[hackerspaces] pay-what-you-can

[Mitch Altman]

More deets on Noisebridge:
We have two membership levels, both with exactly the same privledges and responsibilities:
     Standard Membership:  $80 per month
     Starving Hacker Membershipe:  $40 per month
But since even $40 per month is a lot for many people who contribute to Noisebridge, you do not need to be a member, or to give any donations, to do anything at Noisebridge (even to have your own key).  But we do have donation bins all over the place, and we have T-shirts and drinks and food for donations as well.
 
This system has worked very well for us.  Our monthly expenses are $5,000.  And since we started 3 years ago, we've received more each year than we spend.
 
Mitch.
 
 


Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 10:53:45 -0700
From: matt at nycresistor.com
To: discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
Subject: Re: [hackerspaces] pay-what-you-can

Noisebridge is pretty all access and people spend inordinate amount of time there as non members ( myself included as I am a member at hackerdojo currently ).  There is a donation bin so that people can throw in for the day.  Suggested donation is 10 dollars for the day.  But nothing is enforced.

At NYC Resistor, membership is pretty limited and people are expected to pay dues.  If you are in a situation like out of work you can always teach classes to cover your dues.  This does not translate to all hackerspaces as some don't charge for events.

However NYCR did on a few occasions basically do an "artist in residence" where someone would ( usually be visiting nyc for the summer ) have access to NYCR basically as a member but pay nothing for the period of time they were in residence.  I think we still made them pay for consumables such as laser time.  No real voting capacity, or anything like that.  But keys and 24/7 access.

I liked the artist in residence approach.  I also liked providing a way for someone to give to the hack space through an alternative means... such as teaching classes.

I've never seen anyone thrown out of a hackerspace for not being a member and hanging around too much ( apart from actually LIVING in the space ).


On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 10:15 AM, Chris Hardee <shazzner at gmail.com> wrote:

We sort of have an unofficial pay-what-you-can system at our space. If you're a student/unemployed/etc but have a desire to join the community we're happy to negotiate a price. I think anyone can see the value of having more community members, that can potentially bring in others, versus a few bucks. We don't disclose the price to others though and ask them not to disclose it. No nda or anything silly like that though.



On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 11:53 AM, Jeff Cotten <omegix at yahoo.com> wrote:







It seems like most hackerspaces have a fixed dues amount. 

I was wondering if there were any other hackerspaces than Makers Local 256 that have a pay-what-you-can system?




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-- 

Chris Hardee
10BitWorks

San Antonio Hackerspace
10bitworks at gmail.com
http://10bitworks.com/

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