EMS Needs Your Help!

Greetings EMS Members,

Let’s put it bluntly: The Eugene Makerspace has just six months left, unless we can bring in more money. Rent and other expenses have gone up faster than our membership count, and we need your help!

As this holiday season roars to life around us, and prices seem to continually edge upward, we all know that times are tight financially. The Eugene Makerspace is by no means exempt to the effects of this. With rising bills, and a few members needing to ‘pare down’ in terms of membership, our coffers are looking a bit bleak at the moment.

Not to mince words, but we are struggling to make ends meet. 

Our current estimates suggest that if something doesn’t change for the better and soon, the Eugene Makerspace will need to close in about six months time. And that’s.. fully gone, as in tools gone, supplies gone, printers, lasers, cnc, all gone, space available, and a huge cleaning bill. Maybe we’ll be operating as an entity floating between people’s garages, but we won’t be *A* makerspace.

Obviously, none of us wants to see this happen. Due in no small part to timely donations from a few, we made it through the entirety of the Covid shutdowns and mandates with barely a scratch on our ability to keep functioning.

And so it’s time to turn to you, our members.

While we mull the idea of raising membership fees (something we’d desperately like to avoid), the fact is that we need more money to pay the rent. One-time donations are nice, but we need to increase our month-to-month income levels if we’re going to survive this

• If you can spare a bit more for your membership, consider tiering up through Patreon.
• If you have a friend, co-worker, or loved one who could benefit from access to a makerspace, bring them on down to the shop on an Open Hack night!
• Consider tiering up to a “Family” membership.
• Memberships make a great gift, too!
• If you know of employers, businesses, and/or other entities that need to locate an end-of-the-year, local, charity to donate to for tax writeoff purposes, EMS is a 501(c)(3) registered charity!
• If you have friends connected to other local charity groups that are ‘doing better’ at the whole grant-writing, or government funding thing, maybe reach out to them for some advice for us! If you personally have a background in doing so, or just want to try.. By all means, we need your help!
• Here are some helpful links to share with friends:
  
  https://eugenemakerspace.com/membership/
  
  https://eugenemakerspace.com/donate/

While we do accept donations of tools and materials, we desperately need income right now. We’ll still gladly accept donations of working tools, reasonably sound materials, and the like, but the landlord won’t accept plywood scraps and unused filament as an alternative to rent.

So if you have any ideas, please feel free to speak up! You’re all members of the makerspace, and we all want this awesome workshop to stick around, so let’s work together!

Sincerely,

The Eugene Makerspace Board of Directors