[sudo-discuss] Lease

Fri Apr 18 21:22:48 PDT 2014

On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 6:42 PM, Matthew Senate <mattsenate at gmail.com>wrote:

> Thanks for sharing Danny, but do I want to clarify something, for everyone:
>
> *Nothing is certain.*
>
> As I suggested at the last sudo room meeting, discussing with David Keenan
> about some topics the rest of the group had discussed during the sudo
> meeting prior to his arrival, the primary focus of the Omni collective
> should be:
>
> *to build consensus among the member collectives.*
>

Yeah.

> I think it is incredibly important to celebrate this primary activity at
> every pass.
>
> For instance, I don't think taking a loan, of any sort, from anyone (even
> friends) is a good thing. I would only consider a loan as a compromise, if
> absolutely necessary. However, I don't believe it is absolutely necessary
> to take a loan if we truly have enough collectives and momentum.
>

It depends on the nature of the loan. The Copenhagen hackerspace was
started by getting loans of $200 to $2000 from various people in the
community, with the stipulation that they would be paid back when the
hackerspace could pay them back. I personally signed tiny loan agreements
for each of these individuals. The hackerspace ended up paying everyone
within 2-3 years. I don't know why we'd be opposed to friendly loans for
the Omni, as long as everyone is on the same page and as long as we are
confident that we can pay the monthly costs.

> Secondarily, I believe it is integral to verify our own commitments by
> putting money on the table starting May 1 (to assemble a deposit), as Danny
> suggested based on the bookkeeper's advice. Further, I am not inclined to
> consent to sudo room agreeing to sign a lease for The Omni without having
> each member collective put some substantial contributions together prior to
> signing.
>
> If the existing delegates of the Omni collective think that the only
> viable/feasible way to make this work is through a loan, then what The Omni
> Collective delegates should say is:
>
> *Our current proposal includes taking a loan, for $XX,XXX in order to
> couple with member-contributions $YY,YYY, which doesn't look very feasible
> otherwise.*
>
> Note: enough confusion has been generated so far through this discussion
> about a potential June 1st agreement about the Omni that I do not think my
> statements above are about semantics or language, but about the very basis
> of what we are doing and how we are doing it: building a trusting community
> seeking to engage in hefty agreements (in some cases severing old ones
> along the way) with shared vision and values at heart.
>
> // Matt
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 5:36 PM, Danny Spitzberg <stationaery at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> It's almost certainly a no-interest loan (David K can confirm). Loans
>> like these will likely be our best friend for the near term.
>>
>> Donations are great, too, and ideal except that we can't promise donors
>> any tax-deductible benefits until we have either a confirmation letter from
>> the IRS acknowledging receipt of our 501(c)3 application for Omni (6-8
>> weeks reply since they just layed off 30k employees...) or a fiscal
>> sponsorship (doable with a 1-page form and effective within a day).
>>
>>  A quick note about initial funding/financing: I want to also suggest
>> that the immediate goal of $30-45k floated as necessary to get us in the
>> door might need a nudge upwards to $60-90k to make the move safely and
>> securely. I met with someone yesterday who is interested in pro-bono
>> bookkeeping for Omni (hurray!!) and she recommended having 3 months worth
>> of expenses (rent, etc) in cash reserves from Day 1; she also
>> recommended souricng the majority of that from the collectives for reasons
>> of commitment... but depending on options from capable supporters, loans
>> might suffice.
>>
>> Finally, a note about fundraising prospects. Once we are in the door and
>> the dust has settled someway, literally filling the calendar with all
>> collectives events and programming will make a credible demonstration to
>> more donors/lenders/contributors of all kinds. As well, this kind of
>> exposure is perfectly amendable in media assets for a crowdfunding
>> campaign. I've done research on a dozen development projects similar to
>> Omni and found that they raised a maximum of 10% via Kickstarter-style
>> crowdfunding; at least 90% of their funding came directly from investors.
>> What's more, they launched campaigns two-thirds of the way into 2- and
>> 3-year fundraising raising timelines,  no sooner than 1 year into their
>> effort and after having their financial model built from the ground up and
>> vetted by accountants.
>>
>> I'm looking forward to catching up on other discussions from this week!
>> Have a great Friday evening, all!
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Hol Gaskill <hol at gaskill.com> wrote:
>>
>>> so it's a donation and not a loan we're talking about for that amount?
>>>
>>> on Apr 18, 2014, Andrew <andrew at roshambomedia.com> wrote:
>>> >Some clarity on The Omni. We are still in negotiations, but the deposit
>>> is about $30,000>(twice rent) the extra $20,000 are to cover first month
>>> rent and have some standing>funds. Also, more importantly, last I heard we
>>> do have donors who are willing to>cover this cost. We are currently dotting
>>> our I's and crossing our T's Including>gaining fiscal sponsorship so
>>> donations will be tax deductible.> >
>>> tl;dr: The Omni is happening.>
>>> >>On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 7:29 AM, Hol Gaskill <hol at gaskill.com>
>>> wrote:>>food and furniture? but isn't the common area where we are supposed
>>> to keep our receptionists???> this is seriously getting more off the wall
>>> every week to week and a half. the place>was seriously empty before sudo
>>> came in and he claims we are hurting his ability>to rent the space? if he
>>> were more reasonable then we would've already filled the>space with other
>>> likeminded groups! don't you see what's happening, george?> > we should be
>>> hedging our bets with a backup plan in case enough support for omni>plan
>>> doesn't materialize - i am generally optimistic about collective of
>>> collectives>but the $50,000 dollar deposit and the location are huge
>>> barriers to moving into>the omni. couldn't make it to the meeting this
>>> week, but are there any other leads>beside 8th and alice? recently came
>>> upon the term 'hackbase'
>>> http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/Cyberhippietotalism which could offer up
>>> some more viable venues. what if
>>> we had a cluster of hackbases>each with its own flavor? i've always seen
>>> this as something that would grow beyond>a single building. could have the
>>> shop along with a bike co-op operating out of>the basement of one house, a
>>> 2D and 3D print shop w/cafe in another, all networked>and uniformly
>>> autonomous.> > i don't know if this was discussed at the meeting, but i've
>>> in the past advocated>going on a 'space diet' - no not astronaut ice cream,
>>> just dispersing our infrastructure>to various ad hoc facilities for a month
>>> to accumulate reserves between spaces if>necessary in our metamorphosis. it
>>> has its own problems but is worth considering>if we see a space we love
>>> that has a prohibitive deposit.> >
>>> cheers>_______________________________________________> sudo-discuss
>>> mailing list> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org>
>>> https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss>
>>>
>>>
>>> >>>-- >-------Andrew Lowe
>>> Cell: 831-332-2507
>>> http://roshambomedia.com
>>> >
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
>>>
>>
>>
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