stardust

This post covers my findings so far in the experiment of running the Berkeley Rationality and Effective Altruism Community Hub (REACH). Crossposted on EA Forum and LessWrong. tl;dr * REACH has been running since March 2018 (around three months) * It’s doing well * Hundreds of people have enjoyed REACH * During the day, there are generally between 3 and 10 people coworking * Regular events draw 10-40 people * Large one-time events draw around 100 * It has broad support -- over 100 people have donated significant time (from one afternoon of work up to around 40 hours) and/or money * Patreon, one-time donations, and guest rooms have covered the rent until it was recently raised * Community guests can stay there for relatively low prices for the area * It has been full 75% of the time in May * I’d like you to be involved * Visit and attend events at REACH * Volunteer (see this doc for some ways to help) * Host events * Monday, Thursday, and Friday nights are currently available for recurring or one-time events (see calendar) * Help bridge our funding gap * Rent has gone up to $6k/month unless we find a new venue * We need to be able to pay a manager * Managing the space takes 10-30 hours per week * Help us find and apply for grants * already planning to re-apply for CEA and BERI grants * Put your own money in the pot if you find the project valuable (see Patreon or Paypal) * Provide specific items to improve the space Why We Needed a Community Space What A Physical Space Can Do for Community Around December 2017, I started thinking that it would be really nice to have a central place where community members could: * Conveniently host events (a function that had been fulfilled by the CFAR office before the switch to badged access) * Cowork with community members during the day * Come for low-key spontaneous socializ