[Noisebridge-discuss] Space viewing report: 2169 Mission

[Andy Isaacson]

On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 02:11:19PM -0700, Sai Emrys wrote:
> One other question: what about budget?

An excellent question.  Mitch is back in town on Thursday and I hope
we'll have a chance to meet and go over the budget then.

> AFAICT from the last circulated budget, current rent is ~$2k, income
> ~$4.5k, expense ~$3.4k, so profit ~$1.1k but with variance +/- $2k.

We're a nonprofit, we can't have "profit" by definition.  The correct
term IIUC is "retained income".  That's a bit awkward in conversation so
a lot of people say "surplus".

> This'd add $1.5k/mo expense, probably increase ancillary costs as well
> (electricity, heating, etc).

The larger space will certainly cause us to consume more electrical
(including heat, since there's no gas in the building).  We also get to
cover our own trash and water (they're paid by the owner at 83c).  So
yes, our expenditures beyond rent are also going to increase.

>                            And it's very hard to predict whether
> expanding our space would lead to expanding membership as well.

I don't see that it's hard to predict -- I have personally heard from a
dozen people that they would either like to become members but the space
is too small, or that they have avoided promoting noisebridge because
the space is too small.

> At current rates, the rent increase alone would require ~18 new
> members to be paid off.

We've been adding net 6 memebers per month for the last 3 months.
Obviously past results are not a guarantee of future performance, but
the signs are good.  We have an excellent member pipeline and dozens of
prospects.

We have verbal commitments from June for $8k dependent on finding a new
space.  This Tuesday will be the time for people to put cash on the
barrelhead; in order to move on 2169, we need to have move-in expenses
plus three months of operating expenses in the bank, and we're a bit
short of that right now, if I have the numbers correct.

-andy