I belong to a maker space called The Bodgery. We get our name from an English word “bodge” which is actually a deprecating word indicating shoddy work. We like to think of it as meaning to “McGyver” something – from the TV show of the same name.

We’ve been in existence for 10 years, having started as a social club at the public library. But it’s not as much fun talking about making things as it is actually making them. So we – I say we, even though I didn’t join until 2017 – met in basements and garages for a few months to make things.

Word got around and as more people joined the group, it was decided to find a space with a cheap enough rent and a few hundred square feet of space that we could move our tools into. Thus was born The Bodgery. We are now in our third space of slightly less than 21,000 sq. ft. and space is again getting tight.

We currently have over 600 members and we have 20 to 40 people sign up every month. Because we don’t have contracts, a lot of members join because they have a specific project to make and don’t have access otherwise to a space and tools. So membership fluctuates from month to month

We are a non-profit organization run by the membership through an annually elected Board of Directors, which provides space, tools, and instruction to our members, and until we gained over 300 members, provided instruction in tool use to the public as well. We no longer have nights where the public can come in to use tools as we have grown to enough members to have to use scheduling calendars for the tools.

However, we do give classes in various areas for members and the public which we announce on our website and on Meetup.com. We have hosted a summer camp for kids and work in partnership with several schools to enrich kids by giving them experiences in woodworking, stained glass, jewelry, sewing, screen printing, bookbinding, and other crafts.

We are funded by paid memberships, use fees for some equipment, the occasional grant, and donations. In addition, we offer semi-private workspaces at an additional fee. The studios are very much in demand and we always have a waitlist. We have a two-tier membership system in which most members pay the full rate. The second tier is half-price for full-time students, people who receive assistance, family members, and those over 65.

We are now looking at buildings and hoping to be able to raise funds for a down payment on our own building. We still have two years on our current lease, but buying our current building comes with problems we’d prefer not have to be responsible for fixing. We’ll see what happens.