[Noisebridge-discuss] Fundraising and membership at NB

Fri Jun 18 23:27:09 UTC 2010

I don't think that's an issue at all. If someone gains a title, then they
inherit responsibilities attached to that title, and they either succeed by
living up to everyone's preconceived expectations, or fail by not going
along with what is expected and regulated by that title.

This said, there is obviously a need for fundraising or promotion, which
entails a deeper need: we need positive PR in the local community, partly to
overcome stereotyping, and partly to spread the word of what makes
Noisebridge rock to people who don't even know what it is.

By total random chance I was talking about something like this with AJ last
night after he gave his 5MoF talk on press releases. He said that he saw a
lot of talent at Noisebridge, and he'd be willing to host a PR workshop in
the near future to teach people how to better reach out. Given that he's
done work fundraising, holding events, and building community for over a
decade, I think that kind of collaboration would be excellent.

If AJ were to hold a workshop on PR and community building, would people be
interested?

On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 3:50 PM, Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com> wrote:

> One of the issues we have is that nobody is officially in charge of
> anything, so there's no coordination or continuity on fundraising or
> anything else.  We do already have a couple PayPal links set up for
> recurring $10/month or $20/month 'Associate Member' donations:
>
> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Donate_or_Pay_Dues
>
> It could be more obvious.  It could be on the front page.  I may get
> around to fixing that at some point...
>
> I have to admit I do kinda like your idea of a membership card.  I hope
> someone implements that.  (What I'm doing to help with the cash crunch
> is working on getting us an automated reminder system for existing
> members to pay their dues.)
>
> Also, anyone can convene a meeting of the membership process committee,
> which consists of anyone who cares about the membership process.  Also,
> Miah, https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Membership - it's not quite that
> arduous, you don't actually have to attend any meetings at all.
>
> Rachel
>
> Miah Johnson wrote:
> > The idea of "Affiliate Membership" has been brought up before. I think
> > somebody mentioned $20/mo to be an affiliate member, which didn't give
> > you consensus rights but you were for all intents and purpose a member.
> > I think the reason this hasnt happened is "well anybody can just donate
> > $20/mo". But I do agree, it might be nice for some people to say they
> > are a Noisebridge Affiliate Member, and pay their "dues".
> >
> > I also do agree with you that becoming an actual member is a silly
> > process. I cant remember why it was decided that waiting 3 weeks (and
> > requiring that person to be present a 3 member meetings) before getting
> > sign off to become a official member. It might be a good time for
> > Noisebridge to review membership approval process.
> >
> > -Miah
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Josh Berkus <josh at agliodbs.com
> > <mailto:josh at agliodbs.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     So last night someone mentioned that NB was functioning at a deficit,
> >     and that memberships were way down.
> >
> >     I think there's some reasons for that.  The threshold for becoming a
> >     member is very high; it's a months-long qualification process, then
> >     $80/month once you join.  This makes it a lot easier to lose members
> >     than to get them.
> >
> >     What if we added "lay members" for the Church of Noisebridge?  I'd be
> >     happy to cough up $50 a year or so to be a lay member and have a cute
> >     card I could carry around.  It would get a lot of us who irregularly
> >     visit NB and would never be full members ... like me ... paying.  I
> >     wouldn't expect any rights in return for that, and I don't think
> anyone
> >     else would either.
> >
> >     I think we could also be a LOT more aggressive in passing the hat at
> >     events.  I was looking for a hat to pass at 5MOF in fact, but it
> ended
> >     before I found one.  Someone at each large event should be in charge
> of
> >     bringing the hat/can around and rattling it for donations.
> >
> >     Heck, we could even take a $5 donation at events and offer beer as
> the
> >     premium.  That would net us $$$.
> >
> >     --
> >     -- Josh Berkus
> >       (former professional fundraiser)
> >
> >     P.S. I do intend for the cooking classes to be a fundraiser, but so
> far
> >     attendance has been too low to cover my cost of ingredients.
> >
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> >
> >
> >
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