Making a donation to Safer DIY Spaces is an immediate way to help us continue our support for our community's most at-risk, low-income DIY spaces. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, donations are tax-exempt. Click below to make a tax-deductible donation directly via our new PayPal portal:
(If donating toward a specific fiscally-sponsored project such as SFACTA, please note that in the donation.)
(3D scan of one of our client DIY sites.)
Funds donated will go toward the following three program areas:
Immediate assistance:
• 100% Confidential site inspections
• Immediate high hazard abatement
• Direct technical assistance for low-income DIY sites in need of significant repair
• Reparative construction & skilled contractor labor
• Architectural work & planset production
• Building & Zoning Permits
• Tenant and Property Owner representation to Code Enforcement, Fire Prevention, and Planning departments
• Lease and Compliance Plan negotiation
• Grantwriting and loan application assistance
Policy and legislative advocacy:
• Facilitating Building and Planning Code changes on the local and state level that advance improved building life-safety, rezoning, and legalization of DIY sites over the current status quo of rote displacement
• Facilitating the creation of municipal, county, state and private funds to finance life-safety improvements for, and tenant/land trust acquisition of, affordable DIY sites.
Long-term preservation:
• Working with client DIY sites toward financing the tenant and/or community land trust acquisition of eligible buildings, for permanently affordable DIY live/work and performance space.
Please Note:
1. Our Federal Tax EIN is: 81-5217454.
2. As of 2019, we are presently taking new donations online through our own PayPal portal linked in the ‘Donate’ button above. This donation portal, distinctively branded with our logo, has replaced both the previous Gray Area-sponsored PayPal portal during our fiscal sponsorship period, which itself replaced the earliest 2017 YouCaring donation portal.
3. If you prefer not to donate online, one may mail checks made out to Safer DIY Spaces at the following address:
Safer DIY Spaces
150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Suite 1E
Oakland, CA 94612
4. If you have any questions about donations, please contact us initially through our ‘Request Help’ intake form. We will get back to you ASAP.
Our Progress
As of November 2018, we have assisted over 120 DIY spaces in the Bay Area, stopping displacement at over 700,000 sq.ft. of combined building area. For low-income DIY sites, we are the only "boots on the ground" that we know of in the Bay Area providing immediate assistance, and have been first responders to countless individuals in DIY code-related crises facing displacement due to safety or zoning compliance issues.
Other Ways to Support Us
If you're holding an event that uses online ticket sales, consider using SPARXO - an amazing online ticketing platform. To support Safer DIY Spaces, SPARXO has committed to donating 100% of service fees incurred through online sales to our DIY Communities Safety Fund. To help us take advantage of this offer, register to use SPARXO here, using this link.