Eugene Makerspace Newsletter
Hey there everyone!
Sorry to keep you all waiting for the “State of the Shop” post. A lot has gone on, and been going on, and we wanted to make sure we had a clear picture of the whole thing before communicating just ‘part’ of the situation.
So let’s not waffle on too long about how it’s great seeing folks using the shop more (it is), or how we all need to be better about cleaning up messes and leaving the space cleaner (we do).. What we’re really here to talk about is the elephant in the room, the finance stuff.
| TL;DR … you’re welcome |
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Financial Situation
Last November, we shared with you that our financial situation was.. ‘Concerning’. Faced with rapidly increasing costs of living, a number of our members canceled their memberships or reduced their support levels, just as the organization’s bills were increasing. We don’t currently benefit from much in the way of non-profit funding or grants, so the situation really put us in a bind.
In the months that have followed, we have had a few new members sign up, a few members tiered up their support levels, and we were able to economize on some of our recurring expenses. But you can only tighten a belt so much, so while the financial ‘bleeding’ has reduced, it hasn’t stopped.
Which brings us to the inevitable conclusion.. If we want to keep the shop open, we will need to raise membership rates to keep up with rent, insurance, and utilities.
Membership Rate Increases
Starting immediately, new membership rates will be increased $10 across the board.
- Individual: $45 / Month
- Family: $70 / Month
Current members will have until June 1 to ‘tier-up’ to the new levels, at which point members paying at the old level will see their keys stop functioning. Unfortunately, this will require a direct action on the member’s part, and will not happen automatically – please visit https://www.patreon.com/eugenemakerspace to make this change.
Annual memberships will be grandfathered into door access until their current membership is due for renewal.. Which means, if you upgrade your current membership to an annual one today, you can lock in the current membership rate for the next year, AND receive a 10% discount as well.. While still retaining shop access.
Members who choose to tier up before the deadline will have our undying thanks, and can take advantage of the following policy changes immediately.
Members with Family Memberships that would like to tier up to the new level are, of course, welcome to do so. If you are an annual-membership holder, and wish to tier up to the new rates before your current membership ends, please contact the board: https://eugenemakerspace.com/contact-ems/
Policy Change: 24/7 Access
As part of the membership rate increase, we’ll be returning to 24/7 member access. We know this is something you’ve all wanted to see return. We hope this will also make makerspace memberships more appealing to prospective members as well.
Members paying at the new tier levels will see this access enabled immediately. 24/7 access will become standard for all members after the June 1 deadline.
This has been a policy that we’ve long wanted to change.. And we’ve extremely happy to be able to finally return to ‘any time, any day’ access for everyone.
Public Access nights are back on the calendar, but we need volunteers! Fridays?
During the height of the pandemic, we changed how we present our open-to-the-public times. We removed “Hours of Operation” from our Google profile, and switched to displaying the ‘next three events’ on our website.. Data pulled from our public Google Calendar.
This better represented to the public ‘if someone would be there’.. And reduced the number of angry calls we received when we ‘advertised’ being open on a Tuesday or Friday.. only to show up to find the door locked.
Recently we’ve had a couple of members graciously volunteer to open the shop up.. Sam has offered to host Tuesday evenings for the foreseeable future, and we’ve added those dates he knows he can make it to the calendar. Similarly, Andrew has been at the shop during the weekdays, and has periodically added some ‘Open Hours’ to the shop calendar where non-members can come down, get a tour and ask questions.
https://eugenemakerspace.com/calendar/
We’d love to return to offering Friday evening Public Access nights as well (or any other day, so there’s more than just the ‘tuesday’ option).. But to make that happen, we need members (with a key) who are willing to commit, willing to be there to open the door, and hang around for the allotted time as well.
So if you’re interested in volunteering to host.. Hop on Discord and speak up, or drop an email to the board with dates and times you’re able to help host. Doesn’t need to be a 6-month commitment, but if you can give us a week or two’s notice.. We can get it on the calendar so prospective members can see that we’re open!
Join the conversation on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Tq22G56QsF
Email the board: https://eugenemakerspace.com/contact-ems/
