We went from the model you described to a model of asking for an hourly donation of $5 an hour for shop time with a cap of $35 a year. The idea being not everyone who uses the shop is a return customer, but those who use it a lot won't have to pay more than the annual membership fee. it's still a sliding scale "pay what you can" sort of donation policy. Those who can't afford it aren't turned away, and those who think it's cheap are encouraged to pay more.  The idea is to minimize administration involved in tracking annual memberships. It's a less formal policy, but in general that fits our org's style. So far we've not been very proactive about collecting the donations. We basically just tell the people the policy, and let them put what they like in the donation till. It's a new policy for us this year, and as such somewhat experimental.

Matt Brittenham
Freeride Montpelier
http://www.freeridemontpelier.org


On Jun 7, 2010, at 9:43 AM, Sarah Follett (B!KE) wrote:

We at B!KE have been grappling with the question of how to structure payment for our drop-in shop hours. This is our main program and therefore our most consistent income generator. 
Currently we have a $20 annual membership fee, which is great because it's (reasonably) accessible for most, but less great because it's rather inadequate as far as covering our expenses  (we have about 100+ new & renewed memberships each year- not going to cover the bills), and is probably too little to ask for from those who use the shop frequently or those in higher income brackets.

We've discussed two-tiered membership fees (regular and un/underemployed) or workstand rental time. It's really important to us that the use of the space is not out of reach to anyone, but we're also reluctant to have an overt volunteer-as-payment system because we don't yet have the infrastructure for that, and frankly, we do need the cash.

I was checking the google docs spreadsheet to see if it listed different organizations solutions to this, but I don't think this is up there yet. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Sarah Follett
Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop
400 Wolfe St
Peterborough, Ontario
(705) 748-6681





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