Over here in Kamloops we are getting very close to launching a makerspace. We are planning to incorporate on January 4th, have around 10 people ready to sign up and around 50 people on our forum which has been very active. I am one of the 5 founding directors. I feel that this is a critical time for us and I wanted to get some feedback and advice from you.
Right now, we are mostly concerned about getting the bylaws right, since we are going to incorporate very soon. We have looked at your existing bylaws. Are there things that you would add/remove to the bylaw if you were going to write that today?
Down the road one of the things I want to setup when we are creating our membership levels, is some form of free daypass for members of other makerspaces outside Kamloops. This way, when you guys come for a trip through Kamloops, you could stop by and hang out with us. Do you have a simillar arrangement with any other Makerspaces?
Do you have any advice in terms of how we should make decisions as a non profit society?
If there is one thing that we have to get right in order to succeed as a community run makerspace, what would that be?
Feel free to join our forum and you can also checkout our website. If you have any other comment or suggestion for us, please dont hesitate to share.
Needless to say, VHS has been an inspiration to many other makerspaces, and we are no exception. I find that often times we look at how you have solved some of the tricky problems of running a makerspace. I hope we can get some good advice here. I hope I can come for a short visit to your new space soon. I am very curious to see it!
We went with very much boiler-plate bylaws as at the time, even though we didn’t exactly want some of them. We’ve since amended it a bit, for things like explicitly stating that we operate by rough consensus - that is probably the most important change we’ve made, that should’ve been there from day one.
We don’t have staff to keep our space open, so beyond Open Nights when everyone is welcome it’s hit-n-miss and we can’t really offer something like that. Our key-holding members have the ability to declare the space “open” whenever they want however, and can/do arrange open times amongst themselves and sometimes for visitors to come by.
Rough consensus is working really well for us - far better than consensus did. We still try hard to operate by consensus, but if that fails we go by rough consensus - it means that even ‘losing’ parties aren’t drawn through extended debates that kill everyones spirits.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘one thing’ to get right for a makerspace - every single space is unique (and not in that fuzzy “you’re all unique” kind of way). My only comment would be that culture flows top-down like in any corporation; set up the culture you want and act on it.
Good luck! It’s great to hear of more spaces opening in BC!
Infrastructure. Get your wiring & ventilation done right, then your janitorial regular. Every item needs a label with it’s home address so anyone can put things away where everyone can find them.
Are you still volunteering to take point on the moving in so this can get done from the beginning?
[[EDIT: sorry, I replied via email and didn’t catch the subject line, I replied thinking it was in one of our moving threads. Unintentional threadjacking.]]]
I would also have clear rules about what gets donated/stored at your space.
With the current VHS move we are having to move, then store, then move again a lot of stuff that was intended for greatness, but for whatever reason never made it to greatness.
Start small and grow organically. There is the temptation to get as many members as you can so you can afford a bigger space and more awesome tools. A maker space isn’t about tools or space, its about the community. Building a community takes time and shared experiences. having a constant massive influx of people all the time makes it hard to really get to know everyone personally.
Group events. Again culture and community are the most importation things about a space. Forget the tools, workshops, space, and even projects. you need to build culture though shared experiences. We do SHHH every ~6-10 weeks or so. Its a social night, we build things and talk to each other. It helps build bonds between members. We do group projects together, We DRINK together, We drink some more together. We do field trips outside of the space, We get to know each other, our families, or dreams, and help each other to succeed at the projects that we want to do.
Automate any administrative burden you can. I have visited 53 Hackspaces over the last 4 years and administrative burden is the number one thing that burns out your key members. It turns awesome people in to assholes that can really hurt your space. Even if the automated process isn’t as effective its better then a manual process its still better then having a person do it.
Never have a single person with key information - “Hit by a bus problem”. Everything that is necessary to run your space should be shared with the rest of your BoD. Single points of failure can destroy spaces. See Noise bridge, See admin burnout, etc…
Trust your community. There will be a lot of tough choices coming up in the next few years (what space to rent, What type of insurance, should you kick this member out, etc…). You as the BoD can probably solve most of them without input from your community but that takes away ownership of the space from your members. They should have input on how the space operates. They should feel like they are helping to shape the space. Its not the BoD or the founders, or any single members space its the communities space.
Check out the VHS culture threads too. Lots of good info for you in there
Grow slow, build culture, build community, grow organically, GET A LASER CUTTER!
That is great to hear. I will try to add rough consensus to our bylaws as well. I also want to make it possible to make some of our decisions on the community site (using a poll plugin). This is especially usefull for when we quickly need to act on something and there is not enough time to meet in person. Do you think I should add that to bylaw as well that decisions could be made either in a board meeting or on the community site?
