Makerspace support for Charities or Charity Memebership?

Ask Dallas Makerspace
#1

I recently learned about a Dallas charity called EarlyWheels (https://www.earlywheels.org/). The are part of the larger Go Baby Go (https://www.yourcpf.org/cpproduct/go-baby-go-the-ultimate-toy-hack/) movement to provide motoring opportunities for disadvantaged small children with disabilities.

As soon as I saw this, it seemed like a perfect fit for the different skill sets and capabilities in the makerspace. It also aligned with many of the areas I want to personally learn about. I’ve reached out to the EarlyWheels group, and when mentioning the makerspace found out she was already aware of it, but found it too expensive. My first question (two parts) is if a charity qualifies for the ‘hacker’ or other reduced rate. Alternatively, is there a provision to ‘sponsor’ a membership for a third-party like a charity? To be clear, can I purchase a membership for them?

My second question is directed to the membership at large: would there be interest in supporting a charity such as this with design and build assistance? She mentioned the UTD students she works with having difficulty figuring out the rewiring of a motor drive from one toy, and needing assistance with some arduino coding. Both of these ‘seem’ to be well within the capabilities of our members. Perhaps it could take the shape of a SIG? We could have scheduled design/build days as demand warrants…

I’m a relative newbie to the space, but am continually impressed with the people and their diverse interests and capabilities. I’ve also seen some of the challenges the group has recently faced, and wonder if something like this could be a great way to come together in service to others.

Thank you all for your consideration

John

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#2

Easy answer first. You can buy a membership as a gift for anyone.

A membership is to a person not an entity. A membership has to be for Mary Smith not the Smith Foundation. Think about training requirements by individual to see the why of this.

Hacker rates are based on income or “status”. I am not sure of the income level for a hacker rate. Student, Retired or financially distressed.

There is not a set way to have an organization be supported by DMS. The way that comes to mind would be a SIG supporting that external cause. SIGS are already defined.

We have done 1 off support on several occasions for other charity organizations or individuals with special causes. I would like the DMS Community to do more of these.

#3

To expand on what @Diplomat (Steve) said.

The starving hacker rate is granted by request to the BOD. I don’t believe we ever set a rule in our group that explained what income levels we granted this at. Instead it was granted based on employment or school status over the years. If you were unemployed aka without a job or retired you qualified. And/or if you were currently attending school you qualified.

@JW_TX As a new member to our group, I would say that we are unlike most other 501c3 organizations. While we can do things in a top down manner like you are suggesting in this request.

Blanket requests like this typically do not garner the valuable support you are wanting. You will likely get a bunch of yeah this is awesome or good for you comments. But, these tend to not lead to a move in the project you want. What I would suggest is start working on the project and charity you want the DMS to help with. Then advertise your project on talk and work on it at the DMS. Those that are most able and willing to join your cause will likely find and join you.

It just isn’t all that likely that you will garner the hands on support before you are hands on working on the project.

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#4

Appreciate all the feedback and will continue to work on this as a personal project with an eye towards potentially growing it.

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