[hackerspaces] payed staff vs volunteers

[Florencia Edwards]

This is good , thanks. Any space that had volunteers and changed to payed
staff?

2014-12-16 5:09 GMT-03:00 JB Zurn <jbzurn at gmail.com>:
>
> I am a member of a nonprofit hackerspace, and also helped start a space
> with employees nearby.
>
> In my experience it has been beneficial to have -both- types of groups
> (with employees, and all volunteers).
>
> The volunteer spaces can have great communities and you can meet many
> interesting people, doing things for fun.
>
> The space with employees is great for starting businesses. When you are
> trying to run a business, you need to know the machines will work & that
> they will be available at a specific time. Employees monitor the space and
> machines.
>
> We've found it is actually nice to have the spaces separate. You can send
> the people who are over-utilizing machines for work, to the professional
> space. And the people who want to hang out and chit-chat, you can send them
> to the volunteer club.
>
> Another thing that is working for us. You don't want people to leave the
> volunteer club. People rarely get the kind of community in a business
> environment, that you have in a club. That social environment is helpful to
> people.
>
> Simple solution - set the membership fees for the professional space high
> enough.  Then if someone is a member of the volunteer club, you can deduct
> their dues from the professional space membership. That way, they don't
> have to choose one over the other.
>
> -Brooks Zurn
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/20141216/746ab4b4/attachment.html>