Cohousing-L Mailing List: Generating income to offset dues

[O3C11N6G (normangauss]

In my community, we are looking at ways to generate income to 
offset the cost of maintaining our assets.
Charging for exclusive individual use of portions of the common 
area is one potential source of income.

Right now we charge a fee for reserved spaces in our public 
parking carport which gives us $3000 per year of revenue.

Asking for donations for use of our guest rooms has been 
suggested.  We sometimes have private parties and meetings of 
political and environmental groups for which donations are 
appreciated.

If we charged for the use of these facilities, we might have to be 
inspected, get permits, and be regulated as a business.  However, 
asking for donations gets us out of the business category and 
saves us a lot of hassle with the authorities.

I am interested to learn of strategies in other cohousing 
communities for reducing dues based on income generation.

Norm Gauss