BRATTLEBORO — Phil and Marsha Steckler have been big supporters of NECCA and the nonprofit's capital campaign to build its trapezium.
“We have [supported], and we will continue to support, NECCA, assuming it continues to be a world-class facility for circus arts,” Phil Steckler said last week.
But he echoed concerns about organizational growing pains.
“The vision and the dream of the organization are more important than any one individual,” Steckler said. “We continue to support the founders, and I think Elsie and Serenity are talented womenwho t had a dream and vision to create NECCA. But running a nonprofit requires a different set of management skills.”
He said that he supports the NECCA board's decision to “put into place best business practices” to enable the organization to meet its obligations under the nonprofit rules set down by the Internal Revenue Service.
“It's sad that things have reached this point,” Steckler said. “I just hope and pray things can be settled amicably.”