I'll say again: This initial purchase was NOT about including or excluding anyone. A goal was establihed that needed to be met, and mobilized.
This does NOT represent a specific association or lack thereof. Not being able to support, due to financial/regional or any other reason, does not mean you're "out of the club". Raised funds above and beyond the needed amount can be figured out once the domain is secured. It's not my money to spend on anything else, and so it won't be spent without the contributors' consent, and furthermore, won't be spent on anything that doesn't benefit 100% of the community. This isn't "done" by any means, and once the domain has been secured, I'm happy discuss re-organizing the funds for a better, more long term and sustainable model that allows everyone to get a piece of the action! -Alex On Monday, February 15, 2010, WHERE MMM <where...@gmail.com> wrote: > Alex et al, > > This is a great idea and glad to see how everyone is jumping in to come > together. > > While I was trying to decide and raise funds for the 500 and 1k buy in I now > have a question and an idea to propose to the group: > > 1. With the funds in excess now for the actual amount that we we looking for > to secure the domain can we look to restructure the amounts so that everyone > can have an opportunity to participate? > > 1a. Otherwise what will be done with the extra money raised & who will manage > it? > > 1b. The dreaded topic of last week's thread on an annual Coworking Conference > comes to mind..... can some of these funds that we are raising help to bring > us together (even if virtual and or telephonically) or elect someone to > manage the group and pay someone so that the group can have a > single administrative 'go-to' person? > > > 2. How does the group feel about a regional effort instead of these tiers? > > 2a. In the true sense of a collective coworking environment we are supposed > to be 'equal' and not divided by social or soci-economical levels. With a > regional approach rather than this (very good and very effective fund raising > strategy) then everyone would be able to buy in at a lower rate and be > included. Additionally the regional approach would allow for those of us who > can afford to contribute more could 'host' a regional conference/ meet-up so > that we can manage the creation of the domain into a functioning site. > > > 3. Last thought that has plagued me all day.....what about the coworking > sites that are associated through government entities, those that are funded > as not-for-profits, etc > > These groups often times can not participate and move as quickly on things > like this. > > Are 'we' alienating 'them' in this fast move? > > *These groups do not have the luxury of pulling money out of their > own pockets even if they want to because of the structure they operate under. > > *Even if these organizations want to participate often times the > group will need board authorization and this can take time. > > > Last point I have been pondering.... who is this group that wanted to come in > and make this buy? Why did they want it and why now? What was the urgency? > > I hope that this doesn't seem like I am not supporting this because I am ALL > FOR A COLLECTIVE and have been really doing a lot of footwork and site visits > to speak with everyone out there as much as possible. Coming from a > non-profit viewpoint and effort of community building I am really interested > in contributing to the effort in any way possible. I would love to see a > collective formed with some resources behind it and some real muscle. I see > this as a great first step and am encouraged.... but I also am a big believer > that we all should really be heard, have access, and be able to participate. > We have all worked to hard in our own communities as well as a whole entity > to not take a moment to think about our actions here and the impact we are > setting forth at this very moment. > > > With the upmost respect and compassion I submitt these thoughts for > discussion. > > Thank you all, > > Danielle Nicoli > WHERE: Meet, Mix, Mogul > Coworking in Los Angeles > www.wheremmm.com <http://www.wheremmm.com/> > 323 663 6636 office > > > On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com> > wrote: > A few days ago, the group received an e-mail from Gerrit at The Coworking > Intitute, the owners of coworking.com <http://coworking.com/> > > > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking/browse_thread/thread/5e4e84c5ef869ae > > > As he mentioned in the e-mail, he and his partner Bernie were recently > approached by a commercial entity with interest in buying > coworking.com <http://coworking.com/> from them. While the offer was "one > they could not refuse", they agreed to turn to our community first and give > us a chance to counter-offer. > > > > I've been corresponding with Gerrit on the side and have had a very positive > dialogue. We've agreed to a counter offer (which they have accepted) of 5000 > Euros, or ~$6800 USD. > > > I've never spent this kind of money on a domain before, so I've spoken with a > group of some of the longest-standing contributors to the coworking community > to see if I was off my rocker. We've agreed that this is a great opportunity > to put a stronger stake in the ground for the brand of coworking, the core > values that this list upholds, and a better technique of communicating with > people who are just finding our community. > > > > What do I think should be done with the domain? > > > My plan is as follows: > The wiki, blog, and google group will be aliased appropriately from > subdomains of the coworking.com <http://coworking.com/> domain. Coworking.com > will contain a home page explaining those properties and their contents, as > well as some curated press links that will be user submitted. Additional > ideas are welcome, but this is where I'd like to start! > > > > In the last 24 hours, I've kicked off a pledge of $500 from my own pocket > (IndyHall still has some debt to pay back from our move last spring and we > consider that priority), and have been followed by the following pledges: > > > > > $500 - Alex Hillman/IndyHall > $500 - Tara Hunt/Citizen Space > $250 - Felicity Chapman/Cubes & Crayons > $250 - Steven Heath/AltSpace > $1000 - Susan Evans & Jacob Sayles/Office Nomads > $500 - Chris Messina > $500 - Patrick Tanguay/Station C > > > That means we've been pledged $3500, just about halfway to the $7k mark we > need (including paypal fees and impending wire fees). That's enough for me to > transfer 50% of the asking price to the sellers to begin the transfer to us. > > > > Now...what are these contributors getting for their hard earned money? I've > come up with a very simple structure to encourage consistent contribution > amounts: > > > > • Any contributor of $250 or more will have lifetime (of the domain) access > to a subdomain of their choice (http://yourchoice.coworking.com), so long as > the content of the subdomain falls within the values of the Coworking > Community Manifesto: > > > > Community > Collaboration > Openness > Diversity > Sustainability > see Citizen Space <http://citizenspace.us/about/our-philosophy/> and > Station-C for citation of what those values mean > > > > • Any contributor of $500 or more will get a subdomain of their choice as > well, and additionally up to 5 email addresses hosted at a Google for your > Domain account set up for coworking.com <http://coworking.com/> > > > > • Any contributor of $1000 will get a subdomain, 5 e-mail addresses, and a > "sponsor" link in the footer of the coworking.com <http://coworking.com/> > home page linking to the coworking community/space website of their choice. > > > > No single contributor over $1000 will be accepted to give enough fair chances > to contributors across the community. > > > There's no tricks, no scams, no funny business. > > > Disclosure: I will be maintaining the domain name and its DNS records on > behalf of t-- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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