[hackerspaces] Bucketworks needs help

[webmind]

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On 01/06/13 12:49, Petr Baudis wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> On Sat, Jun 01, 2013 at 12:56:11AM -0400, Gui Cavalcanti wrote:
>> Our secret for getting the income we need to survive has been
>> simple - we tell our members exactly how much it costs to run the
>> space professionally. It's about $80,000 a month. One member
>> might pay for .1 to .5% of our expenses in any given month.
>> Everyone who uses the space has to pay their dues.
> 
> I appreciate that there are spaces like yours, but a hackerspace
> can cost much less than $80,000 a month, obviously. :-)

Different hackerspaces run in different locations differently :)

ASCII and PUSCII ran/run on donations only (actually ASCII had an
interesting beer-based-economy), spaces where acquired either through
renting or by appropriating empty&unused properties from those who
have too much yet do wish to share, still often electricity and
internet needed to be paid or buildings fixed-up and when donations
where sparse we have had benefits or had a bigger donation-drive,
trying to stay afloat, but never accepting subsidies or donations with
strings-attached. Hardware mostly came from donations or the street.
It might not be your model, but it was and is a model for some spaces.

The recently-opened hackerspace LAG in Amsterdam has a similar setup,
donation based, no members, affordable rent.

Technologia Incognita has a membership-based model, there is a
'minimum fee' which isn't all that strict and it looks more to the
model 'the community pays for what it wants to pay to have a space
like it', but the membership is pretty much only for paying the
regular bills, the rent, electricity, etc. Hardware is on load from
members, donated or 'pledged' for (a subset of members pays to buy
communal hardware).

And then there are loads of other models I've seen and read about. My
point is as hackers, a hackerspace is a hack, you do what you need to
do to have your space as you like it. Just as you might tweak/hack
your computer in your fancy or build that printer just as you think is
perfect, you build your space and your model will have ups and downs
especially from the viewpoint of people who have different
preferences. Sustainable is nice, but I'd rather have a space for a
year than no space at all. Safety can be important, but often comes at
a price of money and/or freedom and sometimes you cannot be completely
independent and you can only get a space with support from your local
government or running regular fund-drives/parties.

You do what you do to get your hackerspace, you hack it.

N.B. As with all good hacking read the manual before you decide to
dump it and heed the advice of those have tried before you before you
decide to ignore it.

w. :)
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