[D-Space] Organisation money and incorporation

[Paul Campbell]

On Thu, 02 Dec 2010, Alex King wrote:
> At first look this seems expensive to me, it's a pity we can't get a 
> cheaper space.

yes I know - I've been searching for several months now - largely realtors don't 
want to bother with this sort of thing - there's no money in it for them - I had 
a lead on a live work space that was going to go for $80-100 but that fizzled - 
I was trying hard to find something closer to the campus ... that's really hard 
.... even tried a little to see if I could find some unused Uni space, maybe a 
building that will be demolished in a year or two  (the Gardies is empty ...) 

In the end I decided to poke around Tech and well they just had what I needed 
....

(none of this is cast in stone - now's the time for anyone else with a bright 
idea to put their hand up - I haven't signed anything - but we will need to some 
time soon or lose it to someone else)

> OTOH, it's probably a good price for what it is, and no doubt it's a 
> suitable space, clean, warm, well lit, lockable etc.
> 
> If you put it as $20 per month, it's quite doable.  I suspect we'll have 
> to do a bit of work to get enough people to sign up though.

yes - that's going to be hard - $20 is too much for high school kids and 
students so we need enough people with jobs to get involved - successful 
maker/hacker spaces seem to have several cores of users - maybe electronics, 
programming, craft, even molecular gastronomy, biotech, school groups - I lived 
in the SF Bay Area for years - many friends of mine are involved in big public 
art pieces that involve fire/metal work/more blinky lights than you can possibly 
imagine 

The trick I think is to get a good mix of different people with different 
interests, give them space to do their thing but make sure that people get a 
chance to interact and mix thing up enough that the whole becomes more than the 
parts (maybe a beer bash every few weeks)

> If you are going to incorporate, you need to choose between a company, 
> incorporated society or charitable trust.  Given this clearly has an 
> educative purpose it could be a charity.

I've been leaning towards a charitable trust - I'm planning on donating a lot so 
I want to maximise what I do  - it's another reason I want to form a committee - 
it's required for incorporation

(anyone know a cheap lawyer or know how to DIY?)

	Paul