[hackerspaces] What form of organization does your hackerspace use?

[Koen Martens]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2009 at 11:07:02PM +0200, Koen Martens wrote:
> Hi Nick,
> 
> On Mon, Oct 05, 2009 at 01:29:49PM -0400, Nick Farr (hackerspaces.org) wrote:
> > To help spaces review various forms of organization, I've come up with a
> > loose framework of five different styles of spaces that I've observed:
> > 
> >    1. Anarchy <http://blog.hackerspaces.org/#anarchy>
> >    2. The Angels <http://blog.hackerspaces.org/#angels>
> >    3. The Owner <http://blog.hackerspaces.org/#owner>
> >    4. The Board <http://blog.hackerspaces.org/#board>
> >    5. The Membership <http://blog.hackerspaces.org/#membership>
> > 
> > I suspect that most spaces fall into the "Membership" category, but I'm most
> > curious about spaces that take on a different form that might more closely
> > fit into one of the other four categories.
> > 
> > To that end, which category do you think your space falls under and what are
> > the advantages and disadvantages of it?  Hopefully I can gather enough input
> > to make better informed posts on alternative forms of hackerspace
> > organization.
> 
> As you might remember, we from revspace (den haag) were in doubt about the
> structure to choose. In the end we settled for the 'stichting', basically
> number four, mixed with elements of a 'vereniging', number 5. The board
> is ultimately responsible, however we define 'participants' that have the
> right to install and deinstall the board, as well as advise the board
> Participants also get a key to the space and usage of the 
> facilities. Of course, there are also obligations. Anyway, that's it in a
> nutshell.

Maybe some additional information: we're very much in the start-up phase.

The reason we chose a 'stichting' is that this form of legal entity carries
with it implied trustworthiness, more so than a 'vereniging' (basically,
stichting = your option 4, vereniging is your option 5). Now I know some consider
this as a big sin (hi Astera :), but this has helped in securing funds from
companies.

Currently, our budget operates on the premise that structural costs are covered
with membership fees. There are one-time costs as well, most specifically currently
we have a lot of setup costs such as proper registration of the 'stichting', fixing
up the space a bit, deposit on the lease, getting some equipment, etc. We're getting
companies, government, etc to cough up some dough. We have a bit of a strict
requirement though: the donators should not expect anything back. Explicitly we won't
put sponsor names on signs in the space or on the site. Amazingly, this actually works :)

So again, we're only starting things up and must see how things pan out. But that's
it so far.

Gr,

Koen