Introduction
Baltimore Hackerspace has been a member funded community workshop for the last 6 years, providing a location, tools, and training for people who wish to work on personal and collaborative projects. We are located in East Baltimore, off Rt. 40 in an industrial business park, allowing us the space and freedom to work on projects that would not be feasible in a more residential area, during hours that residential neighbors might get upset with.
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Our entry into the PPPRS (Power Racing Series) at NY Maker Faire 2013
What We Need
As a hackerspace, we've been met with rising bills, as our rent and utilities keep increasing, while a relatively stable number of members pay dues falling just short of the break-even point. Recently, our landlord "discovered" a number water bills that he'd missed over the past two years, and he's passing that expense on to us. At the same time, we've reduced membership rates, so we have a steady stream of new members. What we need is a small amount to keep us financially stable as we build up our membership ranks.
What You Get
As an established Hackerspace, we have many cool projects, materials, and tool available to us, which we plan to put to good use thanking everyone who is able to contribute. Some of the perks include 3d printed toys, laser cut mechanisms and art, T-shirts, and more! Some of our members have even stepped forward to offer some more personalized rewards, such as a chance to race on our power wheels racing series electric karts that we made from scratch, to personal lessons in microprocessor programming on popular platforms such as Arduino, PIC, Raspberry PI, and more!
Please note we started this campaign a bit earlier than we meant to, so check back in a few days for a more complete and creative list of goals.
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A prototype of the "coin" perk (Much nicer now)
The Impact
As a 501(c)3 charity, we work to promote growth and learning in our community by providing people a place to learn and work in a positive and collaborative environment. We are sustained by our membership dues, however we do open up all of our classes and events to non members, and try to provide at least 2-3 days per week where non members can come in and work with our facilities.
We understand many of the challenges that face young makers today, and strive to make our facilities available for those who cannot afford much of the equipment we have, as well as giving people a chance to try different things without having to commit a huge investment in tools or supplies, before knowing if they would like to pursue a given hobby more deeply.
The loss of our facilities would cause great difficulty for the people who rely on us for their projects, and conversely our growth will greatly benefit the community by allowing us to provide additional services and facilities for even more creative hobbies.
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Hex the bipedal robot, a longterm member project by Mark Haygood
Other Ways to Help
We always can use volunteers! If you'd like to teach a class, train people in the use of tools, or help write grants, we'd love to have you! Come on out to an Open Hack Night and meet the team!