Membership Fees
Christopher Birkinbine
Right now from my understanding there are two levels of membership, full member for $80 which offers unlimited access (something that at present is moot depending on the access agreement with this interim shop on personal property), and associate for $40 which offers access when a full member is on staff, and a $10 a day pass.
I understand the reasoning that is behind this, however I can't help but feel that the costs are limiting membership. In an established space such as heatsynch, or nullspace, etc, they have a lot of people, and so can afford cheaper and more varied memberships. However they also have a lot more equipment, and established space, and a great community to offer that Mojave makers as still an infant space lacks.
My suggestion to take under serious consideration is that we add an additional membership level for $25, and make this access the same as the $40 associate member, and we add to both the associate and full member tiers a space for storage of a standard file box. I greatly feel you could (with appropriate advertisement, and community awareness programs) greatly increase the membership base. I believe the $25 membership should be the backbone of finical support, not the $80 members. Right now when we have the opportunity of a few months of cheap or no rent is the time to start this, as it provides a buffer zone in which it is financially plausible to institute this new membership tiering.
Ethan also brought up the point of membership tracking being difficult since currently it is being done by hand on a spreadsheet. This should not be a concern. Hacker/maker space's are a community group generally filled with the ideas of opensource and sharing. In the spirit of this, there is a central wiki hub for spaces which includes links and downloads to open source membership management software available for use. You can see some available here: http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Hackerspace_Software
In Summary, I think this plan combined with the right approach to informing the community would be far better, because if we are being completely honest, I don't feel that in it's present state, Mojave makers doesn't have $80 a month worth to offer yet.
I would like to hear everyone else's thoughts, since I am not even technically a member yet, I am just bringing you some perspective from other, successful groups.
Ethan Chew
Agreed with your points Chris; especially on making a good outreach and and with having something of value for the community. I feel we need to focus on that as a primary so that we can more clearly define our fee structure based on what the community and members value and what we can provide.
Prior, our last advertising campaign, which was flyers around Mojave advertising ourselves as a place where you could work on projects or have your electronics repaired, came back with 'That's nice, but why would I use it?'
There is not a lot of enthusiasm from Mojave residents as we do not offer what they need and MHV workers work long hours and mostly do not live in Mojave. Therefore, they have no time nor place to join Mojave Makers.
What I have observed of the Mojave community is that the school district has needed education support. The school has asked if we can teach an after-school program or bring a project to show the class. In kind, they have taken an interest in hosting a student team at our space to use it as a workspace. This would make memberships for us.
We would require an open public space and the appropriate insurance policy for liability and the board to do this. At current, Brandon is working on the policy and has scouted several options for a space.
In the meanwhile, Bradon, Todd and I have been discussing teaching classes to the community to help them with various community issues. An example is teaching them how to set up a do-it-yourself security system in reponse to the crime in Mojave. This would address a community need and bring publicity and memebers to the shop.
To deal with liability issues, we are only teaching such a class at the shop and only charge for the class/ask for donations and will leave it up to the students to do what they will with what they have learned.
As for what we can provide, we have several benchtop tools such as a bandsaw, table saws, an arm saw, various hand tools, wrenches and screwdrivers, a 3D Printer, as well as whatever space is available in the building.
If anyone can help add any other opportunities to the list or refer us to additional equipment or what would be preferred, it would be helpful.
Let's make this happen.
- Ethan
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Ethan Chew
Ethan Chew
At current, we have the majority of our administrative work done; with thanks to Brandon, the tax exemption paperwork has been sent and insurance coverage has been obtained.
Right now, we are looking to obtain a shop. That brings us to the school this coming Wednesday for a tour.
Would you like to join us?
- Ethan
Hey Ethan & Brandon, how are things going for you guys? I hear you might be getting a place in the school - very cool. Any other updates?