[hackerspaces] Cash flow?

[Matt Joyce]

Additionally generally accounting is a volunteer effort for at the
very least data acquisition and keeping of the check books.  The folks
responsible should not be put under undue stress because you are a
paranoid nutbag.

-Matt

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 11:47 PM, Matt Joyce <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
> One of the arguments made for recurring payments by NYC Resistor was
> specifically oriented around accounting.
>
> Recurring payments are more easily automatically and specifically
> identified as income, and thus reported properly.
>
> Random cash arriving at random times can be very difficult to track
> and report.  That is risky.
>
> -Matt
>
> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 11:46 PM, Paul Brown <paul90brown at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paypal has an option to automatically transfer your funds out of your paypal
>> account and into your bank account at the end of each day. However, they
>> won't enable this unless you call them and ask for it.
>>
>> This prevents large amounts of money from getting caught in limbo if you get
>> your account frozen (which has never happened to us).
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 1:39 AM, Paul Brown <paul90brown at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Recurring payments are our secret weapon too. We started by using
>>> recurring buttons for memberships through paypal. Now we have a checkout
>>> system which also does some user provisioning.
>>>
>>> Since Dallas Makerspace is a 501(c)3, Paypal had the best pricing we could
>>> find for our amount of transactions. They have a discounted rate of 2.2% +
>>> $.30 per transaction for non-profits. If you're a 501(c)3 using paypal and
>>> not getting this rate, call them!
>>>
>>> Paypal also has API features which we use to track payments. Every time a
>>> transaction is made, Paypal alerts WHMCS that the user made a payment and
>>> marks them as paid. At the end of the month, we look through the people who
>>> are "overdue" and remove them from access control. If I was to start all
>>> over again, I would probably use Freshbooks + Paypal. However, Freshbooks
>>> looks like it will only track users who signed up through Freshbooks and
>>> getting all of our existing members to sign up through freskbooks would be a
>>> pain.
>>>
>>> If you absolutely can't stand paypal, some other (more expensive) options
>>> for recurring payments are:
>>> stripe.com
>>> http://www.beanstream.com/
>>> Google Checkout
>>>
>>> Side-note about payment gateways (like Authorize.net):
>>> Keep in mind, if you pick a payment gateway like Authorize.net, then you
>>> will also need a merchant account (which is most of the costs). For example,
>>> Authorize.net has a monthly fee of $20 + a per transaction fee of $.35 and a
>>> merchant account can charge a monthly fee of $10 + ~$.30 per transaction +
>>> ~.5% to ~2.5% depending on the credit card. There are also setup fees for
>>> both the merchant account and authorize.net. I think this option only makes
>>> sense if you're getting the 200+ transactions a month that Hacker Dojo
>>> probably gets.
>>>
>>> TL;DR: Steer clear of payment gateways unless you're huge, and use paypal
>>> with some type of invoicing system to track payments.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:49 AM, Arclight <arclight at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I would agree on recurring donations. For some reason, it seems like
>>>> there is always someone at every hacker space who doesn't trust Square
>>>> up, hates Paypal because they rip everyone off, and insists that
>>>> sporadic and hard-to-track payments that you have to chase them down
>>>> to pay in person are the way to go. I'd consider charging a
>>>> substantial premium for anyone who wants to pay in a non-recurring
>>>> way.
>>>>
>>>> Arclight
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 10:45 PM, Casey Callendrello <c1 at caseyc.net>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > There are a couple best practices we've settled on at Noisebridge
>>>> > (shocking, I know):
>>>> >
>>>> > 1) Make it aggressively easy for people to set up *recurring*
>>>> > donations.
>>>> > Steer everyone and anyone towards that.
>>>> > 2) Encourage sliding scale donations, for those blessed by the tech
>>>> > boom
>>>> > 3) Put a big piggy-bank right by the front door. But don't let it get
>>>> > stolen like we did.
>>>> > 4) Have a pre-written spiel describing just how important donations
>>>> > are,
>>>> > to be read before public events
>>>> > 4.5) Break down exactly how much it costs, per day, to run the space.
>>>> > Transparency in budgeting can drive home the point.
>>>> > 5) Get registered as a 501(c)3 if US-based. Then some employers will do
>>>> > matching donations
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Some other spaces rent out "private" square footage for members as
>>>> > needed. This works really well for Artisan's Asylum.
>>>> >
>>>> > HTH,
>>>> > --Casey
>>>> >
>>>> > On 2/11/13 10:00 PM, Mark Janssen wrote:
>>>> >> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Tamara <Tamara at brownpapertickets.com>
>>>> >> wrote:
>>>> >> \> I'm seeking ideas for how to consistently cover our rent each month
>>>> >> and
>>>> >>> still have some funds left over for consumables, necessities and
>>>> >>> perhaps a
>>>> >>> small emergency fund. We currently have a scaled membership and teach
>>>> >>> a
>>>> >>> number of classes each month, but there's often a gap between what we
>>>> >>> make
>>>> >>> each month and what we need to cover it all without panic, begging,
>>>> >>> and
>>>> >>> general freaking out. We've begun a series of fundraising meetings to
>>>> >>> discuss additional ideas for what might work, but I'm wondering -
>>>> >>> what works
>>>> >>> best for your hackerspace?
>>>> >> Hi Tamara.  I am going to watch your conversation with great interest,
>>>> >> because I don't believe there is yet a stable model for hackerspaces,
>>>> >> although I do suggest a auto-paypermonth "subscription"/membership
>>>> >> that some hackerspaces have employed.  Otherwise, I'm working on the
>>>> >> software to make the [[[hackerspace economic system]]], that will
>>>> >> allow hackerspaces to aggregate community events into a
>>>> >> self-sustaining model (the focus of my research is self-organizing
>>>> >> systems).  It's over at pangaia.sourceforge.net if you want to look at
>>>> >> it.  Wish you luck.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Cheers,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Mark
>>>> >> Tacoma, WA
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