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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/16/13 4:11 PM, Randall G. Arnold
wrote:<br>
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<div> Sorry to be so active on the list today... but one of my
recent questions about operating philosophies is still an issue
and I'm looking for data. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> For those of you run as nonprofits, I'm hoping you can
answer some questions for me: </div>
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<br>
Well, technically, Milwaukee Makerspace is a non-stock corporation
that is fiscally sponsored by the School Factory. But we tend to
operate like a non-profit.<br>
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<div> </div>
<div> 1) Is your foundation tied specifically to a space, or
operating in support of one or more spaces in an area? </div>
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<br>
Milwaukee Makerspace was originally created as an LLC (to get up and
running quickly) with a President, Vice President, Secretary, etc.
This was when the group started with about a dozen people. As we
grew, we elected a Board of Directors and with the transition, the
group that runs things is actually "Makerspace of Milwaukee, Inc."
due to weird legal reasons, but for all intents and purposes,
"Milwaukee Makerspace" is the group and "Milwaukee Makerspace" is
our space. We don't operate more than one space.<br>
<br>
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<div> 2) How are your Board members elected/selected? </div>
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<br>
We have an election each October, and it's a multi-step process.
Members are nominated by others or by themselves, and then members
run for the named Board positions (President, Treasurer, Operations
Director, Communications Director, and after those are selected,
members run for three "At Large" roles without specific duties.
(This allows someone who did not win a named position to "try again"
for an At Large position.) We just elected the second Board this
month. We're still learning the ins-and-outs of operating with a
Board.<br>
<br>
<br>
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<div> 3) What are your thoughts on your connection to the
maker/hacker/creative/etc community-- are you a representative
body? Corporate-styled authority? Separate but supporting? </div>
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I'd say we are a representative body of the
maker/hacker/creative/etc community in our area. We have a public
mailing list, as well as accounts on all the major social networks
and encourage the public (aka non-members) to get involved with us
and our activities and just general "making" talk/activities. We've
worked with many groups in our city (mainly in the arts) to help
them with projects or just show some of the cool stuff we do. Most
people think of us as "people who do cool things" which isn't a bad
thing, I guess.<br>
<br>
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<div> 4) If you take a bottom-up, grassroots, community-first
approach to governance, have you found that to be a hindrance
for sponsorships and donations? </div>
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We don't really have much sponsorship, but we have got a number of
sweet donations. A local manufacturer gave us a giant industrial
robot arm that didn't quite work right. He knew about us and figured
that if anyone could do something cool with it, it would be us. :)<br>
<br>
<br>
Pete<br>
<br>
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