Due to a growing member-base and staff, The Freedom From Religion Foundation recently completed a $3 million construction project to renovate its headquarters on the corner of West Washington Avenue and North Henry Street.

The organization was founded in Wisconsin as an association of freethinkers in 1978. According to their website, the foundation seeks to promote the separation of church and state and educate the public about nontheism. It also acts as the nation’s largest association of “freethinkers,” otherwise known as atheists, agnostics and skeptics.

The foundation has occupied the building since 1990, at which time they had only four staff members. Since then Annie Laurie Gaylor and her husband Dan Barker, co-presidents of the foundation, have seen it grow to 14 staff members, with three more additions to come. Dues-paying membership has increased from 5,000 to more than 20,000, Barker said.

The expansion to the building was more than necessary, both Gaylor and Barker said. The funds for the expansion were raised from long-time savings and private donations, Gaylor said.

Gaylor described the previous conditions in the building as cramped and chaotic, with staff “sitting in each other’s laps,” and “attorneys in closets.” They had no room for storage, new staff or interns, many of whom come from University of Wisconsin.

With the new renovation the organization will have the space to better accommodate its growing workload and staff. The foundation plans to use the new space to support hiring new staff, including a graphic designer, engineer and legal assistant, Barker said.

The foundation’s attorneys are now more organized and able to work efficiently in their own offices, Barker said.

The bulk of attorneys’ work is clerical or responding to letters and complaints sent in from across the nation. For the first time in the foundation’s history a legal assistant has been hired to take the clerical load off the attorneys, thanks to the new space, Barker said.

“We are already more productive in the number of letters and complaints we’re able to handle now,” he said.

@FFRF We’re so happy you finally have enough space to do all the work you’re already doing! Congrats! http://t.co/KNgoxEGCBu

— CFFC (@cflfreethought) January 5, 2015

Staffers are slowly but surely moving into their new offices at Freethought Hall. Pictured: Staff Att. Andrew Seidel pic.twitter.com/yUp7tDPTly

— FFRF (@FFRF) January 9, 2015

The foundation now hosts a library, auditorium, piano and recording studio yet to be finished, Gaylor said. The recording studio will be home to the foundation’s radio show, Freethought Radio.

Both Gaylor and Barker have received mostly positive reactions to the project and much praise for the exterior of the renovated building. However, after an article in the Wisconsin State Journal, its author received extremely critical comments and emails. Gaylor said she is “not really sure why,” but Barker attributed the backlash to the foundation’s purpose rather than the expansion.

Barker said the new space will provide the foundation with the necessary room for growth that will allow them more efficiency and productivity to continue with their mission.

“We’re already feeling the improvement in productivity,” Barker said, “and [we’re] looking forward to settling into even more improvement.”