Annual Report 2026: Year One

July 10, 2025 – June 30, 2026. The founding year: legal formation, tax exemption, infrastructure — and the public archive that followed.

The full annual report is in preparation; this page carries the verified record to date.

Mission

“CultureTechLens is Chicago’s Black cultural intelligence platform, curating the intersection of history, athletics, music, and technology through a lens of cultural preservation and analysis.” — written by William Maxey.

Legal standing

CULTURETECHLENS NFP — Illinois domestic not-for-profit corporation, File #75228759, incorporated July 10, 2025.
501(c)(3) public charity, IRC 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) — IRS determination letter, August 2025; exemption effective July 10, 2025.
EIN 39-3143901; NTEE code A25 (Arts Education).
2026 Illinois annual report filed September 16, 2026 — in good standing.
Board (per the 2026 annual report): William Maxey, President; Keanna Marshall, Secretary; Sheila Maxey, Director.
Public contact: PO Box 379244, Chicago, IL 60637 · (773) 310-9828 · [email protected]

Year-one milestones

June 26, 2025 — culturetechlens.com registered.
July 10, 2025 — incorporated in Illinois.
August 2025 — IRS 501(c)(3) determination.
2025 tax year — first Form 990-N e-Postcard filed (short year July 10–December 31, 2025); gross receipts ≤ $50,000.
September 28, 2026 — culturetechlens.com launches with the knowledge graph and the first CTL 10 Index edition (Artifacts), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23081630.
October 2026 — three open-access working papers deposited on Zenodo (DOIs 10.5281/zenodo.23173585, 10.5281/zenodo.23173917, 10.5281/zenodo.23173962); Candid 2026 Gold Seal of Transparency; Charity Navigator profile listed.

By the numbers

1,441 entities in the public knowledge graph — every claim evidence-graded.
14 flagship research packages; 25 research briefs; 8 dossiers.
4 Zenodo deposits, all open access, CC BY 4.0.
25 guides in the Black Culture Guides.
25 albums on the Clear Ear Award 2026 shortlist.

Financials

CultureTechLens files Form 990-N (gross receipts ≤ $50,000). Year-one financial activity beyond the 990-N band will be reported in the full annual report.

What’s next

The full annual report — founder’s letter, complete financials, and the year-two program — publishes here when the board approves it. Until then: verification, press kit, the research library.

Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Annual Report 2026: Year One” (verified record), 2026-10-05.

Source: CultureTechLens

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.

Negro grocery store, Black Belt, Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Rosskam, Edwin, 1903-1985, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Shoeshine, 47th Street, Chicago's main Negro business street, Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941Photo: Rosskam, Edwin, 1903-1985, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

Trust & evidence

Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.

Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — none to date.