Ed Paradis - Personal Website
Over a decade ago, I was one of the founding members of the Dallas Makerspace . My major contribution was designing the financial models that allowed the group to have a solid financial footing for renting it’s first dedicated space.
The other founders were more involved in all the growing pains of starting an organization like that, and I moved to another city and didn’t lift those boulders. But (as far as I know) the original membership models kept the group bootstrapped long enough to attract more members and grow into the organization they are today.
A member of the ThePrepared Slack recently asked how I did this, and in retelling the tale, I realized that I’d never written down the methods I used. I think sharing them here might be helpful to other people looking to start either their own hackerspace, makerspace, or other opt-in, volunteer-driven group that seeks to have a single costly piece of shared infrastructure.
Ed Paradis - Personal Website