Maker Nexus Makerspace: Difference between revisions

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==More Details==
==More Details==
You can review [https://goo.gl/m9vKfS the slides we presented at our last town hall].


If you are into finance details, you can [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vige7L2fTALkYIih6xgcMSMVj0Y-YLdQF8qYel5WNKI/edit?usp=sharing review our current financial model].
If you are into finance details, you can [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vige7L2fTALkYIih6xgcMSMVj0Y-YLdQF8qYel5WNKI/edit?usp=sharing review our current financial model].

Revision as of 21:23, 26 February 2018

(Information about the Maker Nexus organization's makerspace will be provided here. If you register with this wiki you can click the star at the top right to "watch" this page. If you do this then you will get an email whenever this page is updated.)

Our Mission

Maker Nexus is a non-profit with a mission to provide education in woodworking, textiles, metalworking, and other vocational skills and hobby crafts, and promote the same in the community. We will do this by providing a community makerspace that serves all experience levels from hobbyists to professionals. Our goal is to help each person improve their skills whether as STEAM/STEM teen, life enrichment, job skill acquisition, or new entrepreneur.

The Organization

Become a member, pledge your support, and track our progress on our website: MakerNexus.com

The Town Halls

The 6 member Maker Nexus (MN) board has been working on our plan since the day TechShop closed. We've had the help of several other people. We would be happy to have a board member speak to any group that is interested in our new shop.

To get the shop open we need a minimum of 150 members and $125,000 in donations. You can track our progress on the Maker Nexus web site.

  • January 19, 2018: We held our first open town hall meeting. (Thanks to Hacker Dojo for hosting us.) About 80 people attended - the room was packed with some people sitting on the floor.
  • January 28, 2018: We held our second town hall. (Thanks to [https://altoschool.org/ Alto International School). About 40 new faces showed up. It was a lively crowd with a lot of laughs and questions. This community is really amazing.
  • February 15, 2018: We met in Palo Alto Riconada Library. We had about 40 people, many new faces. Eric's update included information on our site selection and equipment acquisition. You can view the slides online.
  • February 25, 2018: We met again in the Palo Alto Riconada Library. We had about 50 people, more than half of whom were new. We updated the community with our progress in securing a location, including information on two sites we are pursuing. You can view the slides here.

The Organization

We are a California non-profit. We are applying for 501(c)3 certification as a charitable organization.

Read our officers' biographies.

How to Help

We have a flier you can put up anywhere you think potential members will see it.

More Details

If you are into finance details, you can review our current financial model.

Location

We decided to limit our location search to the corridor between Menlo Park and Sunnyvale.

History of the decision:

We initially asked anyone who signed up as a member to pick one or more of the following locations: Menlo Park, Santa Clara, Newark. In late January the votes were pretty clear: 85% of the pledged members approved of Menlo Park; 62% Santa Clara; 40% Newark (Some people selected more than one location that was acceptable to them).

Where we are today:

With Menlo Park and Santa Clara being the leading choices, we are limiting our search to the area between those locations. To that end, we are adjusting our membership question, and will be conducting a follow-up survey with those who have already signed up - asking for strength of preference for four municipal areas: Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale, as well as an "Other" location to encourage people for whom those locations do not work for to express an area that works better for them.

The Takeaway

The slides are packed with information, but for those who need the quick summary:

  • Non-profit organization
  • Shop between Menlo Park and Sunnyvale
  • Targeted April opening
  • Limited machines, adding more as quickly as money allows
  • Paid staff members for support & maintenance
  • $150/month membership & $1,000 donation
  • Everyone has to pitch in to make this work

We hope that you, the reader, will join us in making this shop a reality.