Board Action Items Update
Rich Thompson
Board Update for All Makerspace Members (Please Read)
Hey everyone! We had a board meeting Friday Night March 26th at 6:00pm to chart a few items for the board to complete as we move out of our survival mode during the pandemic back to our regular operating model. We will take this opportunity to fine tune some of our policies and fee structures to ensure that we remain a strong and healthy makerspace as we come out of the pandemic year.
Please provide feedback via email to bo...@midsouthmakers.org or in our members-only channel on Discord on the changes or updates below.
Keeping Current Makerspace Fees Set for Current Membership in 2020
Based on the survival plan we put together in March of 2020, we have a strong cash reserve ($10K) and an additional amount of $4K over the cash reserve. We also were able to drive about $15K in donations last year thanks to our Covid-19 relief efforts. The donations allowed us to maintain our space despite an increase in rent without asking for additional funds from the membership. All in all, the response from our members in 2020 helped keep the makerspace whole and gave us a long runway to grow.
With the small amount of surplus cash, the board is proposing keeping the current Midsouth Makers fees the same as they have been for the past several years. That means we will continue with the $45/month individual and $75/month family memberships for complete Discord, Makerspace and All Tool access. To assist with makerspace growth, there will be additional fee levels added for Discord only and Sustaining members. Those ideas are discussed below and are still a work in progress.
With the Pandemic Easing and Vaccination Increasing, We Are Considering A Return to Public Open Hose Meetings
While the pandemic remains a health threat in our community, the uptake in vaccination and reduction in case transmission provide an opportunity for us to outline how we can return to public open house meetings and events.
We cannot require vaccinations or other health care measures to attend our open events but every one of our members is responsible enough to maintain their own health and safety postures. We want to begin to engage with both members and the public in safe but approachable ways.
To that end, we are proposing bringing back In Person Open House on Friday nights with their requirements.
· Reasonable social distancing at the discretion of the makerspace member.
· Properly worn and used masks for admission into open to the public events like open house or clinics/classes.
· An expectation that all members will take safety precautions like vaccines, active cleaning, or appropriate body barriers to enable their own required level of personal safety.
With these simple policies it is expected we can begin to return to our regular cadence for open house, classes, and clinics.
Changes in Discord Usage
· PG-13 Policy for Makerspace Public - It Is Our Public Access Area
o We are asking that all members keep the makerspace-public channels as PG-13 as possible, even leaning PG. If you must personally question a post you are about to make, it probably is not PG-13 and needs to go to members-only at a minimum and/or our NSFW channels most likely. The makerspace-public channel is our public face to the community, and we should strive to keep it accessible to everyone. Many members, including board members, have posted NSFW items there in the past so this change will have a universal impact, but it is felt that it will be for the betterment of the makerspace.
o Please make every effort to keep NSFW posts in the NSFW channels. Not every member may share a desire to see NSFW material, so this helps with filtering. We are a broad and diverse community of makers and we all tend to like organization, so let’s keep those NSFW posts organized.
· Members Channels
o We
have a great area for on topic discussions about makers interests. If we are
missing an area you would like to see represented, please let us know.
o Please try to keep members channels on-topic but recognize that we are all not robots, so a little bit of topic drift is going to happen.
· Account Linking In Preparation For Coming Soon™ Changes
o Please make sure you have done the account-linking steps in the Automation channels. We will soon be restricting access to makerspace content in the members-only, members and nsfw channels and we do not want anyone to lose access to that content. If you are having issues speak up in discord or email the board.
· Inclusion In The Makerspace
o The board and members remain committed to absolute inclusion in our community of makers. Being a maker knows no bounds along any axis of humanity as creating alone or as part of a group is a universal drive. To that end please be mindful as you chat in our discord or interact in public and private member events that excluding a member or practicing any form of bigotry is not welcome. If you or someone you know in the makerspace is being targeted in any way, please call it out to the membership or the board.
Updated Fee Levels Coming Soon
To expand our membership going forward, we are adding a few different membership options for people that may not want access to our space or tools but find value in our community and discussions.
We are considering adding these fee levels:
· Pay what you want $5/min Discord access.
o Access to the entire Discord channel list for interaction.
o Designed for remote members who will not need space access.
· Sustaining Member Access
o Access to the entire Discord channel list.
o Access to the makerspace with limited tool access.
o Designed for members who may not use the space on the regular but want to see a healthy makerspace community in the Midsouth.
· Individual Member
o Remains at $45/month for current members.
o May be raised in the future for new members.
· Family Membership
o Remains at $75/month.
o No plans to change currently.
Midsouth Makers remains one of the least expensive makerspaces in the country and we are the longest continually running makerspace in the Midsouth…and we intend to remain healthy and useful to our members for a long time to come.
Timing
Here are our current discussed timings for the changes noted above.
o PG-13 makerspace-public-chat
o Let us bite the bullet and begin doing this now.
o Everyone is a responsible adult and I think this change will be easy.
o Limiting access to non-members to makerspace-public-chat only
o We are working on the automation links for that now with an eye to making these changes as quickly as possible.
o Please get your account-linking done.
o Public Open House, Classes and Clinics
o We are targeting having a policy locked down at the next board meeting.
o Potentially ready to do this in 6-8 weeks.
Any bylaw changes and/or fee changes will be finalized at the next board meeting. That meeting will happen within 4 weeks and we will announce the board meeting date and time a bit early since we are approving many changes.
Thanks to all the members for helping our makerspace weather the past year. It was difficult and challenging but we have somehow come out of it in a great position to be able to grow both our toolsets, membership, and community reach.
Thanks for taking the time to read this long update!
Rich Thompson
Midsouth Makers