A way to expand

Free Geek has spent most of its seven year history expanding (though there was a short period of contraction in there as well). If this continues, we will eventually outgrow our space. Additionally, even if we don't outgrow our space, we may be forced to move due to gentrification of the neighborhood or other external factors. Having a second location (or more) is worth considering. This page attempts to outline a general plan for expanding one step at a time in such a way that we would be less likely to overextend ourselves and in a way that we could leave our options open.

Park a vehicle somewhere

Getting a vehicle would allow us to experiment with a weekly drop off site in another neighborhood. As an example only, we could find a grocery store in Hillsboro that would allow us to use their parking lot on Tuesdays. We could advertise in the local newspaper and also post fliers around the area announcing a drop off point. Then the truck plus a staffer and a volunteer could staff the drop off point, take donations, and drive the load back to Free Geek. Assuming we already have a vehicle, this commits us to nothing in the long term and allows us to explore various different areas for a possible second location.

Deploy containers

This is the same as above, but allows for a more permanent presence and larger storage capacity. It also wouldn't tie up a vehicle that we could be using for other things. We'd need to find out how much it costs to get our hands on a container (lease or buy) and how much to haul containers from various places to the mothership. A single vehicle could haul containers in from multiple locations.

Make connections with other nonprofits

Going back to the Hillsboro example, we could connect with community organizations that already exist in the area and try to gauge how much need there is in their community. We could attend meetings, post articles on their email lists and in their newsletters, etc. Together with one of the above ways of establishing a physical presence in a new neighborhood or suburb, we'd gather enough information to see if a more permanent base is worth pursuing.

Establishing a separate location

There are a few options which are not mutually exclusive.

Minimal established presence

If community interest were sufficient we could rent space and establish a collection site and thrift store. This would allow volunteers in the neighborhood help in receiving, prebuild, and perhaps recycling, as well as volunteer in the store. Build could still happen at the mothership and Freekboxen would travel outward in an otherwise empty truck that brings recyclables and reusables back. If this is successful, we could grow into a larger, more full fledged operation. If we were really confident, we could skip this step and move on to one of the next two.

Create a branch

A Free Geek branch would operate under the same corporate entity as the mothership does. We could centralize bookkeeping, payroll, supply purchases, etc. There would be a single board of directors (with some kind of input from each branch), but there'd be multiple staff collectives and community councils. Hours worked at one location could be used at the other. If the mothership had to close, we could move our base of operations to a different branch pretty easily.

Spin off a sister

Rather than try to operate multiple locations we could help a local community council form and incorporate. The new group would be autonomous and relate to us much like the current startups do, except that our help could be more hands on.