End of 2020 Campaign: Support making this December!

2020 has been a crazy and chaotic year, to say the least. But, through it all in the midst of the up and downs, there has always been the making. Whether it’s baking, crafting, woodworking, painting, or welding, when we make something (anything!) it gives our mind and hands a break from the monotony and stress of these pandemic days. 

Making makes us feel more hopeful, inspired and empowered! We hope you feel it.

And we’d really appreciate your support to help others feel it too.

Would you consider making a donation to support our End-of-Year 2020 fundraising campaign and help empower people through making?

We’re running our campaign through the end of 2020 with a goal of raising $15,000 by December 31 (oh, what a Happy New Year it will be!) A donation in any amount would be greatly appreciated! Truly, we’ll be dancing and singing over here!

The focus of our campaign is getting more people of all ages creating and learning by building and making. But we’re not just about the making of things, we’re about making a difference. Making fosters life-changing experiences where kids and adults find passions, learn hard skills, and develop and strengthen the soft skills of problem-solving and critical thinking. This type of success positively impacts people of all ages by empowering them in all areas of their life.

 You can make a difference!

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting everyone. Right now, Decatur Makers faces new challenges. As we adapt to these unprecedented circumstances, we’re continuing to serve our communities as best we can. 

We’ve expanded our community projects that support the larger Atlanta community during the pandemic:

1. In partnership with the First Christian Church of Decatur, we built and installed a Little Free Pantry to address food insecurity in our immediate community,
2. In collaboration with three other makerspaces as Atlanta Beats Covid, we led an initiative to make and deliver 72,000 PPE to 250 organizations in the metro-Atlanta area,
3. We’ve partnered with the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights group to support their Art for the People project to educate the community and fight anti-racism,
4. We’re currently building 500+ free desks for kids in need to support their academic success as youth continue to attend school virtually.

This shift in priorities hasn’t changed the regular work we’re continuing to do although we’ve had to make some changes:

• The Beta Phase Re-Opening of our makerspace, after we had closed fully in March due to the pandemic, had us open in a limited fashion to our membership with scheduled, supervised visits and requiring masks, taking temperatures, socially distancing.
• Transitioning our public hands-on in-person making into virtual engagements; Please keep an eye on our MeetUp.com calendar for more online events. 
• Rebooting our Outreach Programming with community partners supporting underserved communities through take-home kits and building with materials found at home.
• Continuing our partnership programming with the Drew Charter School and their Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) grant by providing teacher professional development for coding and other maker-related workshops.
• We’re kicking off our Making Spaces pilot program working with 5 local schools and libraries over a 2 year period to support their maker-led STEAM education programming through teacher professional development 
• Looking forward to our upcoming partnership with Agnes Scott to support their Venture Well Grant, bringing together their two programs with their students in Social Innovations and Applied Technology and our maker community.

You can see we are stretching ourselves. We have BIG DREAMS and could use a little help to empower the people of all ages who are served by our organization.

It’s our community of members who are the heart of what we do as they share their skills and expertise ranging from engineering, art, design, coding, woodworking, metal working, textiles, science, 3D printing, and so much more. Throw in the physical tools and equipment needed to make stuff all under one roof, and you have the people and place to change people’s lives!

Wondering how your donation (no amount too small!) would make a difference?

• $10 would buy an Arduino Gemma (a mini wearable microcontroller)
• $25 would buy 1 Kg PLA filament for 3D printing
• $50 would sponsor the kit materials for one of our Family Build Nights
• $100 would buy a nice quality cordless drill
• $300 would sponsor the materials for 6 months of Outreach with one of our partner organizations who support underserved youth
• $540 would sponsor two needs-based 12 month membership scholarships with all the benefits
• $1000 would sponsor a school in need in for 1-year in our Making Spaces Teacher Professional Development program
• $75,000 would buy a full-building air filtration system (can’t hurt to ask, right?)

The positive impact that making has on kids and adults is life-changing! That’s why we’re asking for your support.

Click here to make a donation

Decatur Makers is more than a makerspace, it’s an organization of resourceful people that directly helps address educational needs, builds community, and fosters economic opportunities for people of all ages, skill sets, and backgrounds.

Thank you for your support!