Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Use

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

We found that our original fears about the commonhouse being overused by
private interests to be unfounded. After several years the amount of private
use, either for private parties, or money raising workshops, is incidental
to the community use. Some of the reasons for that is that we are located
kind of out in the country, there is limited parking available, and members
understand how commonhouse use by outsiders impacts the community. I would
say we have 5-6 private outsider type events in an average year. 

We allow for private use but charge a fee for such use. And all private use
has to have a member sponsor, who is responsible for the cleanup and
theoretically damages (we have never had any damages from an event) Members
have used the commonhouse for private paid workshops, in a couple of cases
we have also done this as a fundraiser for community needs. I hosted a
facilitators retreat that raised $1,000 to pay for some improvements in the
community. So private use for money can also benefit the community.


Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood Cohousing, Snohomish County, WA
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
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