Revision as of 10:27, 20 May 2012

2012 Kwartzlab Expansion Plan

Doug Moen and Mark Pitcher

This is a proposal to remake Kwartzlab as a larger, more successful organization, offering better services to its members, and making a larger contribution to the community. It will be presented to the members at the 2012 Annual General Meeting.

Goals

This plan will endow Kwartzlab with the following characteristics:

• A better space: as big or bigger than what we currently have, ideally at a better location where all members feel safe, in a building with good neighbours who share our ethics and interests
• Better tools: The full set of maker tools, including a full digital fabrication/CNC lab. MIT FabLab and TechShop are models.
• A full calendar of high quality courses and workshops. Many of these will cost money.
• More members: 100+ members
• Cheaper membership: the monthly dues should be no more than $20/month, ideally less.
• A diversified revenue stream. Operating costs are not paid solely by membership dues.
• A part time, paid Executive Director who offloads administrative tasks from the volunteer Board of Directors
• We will continue to be a co-operative, member-run makerspace, providing an open access community workshop, a social space, and a meeting place

The first 3 goals are to improve the services we offer to members.

The Kwartzlab mission statement already includes:

• organizing technical, educational, and social events for the members and the community at large;
• promoting do-it-yourself, technical and artistic endeavours in the community in general;

and the third goal is just a refinement of this. I want Kwartzlab to consistently and reliably run a calendar of courses, workshops and other events, for the benefit of members, for the benefit of the community at large, and to promote maker culture. Many of these events will cost money, to pay for materials, instructors, and to provide club revenue.

In order to marshall the economic forces and people power necessary to make this happen, we need more members. More members will also lead to a more vibrant maker community.

In order to attract more members, and to serve a larger fraction of the local maker community, we need to lower membership fees. Our current fee of $50 is affordable for some members, a sacrifice and significant commitment for others, and is a barrier that prevents many people from joining.

A corollary of low membership fees is that we have multiple sources of revenue. Operating costs are not paid by membership dues alone. Courses and events will become one source of income; there will be others.

This will be a larger organization that, with the multiple revenue streams and other activities, will be more complex to run. We will need a paid Executive Director to assume many of the administrative burdens.

The transition I'm describing is an utterly common one: it's a path that has been followed by many non-profit organizations before us. Mark has a book that describes this transition, characterizing us as "phase 1". I've surveyed 3 local non-profit maker organizations that have made this transition (see Appendix), and while details vary widely, they all share the following characteristics:

• 100-200 members
• low membership dues, no more than 1/3 of Kwartzlab's
• a diversified revenue stream
• a paid executive director

The Plan

To achieve these goals requires a multi-year, multi-step plan.

Right now, our situation is a catch-22. In order to attract more members, we need to offer better services, or lower our fees. In order to afford better services or lower fees, we need more members.

In order to break this cycle, we will need institutional support to provide us with bridge financing (or free rent) for a few years, so that we can improve our tools and facilities while lowering our membership fees. This will enable us to grow our membership, hire an executive director, and give us time to build relationships and diverse our revenue stream, so that we can ultimately be self sustaining.

The plan:

1. get institutional support, so we can afford the next step
2. lower fees, acquire more tools, hire an exec director, maybe move to a better space
3. grow our membership, diversify our revenue stream
4. become self sufficient

The first step is to get institutional support. This will be easier if we have clear goals, a plan, if we know exactly what to ask for and why.

Mark Pitcher is working on a Trillium grant proposal for the July 1 deadline. We'll ask for:

• a capital grant, to buy a full complement of makerspace tools
• a multi-year operating grant, as a bridge, until we become self sustaining. At minimum, we want enough to lower membership dues to $25/year for 2 years.
• funds for hiring an Executive Director, part time

There is no guarantee we'll get a Trillium grant. We need to try multiple strategies, and see which one works.

We should approach the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, and see what kind of assistance they can offer. In particular, if we can make some sort of deal for subsidized real estate, which is something that other non-profits have received.

Talk to other funding agencies, such as CEEO and CTT.

Solicit corporate sponsorships.

• solicit tool donations
• sell corporate memberships
• approach hardware stores
• approach tech companies

Other Spaces who have Made This Transition

K-W Woodworking & Craft Centre

• ~100 members
• dues are $110/year (~$10 per month)
• > 6000 sq ft, a huge number of tools
• rent paid by cities of Kitchener and Waterloo

London Potter's Guild

• ~100 members
• dues are $200/year (~$17/month)
• own their building (saved up for 10 years, $50,000 building + extensive sweat equity)
• revenue from courses, a gift shop
• paid, part time Executive Director

Waterloo Community Arts Centre at The Button Factory

• ~200 members
• dues are $30/year ($2.50 per month)
• a large space (The Button Factory), rent paid to City of Waterloo
• an extensive calendar of courses, workshops and special events (which provide revenue)
• predictable revenue stream by renting out part of the button factory
• full time paid Executive Director + 2 part time employees

WCAC rents the Button Factory from the city of waterloo, and has income from a variety of sources, including courses, workshops & special events, renting out the Button Factory, donations (they became a charity a few years ago to boost this income). A few years ago, they received a $100,000 multi-year operational grant from Trillium in order to get through a rough patch. Since then, they've worked hard to increase their revenue, and have recently become self supporting.