User's Groups On Fund Raising And Procuring Facilities?

crlf asks: "I've been trying to book rooms for my Toronto LUG from our local university for months and am beginning to realize that many institutions do not really care to host groups like LUGs for free. We are on our way to incorporating ourselves as an NPO, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice as to which kind of locations would freely take us in and what kinds of other events LUGs around the world organize as social and fund-raising events."

Comments

Here's how we did it.

[Hackboy]

When we formed the Air Capitol Linux Users Group (ACLUG) we got it sponsored by the ACM chapter at Wichita State. Since ACM was a offical university organization we had no trouble booking rooms.

Our LUG

[golliher]

We have our regular monthly meetings in classrooms on the University of Georgia campus and aren't charged. There are many UGA staff members in our lug and they can usually arrange a classroom for us. Perhaps you could find a faculty sponsor to arrange a free room for you.

For large public events like an installfest we rent space in the student center. The fees vary. Offical student groups get a substantial price break. We sell LUG t-shirts to cover the cost of the room.

We don't have fund rasing events as such. We choose to maintain zero LUG assets and sell only enough T-shirts to cover the cost of events. However you did ask what type of social events other LUG have and one we all really seem to enjoy is "hackday".. basically it's a LAN party, but the focus isn't games.. it's hacking on or with Linux.
People bring their computers setup and hack until dawn, watch movies, drink cokes, etc. It's amazing how many useful little tips you can pick up watching an experienced Linux user. Some of the best Unix/Linux tricks I've picked up are ones that the other person would never have thought to mention. Observering other geeks use their Linux boxen can really be educational.

In the past our LUG has met at bar's and restaurants, but as the group grew it became harder to find somewhere where everyone could hear each other. For a time we meet in the local cybercafe (until it closed). If there's a cyber cafe in your area, it's a good bet they'd host you. Public libraries often have meeting rooms available for communitry groups too.

I have a question

[Kris_J]

I've been looking at either joining or starting some sort of technology-oriented group. I have found a couple of possible candidates, but they always fail in one particular aspect. They don't actually have a permanent location. Sure there are meetings, but there's no "club house". Nowhere to go on a lazy Sunday afternoon. No central place where people can go if other plans fall through.

As such you get politics with no community -- the worst of all worlds.

While I was at Uni, all the groups had a permanent location. Students could crash there between classes. There was always stuff going on. I spent a lot of time reparing PCs and setting them up on the desks. Now I'm working I can't find any similar thing. The Gamer's Guild rents a hall on Saturdays, JAFWA has a session from 5-10pm each Sat. night, the PerthPCUG meets once a month at a Uni lecture theatre. These groups never evolve, or if they do it's at 7th speed or 28th speed -- meanwhile the politics runs at normal pace in the background.

How does a non-uni group find, fund and run a permanent "club house"?

Shameless plug + Advice

[Lord Kano]

The group that I belong to, the WPNGG, meets at a local municipal building. They have a large room for community activities, and they don't have a problem with us using the place as long as we don't wreck the place and clean up when we're done. We got the senior citizens group to allow us to use their tables by agreeing to fix all of their old broken ones.

As far as fun raising, we collect $3.00 from each attending member per meeting. $3.00 every 3 weeks doesn't break the bank. When attendance is high, we can clear a lot of money to spend of switches, network cables, and whatnot.

I don't know how things are up in Canada, but municipal buildings are usually good places to hold such meetings. Local governments like the image that it projects to have computer user groups in their facilities. Just be ready to do minor favors for them in return, a few WPNGG members agreed to look over some old PS1s and whatnot that the Borough of Trafford had amassed.

LK