Fundraising/Case Statement

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THIS IS THE CONTENT OF THE FINAL DOC NOT A WORKSPACE TO HACK ON, PLEASE USE OTHER PAGES. THIS DOC NEEDS A CONSISTENT VOICE.

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Organization info

Mission

Noisebridge provides the tools, resources, and space for people to learn, create, and hack in a safe and welcoming environment. We enable a wide variety of community activities, from electronics hacking to sewing to wood and metal working, from 3D printing to 3D modeling and VR development. Anyone can participate in Noisebridge for free; no membership fees or entrance fees are required to use Noisebridge. Anyone can teach classes or hold meetups in the space free of charge, provided that the events themselves are also open to everyone free of charge. We're entirely funded by donations, and run by the community; no one is in charge of Noisebridge, and everyone is in charge of Noisebridge. Everything happens at Noisebridge do-ocratically: if someone things it should be done, they're empowered to do it. This makes Noisebridge an incredibly dynamic environment, changing in response to needs of the community as soon as they arise. It also provides a glimpse into a whole new world of project and community organizing, as most people have never been in a situation where they can radically alter their surroundings and build whatever they want, without having to ask permission first.

History

Noisebridge began in 2007 as an idea in the minds of a few excited hackers at the 24th Chaos Communication Congress, taking inspiration from cbase in Berlin and Metalab in Vienna. The first physical location for Noisebridge, in the Mission district of San Francisco, was acquired in 2008, and within a few short months, the packed 1000-or-so square foot space was getting cramped. Noisebridge acquired its current space just a few blocks away from the previous one. In 2014 we had a major reboot of the current space, which significantly refurbished infrastructure, and in 2016 we undertook the construction of a combined metalshop and lasercutter workshop.

Current Programs/Events

Noisebridge has many classes and meetups. For the last decade, participants at Noisebridge have run a weekly soldering and introductory electronics class called Circuit Hacking Mondays. Along side this class on Mondays, there are regular Python classes, at both an introductory and intermediate level. Tuesdays have a Unity game development and VR class called Gamebridge Unityversity.

Until mid 2017, we also had long running web development classes on Wednesdays. We've also sporadically had classes on Haskell, category theory, type theory, Arduino, introductory sewing, and many other topics.

All of these classes are taught by people who are passionate about the subject matter, and about helping others learn. None of them were paid by Noisebridge, nor by the students: they taught these classes because they believed in sharing knowing and helping others level up their skills.

Noisebridge has also hosted many regular meetups in its history. There are currently a number of groups using Noisebridge to host events, including whiteboarding self-guided group study groups, cryptogovernance enthusiasts, hobby roboticists, Ableton music makers, noise music and video experimentalists, sewing and bag making fabric artists, and cypherpunks who work on new privacy technology. As with everything at Noisebridge, these meetups are run for free, by people who are excited to help the local community and also the world at large.