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I'm a former Board Member at Milwaukee Makerspace (now just a
regular member) but we've got 255 members right now, and we manage
our membership stuff through Wild Apriocot
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.wildapricot.com/"><http://www.wildapricot.com/></a> though it was a home-brew system
in the old days. We have an access control system for the space
built by one of our founders, and it's integrated into the payment
system so if you don't pay your dues, you don't get in the building.<br>
<br>
As we've grown and add more and more members, people don't know each
other as well as when it was a smaller group, but we've gained
financial stability, which is good. We allow members to choose where
a percentage of their dues go every month, to a specific area/focus
of the space, like the metal shop, casing area, laser cutters, etc.
Then Area Champions can use the funds for supplies, improvements,
materials, etc. It's worked well so far, and we still have money in
the bank.<br>
<br>
We also got all rule happy and had to add all sorts of rules when we
got big, and we need to remind people to "Be Excellent to Each
Other" fairly often...<br>
<br>
As for culture, it's become much more "heavy machine" focused and
some members seem to not be able to even use a computer for simple
tasks. We also have people who are at the space every single day,
and some are there all day (and night) it seems, which I think has
an influence on the culture and the atmosphere of the space.<br>
<br>
<br>
Pete<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/5/16 12:35 PM, Robert Davidson
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAM2tROQcYk2Ko-Vr6sioVRYG41CfDw=+-V1QZnDxnk-EFfop+w@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Shirley, </div>
For Dallas Makerspace,
<div>We use Smart Waivers (Commercial Application) this collects
there Name, DOB, Signature, Email to track understanding our
waiver.</div>
<div>We use WHMCS (Commercial) as our Member Managment System
this collects there Signup information and which membership
class they are in as well as triggers recurring billing andt a
automated emails such as (CC failures, Expiration, Password
Resets)</div>
<div>We have a custom solution Maker Manager currently 3.0 that
handles integration for AD, MakerManager, WHMCS, Access
Control.</div>
<div>This allows self service for items such as issuing RFID
Badges, Adding Family Members,</div>
<div>for the admin side creating Contractor RFID, Audit logs
etc.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A couple of notes that I think help a lot,</div>
<div><br>
Direct Correlation between events and new members,</div>
<div>Only allow reoccurring membership dues for example no one
time payments of cash check etc</div>
<div>During tours ask how they heard about us </div>
<div>For Cancellations ask why they are leaving</div>
<div>Culture of Recruitment</div>
<div>Adequate access control that does not allow a non member or
non active member to traverse the bldg and use tools. (We are
way past the size everyone knows each other)</div>
<div>Automate all billing/membership access decisions (Nobody
wants to shut someones badge cause they are having hard time
but you have bills to pay, automation makes it less personal)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On a financial model Dallas is running in what I am going
to call the GYM model </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Our price is $50 a month which gains you access to
everything a lot of people tell us that the price is too low
but in truth my goal is to make it so they don't cancel when
they are finished with a project to create reoccurring
revenue. I have visited quite a few makerspaces and feel this
model is the most sustainable. </div>
<div><br>
I would estimate 70% of the membership show up less than once
a month.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think the biggest decision comes down to culture, </div>
<div>Dallas to my knowledge is one of the biggest when you do
member count approx 1,200 members and growing.</div>
<div>But culture is sacrificed gone are the days of everyone
knew everyone, and running the corp like a club.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So IMO Red Mountain should identify what kind of culture
you want and based on that find a model that works for you to
achieve the desired results.</div>
<div><br>
Robert </div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 11:24 AM,
Shirley Hicks <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:shirley@velochicdesign.com" target="_blank">shirley@velochicdesign.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word">So would I.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>All for saving steps. :D</div>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>— Shirley</div>
</font></span>
<div>
<div class="h5">
<div><br>
<div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>On Jul 5, 2016, at 11:23 AM, Christopher
Agocs <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:chris@agocs.org"
target="_blank">chris@agocs.org</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">dosman, I'd love to see your
exit interview questionnaire. Could you send
it to me?</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 5, 2016
at 11:20 AM, dosman <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:dosman@packetsniffers.org"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dosman@packetsniffers.org">dosman@packetsniffers.org</a></a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
#ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">A couple
things to consider on this specific
topic. My experience is that things go
slower than desired on most hackerspace
projects, but they do happen as there is
time+demand, you just have to be ok with
that. If people want to get involved and
help they will, if no one wants to do
the work then it’s left to the few that
do the work as they have time. Lots of
administrative stuff was done by me
because it saved me tons of time in the
long-run (invoicing automation, nag
email automation, membership processing
automation, etc). Unless it’s causing a
serious detriment to the group I don’t
worry about timelines for most projects
though. Exceptions would be things like
physically moving spaces and other
urgent matters that affect all members.<br>
<br>
As for member churn, we have a google
questionnaire form that automatically
goes out when memberships end. Most
people for our group leave for lack of
free time to use their memberships,
moving away, etc. but sometimes we do
get good feedback that something was
wrong we didn’t know about. I have
another questionnaire i am about to
deploy to new members after they have
joined for a few months to get a fresh
angle we might be missing. But I’m a
survey and spreadsheet nerd, so that’s
my desire.<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
-dosman<br>
<div>
<div><br>
<br>
> On Jul 5, 2016, at 8:25 AM,
Shirley Hicks <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:shirley@velochicdesign.com"
target="_blank"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:shirley@velochicdesign.com">shirley@velochicdesign.com</a></a>>
wrote:<br>
><br>
> We’ve adopted as many of the
hackerspace patterns as possible,
but are a bit hung up reaching
long-term financial sustainability
due to member churn. The space we
selected to start in required a lot
of work and it has burned some
members out. Given our community, we
also have a shortage of members with
some of the key skills that make
setting up systems (IT, business) go
faster, so that has taken some time.
Getting there now.<br>
><br>
> We’re also dealing with some
in-group/outgroup issues - mainly
between those who’ve been trained in
other environments to work tightly
as a group (HAM, emergency ops,
military) and those who have not.<br>
><br>
>><br>
> — Shirley<br>
> RMM, Birmingham, AL<br>
></div>
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