Sidebar: this thread has been so great, truly the google group at its best. Thanks everybody who contributed so far.
-Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Friday, April 13, 2012 at 9:37 AM, Eli Malinsky wrote: > We are an example of an organization that started with a rental model > and then "graduated" to an ownership model. We rent 24,000 sq ft and > own 36,000 sq ft (remember, our model is a bit different than a > traditional coworking space - we include private offices). > Interestingly enough, our third space will be another rental - 10,000 > sq ft. I love renting - lots of freedom. But, we felt vulnerable (what > if our great landlord sold the building?) and the issue of equity was > a concern ($500k per yer to rent?). > > To raise funds, we issued a "Community Bond" - we took investments > from people and organizations willing to support our work - and they > will be paid back with interest. The story of our Community Bond can > be found here: http://socialinnovation.ca/communitybonds. BUT - this > model is specific both to our nonprofit classification and our > jurisdiction (Ontario, Canada). Still, there may be some interesting > bits here. > > It's hard to make a hard and fast rule given the dynamism of this > field and the variety of spaces, but I'm certainly happy we started > with a rental space. It gave us a change to build our brand, hone our > systems and discover what we wanted to be, before assuming ownership. > Also - it's worth adding we would have never gotten the mortgage rate > - or investment dollars - if we couldn;t prove a sound business model. > > Eli Malinsky > Centre for Social Innovation > Toronto, Canada > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com > (mailto:coworking@googlegroups.com). > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > (mailto:coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.