[hackerspaces] question about hackerspace hourly rate, what do you think

[Bob Bownes]

Our model here at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity is a tiered membership.
Members pay a fixed rate monthly (no long term commitment) with a discount
for volunteering or they pay a one time fee and $15/day to use the facility
as Associate Members. The break even depends on what tier of membership
(Student, Regular or Super-User) but is generally about 3 days. Regular and
Associate members can come in during open hours (T,Th,Fr 6-10pm, Sat/Sun
2-10pm), Super-users get 24x7 access and storage space.

We also have an industrial membership category where a company can purchase
fixed or floating memberships for employees.

After 10 months of operation, we are at 160 members, with about 30%
Associate members, 37% Regular, 20% Super-User, 10% Student, and 3%
Industry.

Setting up a recurring payment system has been key in maintaining a
consistent revenue stream. One of our folks wrote some code to talk to
Seltzer (the membership system) to do the billing and it has been a
godsend.

Volunteers get $20/month off their base fee ($30 student, $60 Regular, $100
Super) for working 2 4 hour shifts a month. That's been quite popular.

Folks who want to do a class set their own fees and split it with the
space.

We also as an initial fund raiser auctioned off member numbers 0-10, and a
few vanity numbers (42, etc). Between that and some other things, we raised
about $6k at our soft opening.

We are also a 503c, so we can give folks a tax credit for donations of cash
and equipment (but not memberships).

Gotta be working ok so far as we just landed a $550,000 grant to buy and
renovate a building! More on that in a later post.

Bob



On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 4:18 PM, Joshua Pritt <ramgarden at gmail.com> wrote:

> matt that reminds me of the donation things you see at museums and science
> centers where you drop your coins down the chute and it rolls around and
> around in a smaller circle until it defies gravity spinning sideways and
> falls into the bank at the bottom.  I can see how to apply this for
> hackerspaces with other ideas that require your coins or money to do
> something cool.  good idea!
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 4:09 PM, matt <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
>
>> one more idea, from noisebridge ( also seen at hackerdojo )
>>
>> build a neat interactive art piece that incorporates a bill collector, or
>> a credit card reader system.  people give a donation... art piece reacts.
>> skies the limit on how.
>>
>> result is people will donate money just to see the thing react.
>>
>> -matt
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 4:01 PM, Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> thanks matt, we are doing this with some members! OTher members are not
>>> intrested in doing classes, so it's just a few
>>>
>>>
>>> 2013/12/19 matt <matt at nycresistor.com>
>>>
>>>> one of the things nyc resistor tried is basically reducing membership
>>>> rates for members that taught x number of classes at the space.  this lead
>>>> to the space getting money from classes, the member getting money, and
>>>> there being more classes.
>>>>
>>>> wins all around.
>>>>
>>>> -matt
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 3:43 PM, David Francos <me at davidfrancos.net>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 2013/12/19 Florencia Edwards <floev22 at gmail.com>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks dave for your answer . Alan, I agree on the community, but i'm
>>>>>> thinking this hour rates for a virtual community we have but don't have the
>>>>>> money to spend on a whole month in the makerspace, but for sure would do it
>>>>>> if it was for hours (less money and time).  to use some tools. So the
>>>>>> community exists, we have  a forum  and we are friends, but they just don't
>>>>>> have the money. I don't know what to do to include them
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Why not simply doing a special price for people with less resources?
>>>>> If you've got a strong community, consult with them, most probable
>>>>> thing is they'll be ok paying more than people who couldn't affor the
>>>>> hackerspace otherwise.
>>>>> We at Dlabs Hackerspace (Spain) did that for a while, and those
>>>>> members ended up paying the full wage when they could. We've got even a
>>>>> free-comunity member that donates material and hours of his time to the
>>>>> hackerspace instead of money.
>>>>>
>>>>> Things are a bit different, we've got 450€ of full outcome (and 330 of
>>>>> regular income + donations + beer + paid talks / events, that are given /
>>>>> organished by volunteers). Remember that there are more ways to provide for
>>>>> a hackerspace than just memberships =)
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Discuss mailing list
>>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Discuss mailing list
>>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.hackerspaces.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20131219/cddaef7f/attachment.html>