[Grae]

I strongly second the suggestion to explore operating as a non-profit if you continue.

My local incarnation, BARN[0][1] is a financially sustainable nonprofit. However, we wouldn't be sustainable as a for-profit company, certainly not if we had investors chasing a return.

[0] bainbridgebarn.org

[1] Disclosure: I'm the executive director and deeply in love with this place. Happy to connect to share our experiences with anyone seriously considering a similar path.

[javawizard]

Small world - I'm the (as of 4 days ago former) board chair of a makerspace in Salt Lake City[0]. Our former shop manager is from Port Townsend and couldn't say enough about you guys.

We are also a financially sustainable nonprofit. I'm convinced that's the only long term viable way to do a makerspace that targets hobbyists and small businesses/craftspeople.

[0] https://makesaltlake.org

[Grae]

That's awesome, small world indeed. Make Salt Lake looks great.

Yeah I share that conviction. This space is less about creating value and capturing a part of it than creating community (though done well the value created by a thriving community _is_ substantial). And for reasons I've only partially grokked, many people are willing to contribute to a community backed by a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation but not a regular corporation.

[ryukafalz]

Likewise, I'm currently on the management team at Hive76 in Philadelphia, and yeah - we couldn't operate as a for-profit company. We're a nonprofit, we're all volunteers, and while that means things move (sometimes a lot) more slowly, we can operate on razor-thin margins. We couldn't afford to pay one person's salary, but as a volunteer org we can keep going so long as we can afford rent/utilities/tools/consumables.