Nonprofit status gives Austin School of Furniture Foundation new legs for charitable efforts

Austin (KXAN) — Creativity and passion is what directors of the Austin School of Furniture Foundation say has driven them to teach others about woodworking. Now that the school has been granted its nonprofit status, leaders said they're looking forward to expanding its programs.

“What has really attracted me is being able to look at a board and kind of think 'well I can make just about anything,'" said Austin Waldo, ASFF managing director.

Waldo said AFSS started in 2018, allowing students to enroll in classes ranging from beginner woodworking to fine furniture making.

He said the foundation already started its community class offering prior to the nonprofit designation, letting students pay what they can to attend lessons.

Waldo said this designation is an opportunity to grow that program and other charitable efforts.

“That really is going to be that jumping point into kind of all of our philanthropic efforts of creating scholarships and tool stipends, and different types of programs for different groups of people," Waldo said.

He said an important distinction with this status is that now the foundation can receive donations of all sorts, like money, tools and lumber. All donations are now qualified for tax-exempt status.

Adam Baumeister attends classes at AFSS and said working with the different tools has been a welcome challenge.

“What surprised me is the number of different tools we'll be working on. We'll be working on like power tools, hand tools, things that I didn't really didn't think we'd be involved in," Baumeister said.