Scholarship

Background

The purpose of the scholarship program is to advance the state of DIY knowledge in the community. Applicants will be considered based primarily on an established track-record of publishing project write-ups, teaching classes, etc.

Recipients become full members of i3 Detroit for six month terms, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof, except that their dues are considered paid in full.

Current Guidelines

The following guidelines govern the i3 Detroit scholarship program:

• Members may request partial or full scholarships.
• New scholarships should not make the total amount of scholarship money exceed 1/10th the dues billed per month.
• Scholarship applications shall be reviewed by the Vice President of Membership.
• To change the amount of scholarship you want, just re-apply
• Scholarships shall be awarded for six month terms on a rolling basis.
• Scholars are expected to participate in the i3Detroit community. This can be a blog post about a cool project, sharing your knowledge or engaging in other activities that promote or otherwise make i3 Detroit a better place for all. Talk to the VP of Membership if you don't have any good ideas for how to share with the community.
• Scholarships can only be sequentially granted for a maximum of four terms (2 years) before a member needs to transition to a paid membership for a term of at least one year (or 12 paid months). Exceptions can be made by the VP of Membership in circumstances where the scholarship holder makes an extraordinary contribution to i3 Detroit and the member community during their time on scholarship.
• Requests from existing members or those requesting a renewal of a scholarship for an additional term will consider history of how often the member leveraged the space in addition to their needs situation as documented in the scholarship application.

Applying

If you would like to apply for an i3 Detroit scholarship, please fill out the Google form at https://www.i3detroit.org/scholarship.

Note to new applicants: It is very beneficial to have visited the space several times and attended a member meeting or two. This way you will have a chance to meet members of our community, explore the space, and see if we're a good fit for each other!

If you are awarded a scholarship your next step will be to navigate the membership process. Your scholarship term begins once you achieve member status.

To existing scholars interested in extending their scholarship: Please submit another scholarship application including details about your activities during your previous scholarship term. Shoot a message to the Vice President of Membership as well for good measure. To prevent interruption of your access to the space, it is best to do these things about a month before your scholarship term ends.

After You're Approved

Congratulations on receiving a scholarship!

If you currently have auto-pay set up be sure to turn it off. This will not happen automatically while you are on scholarship and you will get billed next month if you forget to disable it! Luckily, this is easy to do through the CRM.

It is also smart to set a reminder on your calendar when your scholarship is about to expire so you can reapply or re-start dues payments for seamless access to the space.

History

Early Development

The i3 Detroit scholarship program was originally conceived at the June 14, 2011 board meeting. At that time the following rules were decided:

• That one non-voting scholarship membership, with all membership dues waived, shall exist for each 10 paid memberships;
• That scholarships shall be awarded on a 6 month basis, beginning in January and June;
• That scholarships shall be awarded on the basis of merit, financial need, and diversity;
• That the applications shall be seen only by the board and the officers of i3 Detroit.

2017 Refresh

In order to achieve the goal of advancing DIY knowledge in the community an attempt was made to make the scholarship process clearer and easier to explain to non-members. The goal being to use scholarships as a method of attracting members to i3 rather than just a convenient amenity for existing members. With this in mind, a new Google form was created with input from the board, and a redirect from the i3 Detroit website was created so the scholarship application link could more easily be printed on i3 promotional material, etc. Adjustments were also made to the scholarship terms to allow a rolling admission scheme. Also, as we now only have one level of membership, those with scholarships are full voting members with all the rights and responsibilities of every other member.

FAQ

• Who is on the scholarship committee?
  • The scholarship committee is made up of the Vice-President of Onboarding and the Board of Directors
• What is the deadline for submission? Can I submit mid-term?
  • Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, apply whenever you like!
• Where is the approved application form?
  • Here!
• Can a scholarship be extended to another term?
  • Yes, at the end of a scholarship term, the scholar can re-apply for another six-month scholarship if there are any available.
• What are the requirements on the Scholar?
  • Scholars are expected to contribute to the i3 community (attend events and meetings), share things they make (at show-and-tells, Maker Faire etc. as they are comfortable), and remain in good standing (generally be excellent).
• Do scholarships recipients get to vote in member meetings and in the yearly Board member elections?
  • Yes! Scholarship members ARE members, entirely!
• If I was already on auto-pay, will it stop automatically when I get a scholarship?
  • NOPE. Auto-pay start/stop is manual. When you get a scholarship you'll need to go to https://www.i3detroit.org/crm and hit the "cancel" button. Note that this only cancels your autopay, not your membership.
• Will my autopay start up again when I finish my scholarship?
  • No. The members of i3 Detroit have collectively made the decision to leave control of that to the individual. This means that you need to start or stop your own autopay at https://www.i3detroit.org/crm. It's a good idea to put a reminder on your calendar so that you don't accidentally lapse.