Karen, great ideas. But as somebody alluded to in a reply to your earlier (8/21) "what if" post: why a nonprofit? Why an organization? Part of the emergent self-directed nature of this movement (and the related open-source and BarCamp movements) is that we can do things in new ways, with less infrastructure and formality than otherwise. Where's the value-add of a formal group?
I'm a self-proclaimed "User Group Groupie." Over the past quarter century, I've seen the power of collective effort, channeled through organizations, to provide mutual self-support... as co-founder of user groups, as well as intentional neighborhoods known as cohousing communities, I've served on national and regional boards (as I see you have) and seen a lot accomplished using that form. As a result, I know I have an innate inclination to see the potential to organize a nonprofit as a solution to any challenge I see in the world. But I have also experienced the inertia and resource-drain such organizations can entail. The innate conservatism of the board structure. The perpetual fundraising quest. Politics, priorities, and control issues. The implicit exclusion of paid-membership models. The difficulty of getting the attention of space owners. The myriad ways that working to meet the operating/legal requirements of the nonprofit redirects or even misdirects the get-things-done energy that entrepreneurial or open-cooperative approaches could otherwise incentivize. You list among potential services an org could provide a "passport." Yet this list and the wiki provided a self-organized "good enough for now" solution to just that, in about a week. The wiki itself is a "referral web site", and someone else just implemented another directory database. We've got an online community right here. Most spaces have the technical capacity to do videoconferencing, although I could see a role for scheduling and promoting events, it would be dependent on willing hosts and participants at individual spaces. The rest of the list reads like a list of consulting services that you could provide with your freshly-minted MBA (congrats, BTW!) and corporate project-management experience/certification, which a nonprofit could be a great way of marketing. As for the coworking-related training, support, and educational services, is your thought that people would be more likely to participate in creating the content or buying the pieces if there was some kind of mutual benefit organization vs. individual free or commercial contribution? I should be clear that I absolutely do support exploration of the idea: As a consultant serving the emerging coworking industry, I absolutely can see the marketing benefit, the potential to bundle services in a membership and spend less time myself doing outreach. I see, on this list and in person, too many people "reinventing the wheel" and relearning lessons "the hard way" -- and sometimes, that's a necessary part of the process of building a business and creating individual capacity, bringing a group together, but it means that energy and work goes in directions that doesn't necessarily end up contributing to more spaces opening faster. And the doctrinal lack of organization/centrality sometimes adds to our collective inefficiency. But I am reluctant to embrace such a concept and invest my time towards it without a clear vision of the benefits to the movement, not just for myself... and with greater predictors of success. Rather than direct folks to a static top-down you-grabbed-the-domain-already centralized-just-email-me same-as-your-personal-site web page with a pre-made feature list, why not start a page on the concept on the coworking wiki and see what elements get energy and who shows up, and then start building the community there? Raines who visited two different coworking communities yesterday and discussed whether they had any issues like the one Citizen Space has experienced with someone abusing free-access privileges or other problems with theft or other disturbance. The answers so far: no, but they're thinking about potential vulnerabilities. One space is considering a webcam-at-the-door, but a periscope might do the job! On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 3:52 AM, Karen Origlio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Over the past few weeks I've met/emailed several group members to > discuss the idea of creating a non-profit organization to support > coworking space owners and members. > > The idea is to have an organization whose mission is to help spaces > start and sustain themselves, and link them together. Imagine a > knowledge base of information and resources for a space catalyst, or > collaborating with members in other locations via video conferencing > or finding the specific expertise you need for your latest project > through a member directory... Coworking will be an industry, not just > a movement. > > This organization can also assist the independent worker and > entrepreneurial spirit found in so many members...I'd love to connect > members with affordable and much-needed medical or disability > insurance... > > There seems to be some interest in this idea. What do YOU think? Good > idea? Let's discuss. > > If yes, I see two next steps: > > 1. Form a Board of Advisors to define the mission and vision of the > organization and contribute their expertise and knowledge. Not sure of > the time commitment needed - probably minimal - perhaps an hour > conference call in the next few weeks. > > 2. Define a list of projects for the Cowork Network and help identify > people to assist. > > Would love to hear your opinions pro or con, on list or off. > > Thanks, > Karen Origlio > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
