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I'm in the process of trying to get a makerspace in my area off the ground - any chance you can give some insight as to how you approached companies for donatio

I'm in the process of trying to get a makerspace in my area off the ground - any chance you can give some insight as to how you approached companies for donations? We've got dues-paying members who want to get this thing going, and are working with a local tech school to try to get some space on their campus, but I feel like large-donations is what we're really lacking and we're just not sure of who to approach or how to do so.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
We had some success with: - IT companies - electronics companies (one of which is our current regular donor) - local angel investors - government grants (we did a series of workshops for a project run by the US embassy in Poland) Two other options we're also exploring: - various grants, both government (national and EU) and from company-backed nonprofits - CSR - big companies tend to have money allocated to spend on non-profit causes because of their Corporate Social Responsibility programs; you can try and apply to those As for how we approached companies: we mailed them directly, describing what we're doing. We created a nice PDF brochure to be attached with details and photos. However, the best results came from something else - some of our members talked about our Hackerspace at work, and the word reached their employers, who then reached out to us.
amorphic 10y ago
Hi, President of SparkCC (sparkcc.org) in Australia here. First I suggest you take a look at the hackerspaces.org Design Patterns (https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Design_Patterns https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Design_Patterns), particularly the Independence and Sustainability patterns. Relying on donations is following the "Sponsoring Anti-Pattern". I've seen a lot of not-for-profit groups who end up on the "grant cycle". The spend a bunch of time applying for various grants or soliciting donations just to survive. Once one grant/donation is secured it's time to start chasing the next one. Instead of spending time working in the 'space and making things. You say you have paying members already which is great - this is the key to real sustainability. Perhaps you could follow the Charitable Member Pattern and see if they would be able to pay their entire year up front to get the space off the ground? Starting a makerspace has been one of the most satisfying and worthwhile things I've done and I highly recommend sticking at it and making it work. I wish you good luck!!!

TeMPOraL 10y ago

We had some success with: - IT companies - electronics companies (one of which is our current regular donor) - local angel investors - government grants (we did a series of workshops for a project run by the US embassy in Poland) Two other options we're also exploring: - various grants, both government (national and EU) and from company-backed nonprofits - CSR - big companies tend to have money allocated to spend on non-profit causes because of their Corporate Social Responsibility programs; you can try and apply to those As for how we approached companies: we mailed them directly, describing what we're doing. We created a nice PDF brochure to be attached with details and photos. However, the best results came from something else - some of our members talked about our Hackerspace at work, and the word reached their employers, who then reached out to us.

amorphic 10y ago

Hi, President of SparkCC (sparkcc.org) in Australia here. First I suggest you take a look at the hackerspaces.org Design Patterns (https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Design_Patterns https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Design_Patterns), particularly the Independence and Sustainability patterns. Relying on donations is following the "Sponsoring Anti-Pattern". I've seen a lot of not-for-profit groups who end up on the "grant cycle". The spend a bunch of time applying for various grants or soliciting donations just to survive. Once one grant/donation is secured it's time to start chasing the next one. Instead of spending time working in the 'space and making things. You say you have paying members already which is great - this is the key to real sustainability. Perhaps you could follow the Charitable Member Pattern and see if they would be able to pay their entire year up front to get the space off the ground? Starting a makerspace has been one of the most satisfying and worthwhile things I've done and I highly recommend sticking at it and making it work. I wish you good luck!!!