Sudo room/income

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This is a shared knowledge commons on our options to bring in income to cover costs for Sudo Room. These may be shorter responses than for decisions, so a template may not be necessary (we may end up choosing multiple or many options), but also feel free to contribute a free-form response below.

Income-bringing Options

Thought from 5/16 meeting: There seem to be three categories to bring in income (below). The discussion group thought that membership fees and services/goods offered would be the main sources of income, with the quality of the goods/services offered greatly affecting the energy and support of membership.

1. Membership Fees (Should a driving principle be to separate membership fee-paying from perception of having influence in SudoRoom?)

To what extent should financial contribution be separate from 1) governance privileges 2) access to the space? Separating donations from membership makes it easier to solicit donations from those not interested in the governance of the space.

• No material benefits to membership? - members (& Nonmembers) donate because they value the existence of the space and believe in its continued existence.

2. Services/ Goods Offered to Community (Classes/ SkillShares; Events: Speakers, Conferences, Movie Nights; Goods: DIYbio kits, repair workshops, etc)

• From 5/16 meeting: Selling goods/services can fuel and support membership (ie, members can provide goods/host events/teach classes/act as speakers + these activities can bring new members); but does charging for these opportunities run counter to the sudo open + accessible principle?
  • Not being able to pay the rent also runs counter to the open + accessible principle

3. Fundraising (Grants: city/state/federal/private; Straight Donations, ex Donate button on website; Parties; Crowdfunding)

• From 5/16 meeting: fundraising is time-consuming and difficult and will be more likely if membership is solid (also, goods/services provided by the community can inform the viability of grants/crowdfunding)

• Also: crowdfunding vs funding portal (eg; Sudo Room as Kickstarter Project vs. Sudo Room as Kickstarter :)

Free-form Income-bringing Responses

• front-facing shop / co-op? kombucha cafe, fixit shop, etc
• (response)