How Temple is run
10/22/2025
Hello all,
As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, we’d like to share some context about Temple’s financial structure.
The reality is that Temple does not operate for profit. Since its founding, the space has been sustained primarily through community participation: ticket sales for classes, events, and studio use. Without your continued investment and support, this shared resource is unlikely to exist past 2025.
William initially invested their personal funds to build out the raw space, develop the website, purchase equipment, and to cover the lease during the pandemic. Because Temple has operated at a loss since its founding, William has not yet recouped those upfront costs. Revenue has been reinvested directly into maintaining the space, through rent, purchasing supplies, and supporting guest educators and artists. Our accounting is processed through William’s company, Porter Cycles LLC, but Temple itself is not a registered nonprofit or business entity. William continues to personally shoulder the financial responsibility that keeps Temple open.
Today, the space is organized and maintained by a group of volunteers, none of whom work for Temple full-time. Those volunteers are: William, Margherita, Dia, Masha, and Syd. Aside from one salaried administrative assistant, Temple’s organizers do not receive regular compensation. We are paid only for teaching classes or presenting workshops, at rates equivalent to the other educators we bring in. If Temple organizers do attend classes, we pay the presenter fee in full, and consciously limit our presence in classes so most spots remain available to the larger community.
We recognize that our classes (especially for international educators) are expensive. But we are proud that when we bring in visiting instructors, we prioritize fair compensation and often pay presenters a higher percentage of ticket sales than most comparable studios. We off-set ticket costs as much as possible by hosting visitors in our homes and coordinating travel with other venues. Temple also offers lower-cost events, discounts, and occasional free spots for those who need financial assistance. Temple rarely makes a profit from these classes, despite the many hours of organizational and logistical support put in. In the future, we hope to establish a tiered pricing model so that those with more financial flexibility can help subsidize access for others.
As ever, we appreciate your trust and participation as we continue to maintain this community space responsibly and transparently.