Protospace Membership Guidebook
What is Protospace?
Protospace is a private members club located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Members pay monthly dues for access to a workshop with a collection of shared tools and space. The workshop is a collaborative space where members share not only communal tools but also pool their unique knowledge and points of view to develop new skills. The space is available 24/7 to full members.
Membership levels
There are two levels of membership. They are determined by a member’s ability and choice to pay dues. The levels are:
Full membership - $50 to $unlimited/month
Members receive 24/7 access to the space, one (1) shelf for personal storage and their own dedicated key fob with identity number. Members receive access to certain restricted tools and machines at the space after proper training. Members have full voting rights.
Friend membership - $10 to $49/month
Friend members have 24/7 supervised access to the space, meaning that Friends are welcome to come down and use the space with the understanding that they are required to be supervised by a full member with a dedicated key fob. As a courtesy to the keyholder member, friend members are expected to arrive/leave at the same time or after/before supervising members. Friend members can not leave projects or personal effects at the space without prior notification and approval from other members. Friend members receive access to certain restricted tools and machines at the space after proper training. Friend members have no voting rights.
In the event a potential member is not able to meet the fiscal obligations of either level of membership, they are encouraged to talk privately with other members to work out alternative monetary arrangements that meet one of the two above categories.
Membership cannot and will not be awarded in exchange for goods and/or services.
Joining Protospace
Protospace is open to the public every Tuesday between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm. Non-members are encouraged to come down during that time and talk to current members and look at the current projects members are working on. To join, the application process is as follows:
- Fill out the personal and contact information section of the membership form. Protospace provides a new member binder to store these forms in.
- After filling out the top section of the form, the new member has one to three months to get two sponsorship signatures from existing members. These signatures verify that the members have talked to you at length and can vouch for your candidacy as a member.
- After receiving two signatures, you are now a n00b--a new member on a one month probationary period. The one month probationary period does not begin until the first month’s dues are paid. The probationary period does not apply to friend members, as such members do not receive keys or voting rights. During the probationary period, the member has all access rights friend members have in addition to one shelf for personal storage.
- At the end of the probationary period the member receives his or her personal key fob, 24/7 access and voting privileges.
Terminating membership
Membership is terminated in the following cases:
- Members are considered non-members after not paying dues for two consecutive months with no attempt to contact the board of directors and/or bank signatories. In the event a member has not paid for two consecutive months but contacts the board/signatories and provides a due date for all dues in arrears, the membership will not be terminated.
- If a member displays behavior/activity that puts the member or others at risk (e.g.: disregard for personal safety equipment (PSE) while using machines). Members are encouraged to intervene when seeing other members disregarding health and safety (H&S) regulations. Members who display abusive or offensive behavior will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Abuse and threats towards any other individual will not be tolerated by the organization. In the event a member behaves in a way that requires discipline from the group, the members will vote on the member’s place in the organization at the subsequent members meeting.
- In the event a member commits an egregious or violent act, the member’s key fob may be disabled at the discretion of the Board prior to the subsequent members meeting.
Being a Member
Protospace is a “do-ocracy”. Members are asked to keep all common workspaces clean, to ensure that no food waste or other vermin-encouraging waste is left behind and to be excellent to each other. The space is used by many different members over the course of the week and members may be using the space to host guest events. All items in the space, including cleaning supplies, refreshments, and tools (large and small) are donated. All tools and common areas are to be treated with respect. If a member or guest takes an item from the fridge, they are requested to leave a donation in lieu. Suggested donation amounts are located on the fridge door. If a member or guest uses a large amount of a common item, like dish soap or hand sanitizer, they are requested to replace the item or to donate cash towards replacing the item. The cardinal rule of Protospace is “Be Excellent to Each Other” and members are expected to treat the space and the other members with the utmost respect.
Being Excellent
Protospace is a safe environment free from harassment, disrespect and bullying. Members are expected to act with discretion and to engage in respectful behaviour with all other members and invited guests.
In the event that a member is consistently observed making disrespectful comments or acting in a disrespectful manner, a member can table a vote at the subsequent monthly meeting regarding the future membership privileges of the infractionary member, up to and including termination of membership.
Equipment Training:
Select machines and equipment at Protospace are considered restricted equipment for the following reasons:
- The machine is considered dangerous to the operator or people nearby;
- The machine requires specialized knowledge to operate properly ; or
- The owner has placed special restrictions on it.
In order to operate said machines, members are required to be trained in the safe operation of the equipment. In some cases the training may be assumed by convincing the qualified users or the owner of the equipment that you are qualified to safely operate the equipment. The purpose of the training has three priorities (in decreasing order of importance):
- To ensure the safety of the members
- To avoid damage or undue wear to the equipment.
