Crunching the numbers

As we started envisioning what PEX could look like, none of us Steward Members saw profit as a driver of what we are doing. We want an accessible space that prioritizes people and relationships. We chose to organize as a cooperative to put people over profit. All nine of us Steward Members are working towards this mission of ours voluntarily. In our bylaws, in the event our organization sees surplus at the end a given year, we've made a goal that 50% would go back into PEX operating funds for future development, 25% would go into a Community Giving Fund giving us a pot of money to support other orgs that we want to financially back, and the remaining 25% would be distributed to the Member Stewards based on the number of volunteer hours each of us put in over the year. It's our goal to get there, but it may take a while before we see surplus. As much as we long for a barter & trade system of commerce or to do away with 'capital' all together, the fact is … that is not where we are living. We have expenses. We have rent, we have utilities, we have administrative costs and supplies that need to be purchased. As Kit has mentioned before, them and their partner have graciously covered our bills as we slowly build on our income through generous contributions of neighbors and friends, supporters on Patreon, sales of PEX logo merch and punch cards. In the interest of transparency, we thought we'd give our community an insight to our numbers.

Expenses Per Month
Rent - $566
Utilities (gas, electric, internet) - average $120
Admin Expenses (software, insurance, bookkeeping support) - around $350
Supplies and Incidentals - about $200

We are up to $1,236/month just to occupy and operate our space. Our goal each month is to raise $1,500, giving us a cushion for when the unexpected happens. And it sure would be nice to be in a spot where we can pay back Kit & Chase soon. To date we have yet to hit this $1,500/month goal. Last month we brought in $775 in total, $400 of which was during our grand opening party. We still have a ways to go before this community space can support itself.

After our initial HiLos conversations, the nine of us that kept talking and eventually became PEX's founding Members wanted to start small - a micro community space - to see how and if Bremerton would rally behind this idea. Could this neighborhood support a space built by the community and for the community?? The momentum feels like it's building. The energy is heading towards, yes, yes we can.

• Steward Member, Mary, acting Treasurer