April and May Events

We have a couple upcoming member events that are also open for potential prospective members. See our membership page for qualifications and how to apply, and see our visiting page for the address and other details, including our code of conduct and masking policy.

Laser-cutting event, April 21st, 1-3 pm. Bring an SVG image or draw an image, and try our glowforge laser cutter on some of the wood and acrylic sheets we have available. This will be a great chance for people interested in Double Union membership to ask any questions.

Intro to sewing machines workshop. May 5th, noon-4pm. This will be a hands on workshop for those interested in how to use our sewing machines. We'll go over how to thread our machines, tips for choosing needles and feet, and time permitting attempt a small project like a pouch.

We still have ongoing Wednesday coworking sessions. If you're a prospective member feel free to reach out to confirm the time and if the session is happening on a particular week.

We're still working on getting more events on our calendar, so keep an eye out for future events if you're interested in membership but can't make any of these events.

For members, we have our upcoming member meeting. We'll be doing a hybrid in-person and virtual meeting; details will be sent via the members mailing list.

Events in March

Spring is almost here, and we want you to join Double Union! If you've applied for membership but haven't been able to visit yet, or if you've considered applying and would like to check out the space, here are a few opportunities to drop by and say hi.

See our membership page for qualifications and how to apply, and see our visiting page for the address and other details, including our code of conduct and masking policy.

Saturday March 2, 12-3 pm: Let's pull the hot glue guns off the shelf and try making felt garlands with YouTube tutorials, just for fun. This is an informal member-hosted event where we learn from each other while trying new things. We'll have some supplies on hand, and you're welcome to bring some felt sheets or felt balls to use or share.

Wednesdays from 10:30 am - 4 pm: Coworking time! You can bring your laptop and use our wifi and desks, or bring another project.

Saturday March 9, 1-4 pm: Want to try using a lasercutter? Our Glowforge is easy to use for simple projects: you can draw a design or bring a SVG. We have wood and acrylic sheets you can use, along with magnet backing if you want to turn something into a magnet.

Gift Finishing Time - Sat Dec 16

Working on those last minute holiday gifts?  Realized you’re short of a gift and need to make something?  Double Union is hosting a Gift Making Time this Saturday Dec 16 from noon to 3pm.

This event is open to members, potential members, and guests.  If you’ve already applied for membership, but haven’t had a chance to see our new space or meet us in person, this is an excellent time to drop by and say hi.

Bring a project you’re trying to finish, come with an idea, or just come to get ideas.  Most of our equipment is set up and usable (except the 3d printers which we still need help with).  You’re also welcome to just come and hang out in the new space and check it out if you haven’t been by yet.

New Location in the Mission

We’re excited to announce we have a new location!  Our new home is in the courtyard of 650 Florida St (Unit M), which is between 18th and 19th St and between Alabama St and Florida St in San Francisco.  We’ve even moved our stuff out of storage!  But we’re still in the process of unpacking, and organizing the space layout, and generally getting the space ready for use.

Members and prospective members, come help us with the unpacking and making the space usable.  Currently we have the following times scheduled for this:

Interested in DoubleUnion and want to know more?  Already applied, but haven’t had a chance to meet us?  Drop by during the above times and chat with other members (and give us a hand if you have time).  Membership applications are open at https://doubleunion.org/membership/.  If you’ve already applied and are still waiting on a response, please remember that we’re an all-volunteer-run organization and our focus for the last few months has been raising funding to support the move and securing a new location.

We're looking forward to organizing events again once our new space is usable, so stay tuned!

Move Fundraiser

Double Union has to move again for the 4th time in 10 years.  Our lease on Falmouth ends in Sept, and we’re moving to a new location.  To enable us to remain open, and to smooth the transition, we would like to raise $10,000.

Organized and operated entirely by our volunteer members, DU is:

1) A 24/7 space for working on all kinds of projects in a comfortable, welcoming environment

2) A supportive community that centers nonbinary people and women who are trans, cis, intersex, queer, straight, and not-fitting-into-those-labels, no matter what you look like.