- To assist in productive use of the equipment
Meetings
Member meetings are held at the space on the second Saturday of every month at 2:00 pm. Meetings can be called by any member by announcing the meeting on the administration email list. Members set the agenda by posting agenda items to the Protospace Wiki (http://wiki.protospace.ca). The agenda must be finalized 24 hours before the beginning of the meeting to allow all members time to review agenda items and prepare any responses or thoughts on agenda items. Agenda items posted after 2:00 pm on the Friday before the meeting will be moved to the subsequent monthly meeting.
Protospace’s fiscal year begins June 1 and ends May 31. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is to be held no more than 40 days after 12:00 am on June 1. The meeting is held to approve the Board of Directors for the fiscal year and to transact other business as necessary.
Voting at meetings
All members receive one vote with their membership. Voting is done by consensus minus one. As such, when voting, members only vote when they are against an item being discussed. If two (2) or more members disagree with an action item on an agenda, the item will not be passed.
Voting can be done by show of hands (with those who disagree raising their hands and those who agree or are neutral not raising their hands). Certain circumstances, such as the election of the Board at the AGM, permit voting with secret ballot. Any vote can be put to secret ballot provided a member generates the ballots and two (2) members review the ballots after voting.
Directors
Protospace elects directors on a yearly basis. Any full member who is current on his or her dues can run for directorship. Directors are signing authorities on the bank account and can collect and deposit dues and write cheques for rent and utilities. Directors also approve all promotional materials and any documents for public distribution.
Protospace has made a conscious decision to not appoint officers and all items requiring sign off (be it a fiscal or legal matter) are to go through the directors.
The directors of Calgary Protospace Ltd. for 2013/2014, elected on June 8th 2013, are:
- James Ravenhill
- Jim Akeson
- John Jardine
- Kevin Loney
- Michael Belanger (Resigned 13-July-2013)
- Shannon Hoover
The directors can be accessed directly by members through the Protospace Administration list or by emailing directors@protospace.ca.
The Board is set at no less than two (2) directors and no more than seven (7). As such, the Board may see it fit to elect additional directors during the fiscal year. Per the Articles of Association, this can be done at a member meeting or the Board can decide to appoint a director as they see fit.
Guest Policy
Members are allowed to host guest events including open houses, public talks and workshops. There are several policies surrounding open guest events:
Guest:
Guests are individuals who are not members of Protospace or Friends of Protospace. On non-open house nights, all guests will be required to sign in as guests of their sponsoring member or friend member. Guests are considered to be guests under the following circumstances:
- Individuals visiting the space on a non-Tuesday evening on a one-off basis.
- Individuals visiting the space on multiple non-Tuesday evening times up to:
-- One (1) visit per week (Sunday-Saturday) up to eight (8) consecutive weeks;
-- Two (2) visits per week up to four (4) consecutive weeks;
-- Three (3) or more visits per week during a condensed period of time while working on an existing member project. Members are requested to give notice to the email list when bringing non-members into the space on a frequent basis.
It is requested that guests are invited prior to travelling to and working at the space. Showing up uninvited at the space is considered abuse of privileges and guest rights may be revoked to non-member individuals on a case-by-case basis.
Special Events:
Members are welcome to host special events, including events with invited guests, at the space any time except Tuesday evenings (as the Tuesday night open house start and stop times are flexible, members are not permitted to host events ending later than 4:30 pm on Tuesday night or starting earlier than 12:00 am Wednesday morning). In the event a member wishes to schedule a guest event during that time (guest events on Tuesday evenings are defined as anything other than the usual unstructured open house schedule), the member is required to request the permission of the group on the member email list at least 72 hours before the commencement of the Tuesday open house. If two (2) or more members disagree with hosting the event, the member will not be permitted to host the event on that night. If a member does not announce the guest event to the list, they will not be permitted to host the event during that time.
Special events can be held from Wednesday commencing at 12:00 am to Tuesday ending at 4:30 pm. If a member is hosting an event at the space, the member is requested to announce this to the other members by posting it to the Administration email list. Events lasting longer than five (5) hours require consensus minus one approval from the list, meaning no more than one (1) member disagrees with hosting the event. Dissenters must post their disagreement with the event prior to 72 hours of the event being posted to the list. If the event is posted between 12:00 am and 7:00 am, dissent must be posted 72 hours from 7:00 am after the event is posted.
At no time, can a member allow a guest event to supercede the rights of other members to use the space within reason (ie: when a talk is scheduled, a member who is using the space for other purposes is expected to be quiet, but does not have to engage in the event at hand).