Hi All -
We are a new space (open for 3 weeks) and I have received a handful of requests for nonprofit rates. Do any of you have a dedicated nonprofit membership or provide discounts on current memberships?
Thanks!
Check out wee.allgoodwork.com for ideas…
Marion
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-------- Original message --------
From: [email protected]
Date: 8/22/18 4:49 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Coworking [email protected]
Subject: [Coworking] Nonprofit Memberships
Hi All -
We are a new space (open for 3 weeks) and I have received a handful of requests for nonprofit rates. Do any of you have a dedicated nonprofit membership or provide discounts on current memberships?
Thanks!
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We offer a 10% nonprofit discount.
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On Wednesday, August 22, 2018 at 1:50:12 PM UTC-7, [email protected] wrote:
Hi All -
We are a new space (open for 3 weeks) and I have received a handful of requests for nonprofit rates. Do any of you have a dedicated nonprofit membership or provide discounts on current memberships?
Thanks!
Our rates are already low, low, low. However, as we are still building the community I would entertain any new non-profit and work to make a win/win.
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On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 5:02 PM, Aloma Loren [email protected] wrote:
We offer a 10% nonprofit discount.
On Wednesday, August 22, 2018 at 1:50:12 PM UTC-7, [email protected] wrote:
Hi All -
We are a new space (open for 3 weeks) and I have received a handful of requests for nonprofit rates. Do any of you have a dedicated nonprofit membership or provide discounts on current memberships?
Thanks!
–
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “Coworking” group.
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Richard Stuart
Ten Below Coworking
p:
(218) 464-9724
w:
10belowcoworking.org e: [email protected]
My thoughts on this matter varies.
We got the same ask from a non profit.
The probelm is the non profit operating budget was 1.6Million Dollars while we were just getting started.
They can justified the expense, but how do justify the discount? Are they going to provide services to your members? Are the bringing in more referrals? Are they helping with programming and workshops.
Discounts because they are a non profit is not enough of an incentive to do it, especially given a lot of us start coworking spaces to support small companies and startups.
My two cents!
I do not have a blanket discount for anything except businesses structured with multiple entities.
We have in the past had a sponsored nonprofit: this is like the artist in residence program, we give a nonprofit a free membership for a year. They submit an application for the membership and the coworkers decide who gets it. It’s fun to do and a lot more engaging than a flat policy.
There are several ways to approach this, so that it has added value for your space and for your coworkers, and I would think about those things before making a policy. If they are chosing you because you are the cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that’s no way to start a relationship.
“If they are chosing you because you are the cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that's no way to start a relationship.”
100000% this. Nonprofits or not, people who want special treatment (startups are notorious for this too) are not a healthy target for a sustainable community or business.
If you’re already cheap and people won’t join unless they get a discount, consider raising your rates so that you have something to discount 
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On Aug 30, 2018, 10:36 AM +0200, Jeannine van der Linden <[email protected]>, wrote:
I do not have a blanket discount for anything except businesses structured with multiple entities.
We have in the past had a sponsored nonprofit: this is like the artist in residence program, we give a nonprofit a free membership for a year. They submit an application for the membership and the coworkers decide who gets it. It's fun to do and a lot more engaging than a flat policy.
There are several ways to approach this, so that it has added value for your space and for your coworkers, and I would think about those things before making a policy. If they are chosing you because you are the cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that's no way to start a relationship.
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Here’s what some might call the Scrooge perspective: there are 29 different IRS classifications for non-profits. Only one, 501(c)3, is a charity. Sports clubs, credit unions, farmers associations, groups against animal cruelty, etc. are all non-profits. For practical purposes, and at the risk of oversimplifying, these 28 operate like any other business. So should they be treated differently than any other business?
An acquaintance from a local non-profit (not a charity) asked us about a discount. The really short summary is I explained that we’re not and we need to make a profit to stay in business, I mentioned that I knew what “non-profit” really means. He replied, “Oh I know, but most people don’t, so I always ask because it works to get a discount pretty often.” If you ever worked as a freelancer, I guarantee you’ve had potential clients ask if you can do better on the price, and I bet they weren’t non-profit businesses. No one wants to pay more than they have to, and the worst that can happen by asking for a price break is they’ll be told “sorry, no” so why wouldn’t they ask?
Don’t feel guilty if you say no. If there’s a non-profit that works for a cause or goal you believe in and you want to donate to them by way of a discounted membership for their organization, or maybe day passes or meeting room rentals as prizes for their fundraiser, go for it if it makes sense.
I suppose for credibility I should add that we have 3 different non-profits working at Cowork Frederick. 2 are remote employees and the third uses us as their main office. We also have 2 different church leaders/pastors/ministers here. None of them get a discount, in part due to the first one (a church minister) refusing an offer of a discount because he knew the value of what we offered and he wanted to make sure we stayed around. He had also previously worked out of a cowork space on the west coast, so he definitely “got it” when it comes to coworking.
Glen Ferguson
Phone: 301-732-5165
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.coworkfrederick.com
Address: 122 E Patrick St, Frederick, MD 21701
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On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 7:20 AM, Alex Hillman [email protected] wrote:
*“If they are chosing you because you are the cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that’s no way to start a relationship.”*100000% this. Nonprofits or not, people who want special treatment (startups are notorious for this too) are not a healthy target for a sustainable community or business.
If you’re already cheap and people won’t join unless they get a discount, consider raising your rates so that you have something to discount
I do not have a blanket discount for anything except businesses structured with multiple entities.
We have in the past had a sponsored nonprofit: this is like the artist in residence program, we give a nonprofit a free membership for a year. They submit an application for the membership and the coworkers decide who gets it. It’s fun to do and a lot more engaging than a flat policy.
There are several ways to approach this, so that it has added value for your space and for your coworkers, and I would think about those things before making a policy. If they are chosing you because you are the cheapest, the relationship is based on exploitation and that’s no way to start a relationship.
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On Aug 30, 2018, 10:36 AM +0200, Jeannine van der Linden [email protected], wrote:
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