Summary
Organization name
10BITWORKS MAKERSPACE
other names
10BitWorks Hackerspace
Tax id (EIN)
46-1440284
Budget Size
Extra Small $0 - $99,999
Sector
Arts & Culture, Education, Entrepreneurship
Address
130 W LACHAPELLESAN ANTONIO, TX 78204
10BITWORKS MAKERSPACE
A nonprofit organization
0% complete
$20,000 Goal
About
2X YOUR GIFT
[ OVERVIEW 01 ]
SAN ANTONIO'S ORIGINAL MAKERSPACE
BUILDING THE FUTURE OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.
10BitWorks turns 16 this October. For the last decade and a half, our 501(c)(3) volunteer-led community workshop has given members 24/7 access to industrial tools most people will never own.
Woodworking and CNC routers. Welding and metalworking gear. Ceramics and glass kilns. 3D printers, laser cutters, and electronics stations. We started as a hackerspace on Roosevelt Avenue in 2010 and formally evolved into a makerspace in 2014. Every year since, we've made real fabrication tools accessible to anyone in San Antonio willing to put in the effort to learn how to use them.
THE SHOP IS THE FOUNDATION. THE COMMUNITY IS THE IMPACT.
10BitWorks runs on members teaching members. Someone shows you how to run the CNC. A year later, you're the one showing the next person. That handoff happens dozens of times a week, in front of the lathe, at the welding bench, over a 3D print that didn't come out right. The equipment is just what gives people a reason to be in the room together.
Our members are retirees with finally enough time, parents homeschooling their kids, woodworkers without garage space, ceramicists priced out of studio rentals, engineers tinkering after hours, artists prototyping gallery work, small-business owners producing inventory, and curious teenagers learning to weld. They serve San Antonio and the broader South Central Texas region by serving each other.
[ PRINCIPLES 02 ]
WHAT WE BELIEVE
01
TOOLS SHOULDN'T BE LOCKED BEHIND PRIVILEGE.
We exist so that serious tools, and the knowledge to use them, aren't locked behind expensive university programs, professional credentials, the luck of knowing the right people, or having a professional garage in your backyard.
02
PEER-LED LEARNING WORKS.
A member who's been running the lathe for five years showing a first-timer how to hold a tool. That teaches things classrooms can't.
03
MAKING THINGS MATTERS.
A city this size should have a place where anyone can do it. So we built one. And we're still here.
[ IMPETUS 03 ]
THE CATALYST
OUR NEXT ERA
We're in the process of securing the lease on a new 10,000-square-foot facility near the San Antonio International Airport. After 15 years on the South Side, 10BitWorks is expanding into a space built for the scale of work happening here.
The new shop adds roughly 4,000 square feet, which gives us safer separation between dusty and clean processes, and dedicated space for heavier industrial equipment. It also has working climate control. The current shop gets brutal in San Antonio summers, which has limited what we can safely run in the hottest months. The new facility lets us keep teaching and making year-round.
Member dues keep the lights on. Donor support is what builds capacity. During The Big Give, we're asking for your help with three things:
PRIORITY 01
THE EXPANSION
Outfitting the new shop, safely transporting heavy industrial equipment, and building out the floor takes resources beyond what monthly dues can cover.
PRIORITY 02
EQUIPMENT TO GROW INTO THE SPACE
Our machines work hard and most still earn their keep, but our membership is growing. Support lets us add capacity instead of running the same tools harder. The most pressing needs right now are a new high-capacity laser engraver and additional pottery wheels, both of which currently bottleneck members waiting their turn.
PRIORITY 03
A FACILITIES MANAGER
For 15 years, every repair, every orientation, every shop reset has happened on volunteer time. That model got us here, but the scale we're moving into needs at least one paid role focused on facility maintenance, member onboarding, and safety oversight. The board and volunteers will keep doing what they've always done. A dedicated facilities role makes sure nothing critical depends on whether someone has time after their day job.
[ IMPACT 04 ]
WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
Every expansion at 10BitWorks, every new tool, every workbench, every safety upgrade, has come from member sweat, donated equipment, and the generosity of people who believe a city this size should have a place like this.
When you give to 10BitWorks during The Big Give, you're funding a place where a homeschool parent gives their kid hands-on engineering experience, a laid-off machinist builds a prototype for a new business, and a retired teacher finally throws the pots she's been thinking about for thirty years. Every membership, every donation, and every workshop taught by a volunteer goes toward keeping the shop open and the machines running. As a 501(c)(3), contributions to 10BitWorks are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Help us make the move. Help us modernize our gear. Help us hire the first person who can give this work the dedicated attention it deserves.
/// COME AND MAKE IT. 05 ///
FIFTEEN YEARS OF MAKING.
WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED.
Organization Data
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78204