Business Plan

From JR

Contents 1 Jigsaw Renaissance Plan 1.1 VISION 1.2 MISSION 1.3 OBJECTIVES 1.4 STRATEGY 1.5 PLAN 2 Additional Notes 2.1 Philosophy of the Plan 2.2 Mission Notes 2.3 in-progress notes: February 2010 2.4 Vision Notes 3 See Also

[edit] Jigsaw Renaissance Plan

[edit] VISION

We want people working together, sharing ideas, no matter what their background - no matter what you do in this world, it can speak to what someone else is doing in this world. There are many people who wish to do many things if only they had a safe space in which to start and the tools available to them. We believe strength in community can be better achieved through empowered individuals who are willing to both teach and learn with others in their community.

Jigsaw Renaissance identifies itself as part of a larger self-organizing movement in society evident in Open Source software, Open fabrication, Bar camps, new dialog & deliberation systems, an alignment towards self-organized creative acts; Jigsaw Renaissance coordinates and convenes with others similarly aligned, and assists other collaborative spaces.

Self Organized, creative, voluntary, varying structures, emergent Resource to community in which we reside

[edit] MISSION

Inspire individuals to make community based around fierce collaboration and action. (see also

[edit] OBJECTIVES

• Reach 50k in projected annual income via membership dues by January 2011
  • according to Variable Member Dues, this is equivalent to 100 points, or approximately 100 members
• 2 series of classes on transdisciplinary ideals by January 2011
• Have visit from James Carlson and Bucket Brigade by November 2010 for capacity building
• gain another 500 square feet of usable space (via ramp removal while maintaining accessibility and by installing mezzanine)
• have 1 all-member event every three months
• clearly establish membership joining procedures by October 2010
• research, identify, and obtain grants - applied for 3 grants by December 2010
  • space improvement (take out ramp, put in lift, put in mezzanine)
  • community involvement (sponsorship, neighborhood parties, etc)

[edit] STRATEGY

• Be guided by Experience. James Carleson from Bucketworks is guiding our efforts through The School Factory, and we consult with locals such as Jacob Sayles and Shelly Farnham of Office Nomads and Seattle Dorkbot.
• Call of the expertise and drive of members to create a sustainable organizational system
• Wing it!

We have a strategic plan. It's called doing things.

[edit] PLAN

• Work out the logistics for moving into a house in South Park, Seattle.
• Obtain grants (unknown sources: x, y, and z)
• Develop a logo, pamphlet, and branding for marketing ourselves.
• Re-evaluate in February 2010 over next steps

[edit] Additional Notes

[edit] Philosophy of the Plan

Our philosophy is to have a continuously changing vision & mission statement. While the kernel of the vision and the mission stays substantially the same, (though even those may change,) the expression of that vision and mission is continuously revisited and refined.

We do this to keep the vision fresh, to ensure that we are still working with and on the mission, and to be responsive to inner and outer forces.

[edit] Mission Notes

First mission statement was (pre January 2010) "Our mission is to build a fiercely cooperative makerspace in Seattle, that generates novel ideas through interdisciplinary collaboration, and nurtures an attitude of adventurous benevolence."

[edit] in-progress notes: February 2010

Celebrations:

• We've moved in, the space is lit and looking nice,
• grant work is progressing smoothly,
• we've had several classes,
• we're organizing several more.
• We're getting to know each other well.
• We're making more money than we thought we would.
• We have smooth relationships with the other tenants.

Plan changes likely to include:

• The month that we begin looking for a new place to hop to; I think I remember Willow speak for May or June 2010, though I'm not really sure.
  • "I like the idea of lining up a space - if we keep growing at or near our current rate, we will need a bigger space by June, maybe sooner. I'd like a kitchen and easier access." -- copied from email by Willow, 2010-02-10.
• Outreach is still important, literature is still important. People are arriving and don't have much to take home.
• People still don't understand what's going on, what the place is, what it's for.
• Planning of events.

Possible objectives:

• Date for a gathering where we organize some 6-12 events together. (yes?)
  • ex: Zombies
  • Fulfillment on those events.
  • An event making use of the woodshop facilities.
• Dates for first convenings about new location, and then new location search.
• Meeting with James Carleson. (This period? Next period?)
• (...something about membership count, gatherings, ...)
• (...something about giving form to partnership with other maker spaces...)
  • At least 3 visits to other maker spaces?
  • At least 3 Jigsaw Renaissance events that take place in other maker spaces, labs, shops, ..?

I'm always interested in, "How do we take it to the next level?" A new location will be a new level in itself, but conceptually, in the mission/vision sense, what is the higher ambition?

[edit] Vision Notes

Environment, Sustainability, Ecology -- these were always part of the original vision discussions, I just noticed that they do not appear anywhere at all in the present vision statement. Is this something we want to drop from our vision, or do we want to incorporate them in the vision? And if we want to preserve environmental vision, how does it look like in our actions and our activities?

I wish we had more form on "coordinates and convenes with others similarly aligned" -- what kinds of things do we envision doing with other communities?

This is some free thinking on my part:

• Creating a registry of other communities, who they are, and what special capacities they offer.
• Visitations -- visiting people in other maker communities, keeping abreast of what they are doing, what they need, forming personal relationships with people in other communities.
• Maker Offerings -- visiting other communities that perhaps do not see themselves as primarily maker oriented, and offering facilities, tools, connections; asking them: "How can we help you? Can we advertise for you? Can we connect you with people? Can we offer our space or our tools or our people?"
• Ask "Are there projects we can engage with you in?"
• Also sharing our own, particular needs: Translations, access to communities we do not have much interaction with (think of black, latino, and asian communities; think of business society; think of public schools; think of government,) work, financial, or building, name recognition, etc.,

The idea is that we can give form to how we would engage with others, and perhaps suggest it in our vision statement.

[edit] See Also

• The One Page Business Plan -- the practice we've used to date to form our vision & mission; combined with Damanhurian style commitments to perpetual change

• 2009-06-08 Mission and Objectives -- an early meeting in which we talked about mission, objectives
• 2009-06-04 Initial Meeting -- initial meeting discussed some high level ideas
• Disciplines we accommodate -- list of several disciplines we want to accommodate
• Values
• Grants