How does membership work?
Membership is simple. You pay a monthly subscription, allowing you to access to the space during our opening times and any time there is another Keyholder in the space. You can choose the monthly subscription cost depending on how often you plan to use the space.
How much does it cost?
We operate on a monthly donation basis; members are expected to contribute fairly based on both how much they use the Space, and how much they can afford. The recommended membership payment is £30 per month, but the minimum required subscription is £10 per month.
We trust in the goodwill of our members to contribute back to the upkeep and continued running of the Space, proportionate to the value they get from its use; further to their chosen membership donation amount, we encourage those willing to get involved to help maintain or improve the Space in other ways, e.g.:
- Cleaning / tidying / organising
- Helping complete projects that benefit the Space
- Turning up to Hack The Space days – our dedicated, regular maintenance day
- Donating tools / equipment / materials (subject to our donations policy)
The boring bits
Alongside a monthly subscription, you will also need to provide us with your name and address, as we are legally obliged to keep records of all our members.
All members become a members of the company, So Make It Ltd, which is a company limited by guarantee – that means there are no shareholders. We are run on an entirely non-profit volunteer basis by our members. We are also funded from membership subscriptions.
All members are liable for just £1 to be paid in the event that the company must be wound up in debt, up to 1 year after their membership ends.
How do I become a member?
You can register your interest to become a member through our members area. There is no waiting list to join, so this process can be completed relatively quickly. The process is as follows:
- Sign up with your email address at the link above.
- You will receive an email with a link to confirm your email address.
- Log into your account and enter your details including your address.
- A Trustee or Member of the admin team will need to check your ID before approving your membership – you will need to visit the space on an open evening or when a member of the admin team is present for this to take place.
- Once your account is approved you can log in and see the bank details to set up your standing order to pay a monthly membership. So Make It admins have to manually download the banking data and upload it into the members’ area, so it may take a few days to appear in your SoMakeIt account. At this point your are a member.
- You must read the Makerspace member & workshop induction pages before using the Makerspace facilities.
We recommend all members to register on Slack to communicate with other members and to coordinate new member signup. There are many channels that can be added for different topics such as 3D printing or Laser cutting etc. There is also a channel for #trustees for any important questions. It is also worth looking at #space-open-announce to see when keyholders are opening the space outside public opening times. Note that Slack is a third-party system which requires a separate signup.
Do I have to become a member to use the space?
Yes – but after you have signed up and become a member once, you can pause or resume your monthly membership payments to deactivate or reactivate your membership status on an ad-hoc basis, automatically.
What is a keyholder?
Once you have become a member, you can request to become a keyholder. This means that you can have 24/7 access to the space whenever you like!
There are some restrictions on which tools can be used late at night as we do like to keep our neighbours happy but it means you can keep working on your project whenever suits you. It also means that you will be responsible for opening and closing the space properly.
The requirements to become a keyholder are as follows:
- Become a member with a subscription in good standing.
- Attend a Members’ meeting, which is held on the second Tuesday of the month ( calendar), at the So Make It premises at 8pm.
- Attend a Hack the Space Day, which is held on one day of the last weekend of the month (calendar)
- You will get both an RFID fob which tracks entry to the space, and a physical key. Note that we use special security keys, so we take a £10 key deposit for each key issued, refundable on return.
Please check out the list of Keyholder Responsibilities.
What else is part of membership?
As a member run organisation, we rely on members to help and support each other with developing knowledge, completing projects and contributing to make the space the best it can be. We hold monthly membership meetings, giving every member an opportunity to share their view on events, plans and development of the space. There is an agenda for these meetings which is decided by the members, giving opportunity for proposals to be made for any new ideas or plans that would make the space even better. We also hold monthly ‘Hack the Space’ days – an opportunity for us all to come together and do a specific activity that will benefit the space and its members. This is always the last weekend of the month and alternates between Saturday and Sunday. Here’s our To-Do list!
As part of your membership you get access to all the tools and materials at the space. Some of the specialist tools require a specific induction, but most of the tools can be used after your initial workshop induction. You also get use of the members storage area, which allows you to store materials and projects at the space. Please see the members storage policy for more info.