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Shop Locations
If your organization is just starting out, any location is better than no location. Choosing an ideal location is a luxury of funding and organizational success. All the same, sometimes success can be attributed to location, location, location.
Good Locations
- Next to a University Campus: This is especially good if you are a volunteer organization. With every spring comes a new batch of energetic students to replenish your volunteer supply.
- Near public transportation: Buses, trains, subways, and light rails put you closer to people with higher social conscience or greater need for a bicycle and your other services. The ideal would be part of a Transit Hub.
- Near high foot traffic areas: Just like a for-profit business, there is no better way to get customers than a highly visible area where people just "stop in to check out what you do."
Bad Locations
- Industrial: You will find some sweet warehouse space out here, but it can be hard to get volunteers to come out to the middle of nowhere.
Donated Space
Private Owner
Typically this is only done when a space is vacant, and you will probably be asked to leave when the property owner finds someone else willing to pay rent.
According to the IRS, if a property owner donates space it is considered an In-Kind Donation and needs to be reported on your IRS 990 Form as income. The property owner needs to give you proof that they have rented the space in the past for that amount.
They need a receipt on your letterhead stating that you are 501(c)(3) and that they donated the space stating the starting and end dates.
- They can then claim it as a business expense, charity donations, or a tax write off.
- If part of the condition is that you will renovate the space, under Quid pro quo, the value of the renovation needs to be subtracted from the donated amount.
Government Organization
Same as a private owner, but the state doesn't need a tax write off.
Paying Rent VS Using Free Space
- Sopo Bicycle Co-op chose to pay rent for a shop space in order to maintain location security. This decision was made based upon observation of the experience of neighboring Decatur Yellow Bikes. Because DYB used spaces available until a new paying tenant signed the lease, the organization received 7 days notice before their move out dates. DYB is currently without a workshop space.
- The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective also started out in a warehouse a volunteer lived in. After he and his roommates (warehousemates?) got fed up with bikes the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective almost rented a storage unit. Luckily a run down free space in the Glendale Plaza appeared, they stayed there for a year. After that year they were going to sign an official lease for $1000 per month. The building was sold and the new landlord and they had 3 days to leave or pay $1800 per month. As luck would have it a property owner (also an avid cyclist) sitting in an Exchange Club meeting listening to a presentation about the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective had a 3000 sq. ft. space near a UTA TRAX stop for $650 per month. They are still there.
The moral of the story is, you pay for what you get, so if you don't pay squat, you get treated like squat. Paying rent translates into stability, now they can worry about other things.
Types of Shop Spaces (Private Residence, Warehouse, Other Storage Space, Commercial/Retail Space, Etc)
- Sopo BIcycle Co-op's first shop space was located in a volunteer's house, which was problematic for at least two reasons. First, shop activities were curbed by the wants and needs of the volunteer's housemates. Second, being located in a private residence appeared to curb outreach. It was difficult to get anyone other than friends of volunteers to show up and use the shop. Relocating to a storage space behind a gallery in a busy pedestrian-friendly(ish) business district in a gentrifying area overrun with hipsters has fixed both of these problems.
- The Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective used to have a location in a very low-income part of the Salt Lake Valley. While it was almost impossible to get volunteers down to the space, or paying customers, they did provide a wonderful service to the community. Then they moved to an higher income, but industrial location next to a light rail train stop. While there was a significant decrease in walk-in low-income customers, the drastic increase in volunteers produces more bikes for low-income receipients than the old place. So the lesson they learned was that the best location is where your volunteers are most likely to go; reach low-income populations through out-reach programs.