(Note: all contributions are billed in US dollars.*)

HackerspaceSG is Singapore's very own hackerspace.

There are hundreds of such hackerspaces around the world, where people with common interests in computers, technology, science, digital and electronic art, come together to meet, socialise and collaborate.

Built by and for geeks, nerds, inventors, engineers, and entrepreneurs, HackerspaceSG is the Singapore hacker community's home, living room and laboratory. Come hang out with the community in the evenings. Co-work with us during the day. We also host regular events, meetups, presentations, workshops, and movie nights for the local community.

(See also: How hackerspaces make any city an open source city.)

Hackerspaces are, most simply, the meatspace equivalent of open source projects. People go there to hack on all sorts of different sub-projects, get together for meetings, share ideas, and share resources. Hackerspaces are incredibly important to the growth of open source ideals at a local level.

*If you are based in Singapore, your bank may impose a foreign transaction fee of approximately 2.5% to 3.5%. You may wish to use a prepaid debit card to avoid such fees. You may also wish to contribute at our Open Collective page, which bills in SGD.

**On the bright side, GitHub does not charge any fees for GitHub Sponsors payments, which will go a long way towards keeping us alive. Thanks, GitHub!

Why are we raising funds?

HackerspaceSG has always been a physical space that serves the greater tech and maker communities in Singapore. We've survived almost 12 years and a pandemic thanks to the financial contributions from our members and supporters, but we're looking to spread the load out a little more.

Here are some of the things we'd like to do:

• Infrastructure improvements to make our new space better (partitions and working desks, mostly)
• Have more open nights for anyone to be able to come in, work on their own projects, and interact with people (currently on hold due to Singapore government restrictions)
• Nurture, engage, and involve young students in our tech and maker communities, without them having to pay for a membership

Our estimated monthly operational costs (rent, bills, cleaning) are approximately $4,600 SGD. We're moving to a new place in October 2021, which is slightly cheaper than what we've been paying — taking our costs down to ~$3,700 SGD — but we're also hoping to invest in some renovation work and make our new space a great place for everyone to learn, work, and hack at!

As the tech and maker communities we've touched have grown tremendously since our founding in 2009, we're hoping that more people would be willing to chip in with a small, regular monthly contribution. We'll be able to keep the lights on, and do so much more, with 300 people contributing $16/month each.

Would you be willing to be one of our 300 Spartans helping keep our space and community alive?