We are funded entirely by member dues and donations from individuals. To maximize accessibility for our community, membership dues are sliding-scale and inexpensive ($0-100 a month for unlimited access to the space and events).  To cover the difference between our sliding dues and our expenses (primarily rent), we periodically need to ask the wider community to donate to support our non-profit organization.

Double Union helps nonbinary people and women:

Some fun activities we've held in our Falmouth location:

Please donate today to help us ensure Double Union has a community space past Sept, and we can continue to host activities and events.

Double Union is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our EIN is 46-3264631, and you can view our public IRS filings by looking up Double Union in the California Registry of Charitable Trusts.

April 30th Code & Chill: A Casual Programming Hangout

Join us for Code & Chill on April 30th at 5pm to 7pm, a casual programming hangout where you can meet other coders, work on your projects, and enjoy a relaxed environment. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced programmer, this event is perfect for anyone who wants to code, chat, and connect with like-minded individuals.

This event is open to members, current applicants, and other nonbinary people and women interested in hanging out and working on their own projects or learning about new tools and technologies.

Coloring Destress Time April 16

Join us for a couple of hours of coloring and relaxation this Sunday, Apr 16th from 11 am to 1 pm. Bring your coloring books and supplies, and spend time coloring together. This is a great opportunity to meet fellow members, or just check out the space.

Not sure if you're a coloring person? Come hang out anyway. Double Union has markers and colored pencils, and printers where you can print out a design to give coloring a try.

This event is open to members, current applicants, and other nonbinary people and women interested in checking out Double Union.

Double Union is located at 77 Falmouth St. in San Francisco, on a side street near 5th and Folsom in SOMA. Those who visit our space need to comply with our anti-harassment policy and base assumptions, https://doubleunion.org/policies/, and our COVID-19 risk mitigation policies https://doubleunion.org/visit/#covid-19-risk-mitigation.

Join us! Double Union applications are now open!

Double Union is accepting new member applications. Read on for more information about our application process and our community space for nonbinary people and women. Please share this post with friends or community groups who might be interested too!

To apply: go to the membership info page and click on the pink “Apply to join” button.

What is Double Union all about?

We are a community workshop that centers women and nonbinary people who are trans, cis, intersex, queer, straight, and not-fitting-into-those-labels, no matter what you look like. You don't have to prove you belong here.  Today we have about 150 members and are planning to accept many more. Our space is located at 77 Falmouth St. in San Francisco, on a side street near 5th and Folsom in SOMA.

Double Union is a great spot for reading, coding, writing, making art/crafts, or for quiet coworking. The space is an ADA-compliant street-level room, about 775 square feet, with a mini-kitchen and a bathroom. There are couches, tables, and chairs that members frequently reconfigure to fit the needs of workshops and events.

We carefully try to minimize risk of COVID-19 transmission by having mask and vaccination requirements, air purifiers, and a CO2 monitor to help us ensure good ventilation. See summary here.

DU members host a wide variety of events in our space (you can see photos and announcements of past events on Instagram). Some events we’ve hosted include: feminist book club, game nights, mending workshops, working on income taxes together, researching ballot items to prepare for voting, lockpicking workshops, and circuit hacking.

Members have joined our community for a variety of reasons. DU might be for you if you:

Equipment and materials

Besides events, members can visit the space at any time to use the shared tools and equipment. Inside the space, Double Union’s equipment includes:

We purchase additional equipment and tools according to member interest.

How much does it cost to be a member?

Double Union is a volunteer-run non-profit. Dues are sliding scale: $10 to $100 per month (you choose what to pay based on your financial situation, and you can change the amount whenever you need to). We also offer scholarships ($0 dues) for members who can't afford to pay. We use Stripe to automatically process credit/debit cards.

How to apply

Go to https://www.doubleunion.org/membership and click on the pink “Apply to join” button!

After clicking the button, the next page will ask a few questions about you and your interest in DU. We don’t make decisions based on accomplishments, interest in tech, or income level, but we’d like to know who we’d be sharing our space with.

As part of the application process, we would like applicants to have met at least one current DU member, so if you haven’t met some already (such as at past events), try to meet members (such as by attending an upcoming DU public event). We plan to respond to your application within six weeks or sooner.

