Donating or Lending Items

All items donated or lent to Makerspace must:

  • Be approved by directors.
  • Undergo a risk assessment.
  • If lent, strictly at the owner’s own risk.

Before donating use the following points as a guide:

Is it on our wish list? - if the item is not on our wish list then please ask in Discussion before bringing it into the space. If it is on the wish list then bring it in - thank you!

Is it on our list of unwanted donations? - If the item is on this list, we already have so many of them that we don’t need any more.

Will you be upset if it is thrown away? - If the item appears useless (even if it is actually useful) then it may end up in our 3 week disposal process. Large items that will not fit through the disposal process could get thrown out without warning. If this does not appeal then it might be better not to donate the item.

Does it meet any of the following criteria? - If it doesn’t then we probably do not want or need it currently - but thanks for thinking of us!:

  • Item is a tool useful for the types of making that take place at the space.
  • Item is a common part/component that is not scrap.
  • Item is in working order and has a reasonable resale value.
  • Item can be easily stripped for high value parts.

Will the space accept the donation? - if you bring items to the space with the - intention of donating them without first making sure that the organisation is willing to accept the donation (as decided by consensus in Discussion) then the items are still in your ownership, and it is your personal responsibility to dispose of them once you’re asked to do so. This is especially true for large items, or items that require unusual means of disposal (e.g. toxic materials.)

If you have a particularly rare or unusual old piece of computing hardware, we aren’t interested. However, the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park may be interested.