[Noisebridge-discuss] Hello. I think we a need a new Mission Statement.

Johny Radio johnyradio at gmail.com
Sun Apr 6 22:47:45 UTC 2014


------ Original Message ------
From: "William Sargent" <will.sargent at gmail.com>

>So if you want to do that, you don’t just need to change the mission 
>statement.  You also need to change the bylaws.
>
>"The purpose of this corporation is to promote and encourage technical, 
>scientific, and artistic skills through individual projects, social 
>collaboration, and education.”

you might be right. Nonprofit incorporation includes both Mission 
Statement and Bylaws. There seems to be overlap between Mission 
Statement and bylaws "Purpose". I'm now researching the reason for that 
overlap.

>Also, if you take a look at the bylaws, it doesn’t talk about the 
>community.  It talks about the members.

Good point: we should distinguish what we mean by "community" (at least 
in casual language)



>over 50% members voted for a more active board

is that an accurate statement? i do not recall any specific vote on 
"having a more active board".



>your chances of changing any part of the bylaws are pretty damn slim.

i feel the community (or members) need to come to agreement about the 
purpose of Noisebridge. Whether that should be done through a non-legal 
Statement of Purpose, or the Legal Mission Statement is not relevant. 
The important thing is broad community (or membership) buy-in.

ie If the bylaws are purely a legal document that NB'ers don't care 
about, then let's forget the bylaws and create a non-legal doc that 
NB'ers agree to honor.


>If you don’t like what Noisebridge does, why not start up a new 
>community space, like Double Union did?

i never said i do not like what Noisebridge does. my point is that there 
are contradictory opinions in the community about what Noisebridge does 
or should do or is intended to do. A community-driven mission statement 
can resolve those conflicts. A mission statement can be an ultimate 
arbiter for usage of the space. Without an ultimate arbiter, the 
conflicts will continue forever.


>Why do you think it’s okay to try to hijack an existing one?

No one is suggesting hijacking anything.  i'm suggesting a 
community-driven mission statement, NOT something any one person would 
write.

Are you saying that the NB mission is set in stone, and that the NB 
community (or members) may never alter it?


>And even if you did succeed, do you think you would get contributing 
>membership donations and general support for a community space that 
>explicitly supported squatting and non-hacking?

Actually, i personally do NOT support squatting and non-hacking in the 
space. Others want that. I feel a mission statement or by-laws which 
explicitly address this issue can be an arbiter.

JR




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