[hackerspaces] Who currently has the best, most functional hackerspace model?

[Yvan Janssens]

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So... first of all, at the risk of going off-topic, I think that every
functional hackerspace model carries a not insignificant proportion of
being dysfunctional. But that's a different story.

What you want will probably depend on your situation. Below is a quick
brain dump of things I've seen working:

# Small core group
A small core group of volunteers takes on the largest burden of
everything, including financials. Make sure there isn't too much
rotation in there, and that these people get along.

# Allowing drama to die
The larger your space becomes, the more susceptible it becomes to
drama. All large spaces I know have their challenges with it. Managing
it in a way that doesn't impact day to day functionality (e.g. keep it
outside your core group) seems to be key to being successful.

# Commercial funding
Not my most favourite one, but I know at least one case where this
successfully worked and flourished. In this space, the space also
provides commercial services as an incubator and gets non-public
funding for that. It provides a lot of stability on the finance side,
but it's not what I would recommend.

# Enjoy what you're doing
It doesn't really matter how you do things, as long as they work for
you and if you enjoy it. If it doesn't feel right, there's a high
likelihood something is going wrong.

# Create a safeguard to bounce back up
Spaces tend to go up and down in a bit of a sinusoidal curve. Make
sure that when you're on a high point, you save enough resources (both
people and hard cash) for when you're hitting a low. It can be
tempting to buy a shiny new laser cutter with 80% of what you have in
the bank, but I wouldn't recommend it. Use common sense really, and
work in small but sustainable steps.

On 05/07/2016 08:48, Walter van Holst wrote:
> On 2016-07-05 00:11, Shirley Hicks wrote:
>> Hey everyone,
>> 
>> For those of you who visit other hackerspaces, who has the best 
>> financial and operational model? What organizational models have
>> you looked at/borrowed from in order to improve your space?
>> Looking for a couple to study in an effort to improve how the Red
>> Mountain Makers is operating.
> 
> What do you mean my model? How would you describe the models of
> Red Mountain Makers?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Walter _______________________________________________ Discuss
> mailing list Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org 
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
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