Good to know! We will make that a high priority.
Another great point. We will lay down the ground rules for donations early
I want to carve that in stone or something! Thanks for the detail response.
I really appreciate all your advice, it is really encouraging. I think we are on the right track, especially since we have been focusing on the people, and have been hosting events and workshops to build and grow our community. We still have a long ways to go, and I am sure I will be reaching out to you again for advice.
Be careful about that one. VHS does not allow for proxi votes for good reason.
The forums (and previously the mailing list) has many people that are not actually paying VHS members. Many have never been to the space before and don’t have an interest in the physical space. Forcing people that want to change things to actually meet in person and have a conversation while looking at each other and the people that will be effected by their choices, makes for better choices in my onion.
Not “polls” as such, but allow for email motions & voting, for internal Board actions & functions.
Then, in addition the standard AGM/extraordinary AGM wording, you could include something along the lines of “a broad membership consensus shall be sought on ???” (examples of items where you want to get membership guidance; for stuff that falls outside of AGM’s.)
I agree voting should be a privilege of paying members, since we usually are deciding what to do with the money members are putting in. If we ever use the forum poll functionality to make decisions, it would only be available to the paying members. And I think only certain type of decisions can/should be done online. I see your point about forcing people to meet in person and actually have a conversation on the issue.
Not sure if I completely understand you suggestion here. Do you mean we could list examples of items that consensus can be sought on the forum? I think it would be hard to predict what type of issues would fit the bill. I rather leave that to the board of directors to decide on a case by case.
What I was thinking was that the board can choose to reach rough consensus on an issue via an online poll accessible to the paying members only. If the board decides that an in person meeting is necessary to reach consensus then there will not be an online poll.
For examples, lets say we want to decide what tool to buy next. The board meets with members and decides it is time to get a new wood working tool, so they will provide a list of possible tools that we have budget for: Bandsaw, Lathe, and Table saw. Then the paying members can vote on which tool we should buy.
The advantage of adding the forum as a medium for decision making to the bylaw would be the ability for us to make decisions quicker. But now that I am starting to see some of the risk, I am having second thought. I suppose we can still use the forum, without mentioning anything in the bylaw. This could be an internal process for us and final decisions can still be made in an in person meeting while considering the result of previous online polls.
I have another question about trying (or not trying) to get a charitable status. I was reading though this guide (which is referenced on the government site) and found this statement about writing the constitution:
if your Society is going to apply to be a registered charity under the Income Tax Act, you must also include a “non-profit”, a “winding-up” and an “alterability” clause to your Constitution.
As far as I know VHS or any other makerspaces in BC are not charitable organization. Is this by choice or is it simply not possible to get the charitable status?
The same guide states that you can qualify as charitable of your purpose is “the advancement of education”. Does that not apply to us?
Is it worth putting those additional clause into the constitution just in case? Do you see any risk or downside in adding those?
It is easier, much easier to create a charity from scratch then it is to upgrade to one later on. There are also a huge administrative and reporting burden to being a charity that would probably crush your will to live. I do not suggest trying to make your Hack space/Maker space a charity.
I have looked into it extensively for Maker Foundation. What we have learnt is that its better to make a charity from scratch that can accept donations. Then use these donations to fund specific projects with other organizations like your maker space or VHS, etc. One charitable organization can sponsor many different projects at many different spaces as long as it a lines with its mandate.
So ya, don’t worry about being a charity at this stage. it will just add admin burden and unnecessary stress.
We’re talking two different animals here: a “regular” registered charity, and a foundation. A foundation can be a huge pain in the rear for regulatory compliance. VHS would be a normal registered charity, and that’s actually quite simple to maintain.
We’re talking two different animals here: a “regular” registered charity, and a foundation. A foundation can be a huge pain in the rear for regulatory compliance. VHS would be a normal registered charity, and that’s actually quite simple to maintain.
CRA only cares about the Information Return being filed on time (within six months of fiscal yearend), and correct charitable receipts.
Receipts for donations of money, no problem. Where charities have run into trouble, is inflated receipts for donations in kind. But, as long as you establish (and document!) a Fair Market Value (and err a bit in the cautious side), there should be no issues.
Simple financial statements, on a cash basis, are perfectly acceptable to CRA.
You do not need to be incorporated as a BC Society (prov.) to be a Charity (fed.). But it may be needed to access some funding sources.
The Grantors/Funding sources determine how detailed your accounting/reporting of these monies must be; and that can be a pain in the butt.
To sum it up, I really don’t see why VHS couldn’t be a registered charity; I’d be happy to discuss this further with the Board.
