Alternate title: "Keynesian economics in the context of a hackerspace"
Let's not confuse macroeconomics with microeconomics. We're not a stable nation that can indefinitely incur debt to stimulate an economy. We're a hackerspace. Cool toys and equipment are great, but the most important thing for me to invest in is our members. Our members bring in new members, our members engage other members, our members bring in their own cool toys, and our members make each others lives all the more interesting by sharing the same space. How do I "invest" in members? How do I keep the budget process as fair to all members as possible? How do I ensure that members are getting what they pay for? By being as strictly and uncompromisingly libertarian as possible. Your membership fees are for things that we strictly need to spend money on to keep the space operational, nothing more and nothing less. Nobody will ever feel that their money is being undemocratically wasted because we're only spending it on things that are strictly necessary to keep the facility operational. If members want to buy cool things to make the place better, we encourage them to form teams to fund them. But what do I mean by investing in members? We're currently running a deficit but we haven't even considered raising membership dues (although the optional increased donations are great). In fact, lowering our dues to accommodate student members has been the best move for raising membership and income that we've made so far. By not jacking up fees, we can free members to invest their money into the space as they see fit and on their own terms. We all work together to build a better space. By being bold and not relying on a central committee to impose high dues and make financial decisions for us, we are all the more free and democratic for it. Mind you, in one months time our new treasurer might come along with a very different philosophy :) On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 2:19 PM, Justin Lacko <[email protected]> wrote: > The "official" policy of SkullSpace currently is that until we balance our > budget, we can't spend on anything except the basics - such as rent and > power. This is a fiscally-conservative policy. I believe we need to still > have nominal spending while operating at a deficit, for reasons which I will > outline below. > > We are currently operating at a deficit. We can pay our bills each month > without a problem; we have three months of rent in our coffers. But our > monthly income is less than our expenses. The targeted fix for this problem > is to increase membership through whatever means available, such as > advertising at conventions. > > When I worked on the plan for SkullSpace 2.0, I knew that we had to expand > our membership base and ask for more money. Looking back since we moved to > the new space at the beginning of December, we certainly have worked on this > goal. Lately, it seems membership has again plateaued (I base this > observation on the fact that there haven't been any recent emails from > Courtney announcing new members). What I want to outline is that we need to > continue to work on getting more members if we want to eliminate our > deficit. > > I think that our current fiscally-conservative spending policy is not > beneficial to the long-term goals of SkullSpace. I believe that right now is > the most important time to be investing SkullSpace capital into the space, > in creative ways that will bring in new members. The constant reminder of > "we can't spend a penny until we break even each month" is not encouraging > and dampens any creative thought for how SkullSpace can grow - because > sometimes ideas/things need money. I offer the example of our now-defunct > monthly $100 prize to be awarded to a worthy member-nominated project. While > we may not be able to afford $100 monthly now, we could bring it back at $50 > each month, or a similar level. > > A basic projection, without knowing exact numbers, is that it will take at > least 6 months or more to break even with our income and expenses, with the > assumption that membership continues to grow. I don't think that we should > wait until this time before spending money. While deficit spending is a > hotly-debated issue, it is beneficial as a means of injecting stimulus in > order to continue growth in a stagnant economy. The current situation is the > funding of a 3D printer for the space - much of which has graciously been > funded by the membership. A 3D printer would arguably bring in more members, > with the promise of using a novel machine as an added bonus to their > membership. A $100 donation from SkullSpace hardly seems harmful, and I > think that we are missing an opportunity to contribute to a really good > idea. > > I propose that we form a committee to assist with budgetary decisions, as > Jay is stepping down at the next election, and make the entire process much > more membership-oriented. The job of treasurer for a fledgling organisation > is one with many duties, and understandably one person can easily get burnt > out with it. I would volunteer to sit on this committee. Currently, our > funding decisions are resting with a single person, which is unfair and does > not follow the SkullSpace mantra/rule of members having a say in the running > of SkullSpace. > > I think that going-forward, SkullSpace is in a good position right now and > we are slowly working towards our goal of breaking even and eventually > turning a profit. We need to continue to spend where members think it is > necessary or else we will surely stagnate. > > Please respond with opinions, criticisms, rebukes, death threats, etc., but > I'm hoping to keep this discussion on-topic. > > ~Justin > > _______________________________________________ > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss > Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ _______________________________________________ SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/
