We used to have a membership, but dropped it after a few years, which
I guess no longer makes us a co-op!
I may have described this here before, but in case not...
We used to charge $4 per hour for the public to use our shop for bike
repair. We also had a $10 annual membership fee, and that meant one
paid only $2 per hour, and the first session at the shop was free.
The problem with that was if a non-member had used our shop for a
full 4-hour session they would buy a membership to save having to pay
$16. But they didn't necessarily care if they were part of a co-op
or not - they just wanted to save $4. So they'd fill out their form
and we'd add them to our database and we'd often never see them
again. we'd send out periodic messages to our membership list, and
once the bounced emails started accumulating we decided to drop the
membership.
So we went to a flat rate of $5 per hour, and those that wanted to
save money could do so by volunteering. This is due to the deal we
set up: every hour of volunteering can become a free hour to work on
their own bike. This has worked out really well in terms of
increasing volunteers at our shop.
Mark Rehder - Director http://re-cycles.ca
On 3-Apr-08, at 12:31 PM, rachael spiewak wrote:
We don't sell refurbished bikes, but a good chunk of our shop
generated funds comes from people donating $25 per frame/bike they
pick up from us, and they tend to give more for parts even though
we consider parts as being included with the bike. We /could/ sell
whole bikes for more, but that seems to run up against our general
shop philosophy of most things being mostly equal. We don't have
membership fees either, which is another great income generator if
it works for your shop/organization.-rachael
On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 12:22 PM, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca
wrote: Same for us. Bike sales dominate our income stream, with parts sales in 2nd place, and income from do-it-yourselfers behind that.Mark Rehder - Director http://re-cycles.ca
On 3-Apr-08, at 11:32 AM, Rich Points wrote:
I think it's safe to say that most of the collectives out there make most of their money from refurbished bike sales. Last year bike sales accounted for about 65% of our total income at Community Cycles. Refurbished bike sales are our strongest fund raising tool.
Rich http://CommunityCycles.org
Jennifer Nordhem wrote:
Jay, We are already in the process of becoming a 501(c)3. We're at the Articles of Incorporation and By Laws writing stage. I know the questions I asked were lengthy, I'm just a little overwhelmed, which I'm sure you can understand. Jen --- Jay Varner jay@sopobikes.org wrote:
Hi Jennifer, I'm glad you've found the wiki and website useful. To answer some of your questions - most (if not all) the shops in the community that operate on grants and donations are non-profit (501(c)3) organizations. I'm not sure what model you are going for. The answers to your questions can be a bit complex. To help us help you, I'd suggest giving this a read and figuring out where your project fits:
http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php? title=Bike_Collective_Starter_Kit
On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 9:00 PM, Jennifer Nordhem jen@milehighmess.com wrote:
Hello everyone, my name is Jennifer Nordhem of the soon to be Battlesteed Custom Bike Works in
Denver.
We're currently looking for places to rent for
our new
shop. I noticed some people say they don't,
which
would just be a miracle that I don't foresee
coming
true. Here are the questions I have: How much do you pay for rent? About how much money do you receive monthly from grants, donations, membership fees, sales, etc? How much do you spend monthly on tools, etc? I want to get a grasp on what kind of
income/outflow
to expect so I can budget how much we can afford spending on rent. Thanks everyone! The website and wiki have been extremely helpful so far, I'm really happy to see
such
a supportive community. Jen _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
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-- Rich Points Community Cycles Director http://CommunityCycles.org Rich@CommunityCycles.org 720-565-6019 _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org
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-- Sopo Bicycle Cooperative 404-425-9989 www.sopobikes.org
Hours of operation: Tues/Thurs 7 pm - 10 pm Sat/Sun 2 pm - 5 pm _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org