Subscription messaging

This is the text that one reads before joining the Hackspace and committing to a subscription amount. It is likely that it is highly influential to our monthly revenues and therefore it is important that it works well.

Some goals:

• Don't deter or exclude those who cannot afford.
• Raise awareness on what the space needs to be sustainable.
• Avoid under-valuing the space.

Propose, discuss, vote

Current messages

"Membership is paid monthly by standing order. We ask that you pay what you think the space is worth to you. Running an organisation like this in London isn't cheap, so please be as generous as you can. The minimum subscription is £5/month."

Issues:

• Gives no hard guidance on what we need to survive.
• New subscriptions might tend towards £5 as it's the only figure mentioned.
• Could 'minimum' be misinterpreted as: 'The minimum that LHS needs to survive'.
• I might feel foolish/extravagant spending £40 even if I can afford it - nothing is reassuring me that it's okay to do so.

Proposed messages

"Membership is paid monthly by standing order. We ask that you pay what you think the space is worth to you. Running an organisation like this in London isn't cheap, so please be as generous as you can. The minimum subscription is £5/month and our members currently pay anything from £5 up to £100/month. Our aim is to make the space accessible to all while also being sustainable."

Issues:

• I would like to state
  • the average as a guide, say £25
  • that you should never pay more than you can afford
  • that you if you cannot afford even £5, then don't subscribe for now

(I'll draft something later)

"Membership is paid monthly by standing order. We ask that you pay what you think the space is worth to you. Running an organisation like this in London isn't cheap, so please be as generous as you can. The minimum subscription is £5/month. The space requires an average subscription of £27/month to survive."

Issues:

• still gives no indication of how much we need (which averaged for our current 160 members is £27 per member per month)