rights and freedoms that have been part of the best of our nation’s progress. Please know that we will continue to build community through our programs, policies, and people. Take extra care of yourself now and in the future.

*These statements represent the official positions of this organization and are not intended to represent the position of all atheists or ACA members.

The Atheist Community of Austin produces multiple shows weekly that use a call-in format to allow the exploration of ideas and afford opportunities to confront bigotry, hatred, and prejudice.

One of ACA’s programs recently took a live call from an individual who had, in the past, personally attacked, by doxxing, harassing, and blackmailing, show hosts who are associated with another ACA program. We regret allowing this caller on an ACA show and apologize for any distress it may have caused. The caller’s behaviors are inconsistent with ACA’s values and we are concerned that allowing this caller airtime for any topic, on any ACA show, contradicts the ACA’s core positions. 

The ACA is rigorously reviewing our policies to protect against a recurrence of this issue and further clarify show caller protocols. We are making these changes to safeguard our hosts and volunteers, to reinforce our commitment to our Position Statements,¹ and to remove opportunities for individuals intent on finding venues to humiliate or harass others.

Personally identifiable information has been removed to protect the identity of the individuals targeted. 

¹ ACA Position Statements include the following. Full text available. 

PRIMARY POSITIONS

• Religion-Government Separation

• Human Rights

SECONDARY POSITIONS

• Religious Displays

• Creationism and Intelligent Design

• Public Education

• Reproductive Rights

• Trans Rights Are Human Rights

• LGBTQ Equality

The Atheist Community of Austin is pleased to announce a new full-time staff member, Amy Price. She has accepted the job of Director of Development and Communications, a new position created in 2022 to support ACA through a period of unprecedented growth. Amy’s nonprofit experience spans twenty-five years and includes national recognition for her work. To date in her career, she has secured more than $150 million in nonprofit funding from philanthropic, corporate, and federal sources. She is a popular trainer at state and national conferences on the many facets of nonprofit revenue generation. We asked her to introduce herself to our members and friends, and here’s what she shared:

“I could not be happier to have been hired by the Atheist Community of Austin. As an atheist, and a proud parent of atheists, I have a personal connection to the mission of ACA and am glad to be working with the board, volunteers, staff, members, and friends of the ACA to advance our mission. My experience with promoting nonprofit partnerships should be of particular use with ACA, as our work protecting personal freedoms lends itself to cooperative efforts with other entities who have a stake in maintaining and expanding the rights of individuals. As I am learning about the ACA’s rich and varied history, I am truly impressed with the quality and volume of volunteer engagement at every level—with talent from local, national, and international levels combining forces on programming. This is a resource that few nonprofits can boast, and it underscores the value members/friends of the ACA see for the work being done to reinforce the separation of religion and government. In the weeks and months to come, I hope to be communicating with many of you as I work to improve and create communication and engagement opportunities to strengthen the scope of ACA programming.

On a personal note, I’m a native Texan who calls Austin home for many reasons—not the least of which is Barton Springs Pool, where I can be found swimming an hour every day, rain or shine. I'm an avid reader, a fan of live music, and prefer to be in a National Park when there's time off."

We are pleased to announce that our board just approved our FY2020 990! We’ll be posting it to the website once the IRS accepts our filling.

In an effort to adhere to best practices for nonprofits, we post all our tax returns on our website. Folks have been curious about why the last return posted is for 2019.

Like many nonprofit organizations, the ACA operates on a fiscal year that is different from the calendar year. Our fiscal year is June 1 to May 31. This is the annual period ACA uses for accounting and financial purposes and for reporting to the IRS. Our annual 990 filing  is in concert with our fiscal year.

To ensure our 990 filing is correct and meets all IRS requirements, we retained the services of Montemayor Britton Bender to manage and oversee the process of filing our tax return. We work hard to be totally transparent with our finances and seek to demonstrate our good stewardship of the funds donors like you entrust to us.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We love hearing for you!

Hi Folks! :) Here' a quick update on the Freethought Library building: We've made some improvements to the lighting and the back patio area with an eye towards restarting community events soon (safety precautions allowing).

Also, the storage building in the back has had electricity, Internet, alarm, air conditioning, and insulation added so we can now use the shed to store items that require climate control. We have some plans for a grand re-opening in the near future so keep an eye out for announcements!