Here are some upcoming events open to prospective members

Please feel free to come by if you’ve applied for membership or are interested in applying. The address, directions and other details are here: https://www.doubleunion.org/visit

There will be more upcoming events announced on this blog, our announcements mailing list,  Instagram, and Twitter!

Have questions?

Email the membership coordinators: join@doubleunion.org - we’re happy to help.

Hello, we’re in the process of rebooting

Here’s a recap of DU’s past year! In short: Double Union has a new storefront-style space in SOMA, members can access it, and we’re slowly rebuilding our hackerspace / makerspace / community workshop / eight-year-old experiment in intersectional feminist collaboration. We’re hoping to reopen membership applications in a few months. Current members are welcome to get a key code.

Image: January 2022, exterior view (a glass storefront with opaque windows and a small sign with the DU logo).

What does a new space look like in a pandemic?

We’re at 77 Falmouth St. in San Francisco, on a side street near 5th and Folsom in SOMA. We have 775 square feet, including an ADA bathroom and a mini kitchen. It’s street-facing, which opens up fun possibilities when it’s safer to have events.

Members can now get a key code to let themselves into the space at any time, like at our previous spaces (check our members mailing list for more info, or email the board or membership coordinator). We’ve always had the option for members to reserve specific times for themselves and their guests, and that’s especially helpful now!

We have a COVID risk mitigation policy that a bunch of members contributed to over many rounds of discussions and edits. We intend to review and update the policy as the pandemic continues to change.

Image: October 2021, a CO2 monitor (to help people in the space assess whether it has adequate ventilation) and a HEPA air filter (to help clean the air).

The space itself is still very much in-progress, with temporary tables and many areas that need more work. We’re using the new space as an opportunity to rebuild with more useful and usable workspace areas and better organization of items.

Finding the new space

Image: July 2021, before we leased it, featuring a shiny bronze-colored epoxy floor, LED lighting, and large windows.

We closed our old space and moved our equipment and supplies into storage in September 2020. Over the summer of 2021, when COVID case rates looked like they were getting better, we worked with a commercial leasing broker to help us find a new space.

We had a specific set of needs: within a half mile of a BART station in SF or Oakland, ADA accessible (including bathroom), more than 500 square feet, less than $2500/month, 24/7 access for dozens of members (using a smart lock and/or key code system), and tolerant of more noise than office workers might make.

Part of why we write about this stuff is in case it helps anyone else who runs a makerspace (or wants to start one), so here’s how finding a new space worked: we needed a professional who knew how to search the available commercial spaces, help our small volunteer-run organization be recognized as legitimate by potential landlords, and support us during the lease negotiation process. Commercial leasing is much less regulated than residential leasing, with significantly fewer tenant protections! So we worked with a commercial leasing broker. Commercial leasing brokers are paid a commission by the landlord of the space you choose, so this didn’t cost us anything.

Our broker found various options for us, but only one available space met all of our criteria. We liked it, so in late August we signed our lease! In early September, a bunch of members came together for a DIY move of our items out of storage and into the new space. It was pretty fun.

Image: September 2021, view looking toward the back of the space, with lots of boxes to unpack.

What’s next?

We’re figuring out how to best and most safely fulfill DU’s purpose while the pandemic ebbs and flows, instead of waiting indefinitely. Even when there's only one person in the space, that’s more useful and fun than DU being in storage.

Some things we plan to work on:

Image: January 2022, a couple of our plants on a shelf, including a spider plant descended from one that lived in our first space in the Mission district (2013-2015).

Catching up: we’re virtual-only, but we’ll reopen

Hello! Here’s a big update covering what DU has been up to for the past several months. 

Summary: we’ve been operating as an online community since March, we moved out of our Potrero Hill space in September, and we plan to reopen in an easier-to-visit space in San Francisco or Oakland when it’s safe to do that. In the meantime, we’re improving our membership application processes and tools, with the goal of reopening applications in an always-open way instead of once a year.

What does a makerspace do in a pandemic?

On March 1 we held our last in-person event: a ballot research session for the March 3 election. But we were already feeling nervous about COVID-19 in the news, and we stopped holding gatherings after that. On March 16, San Francisco issued its first stay-at-home order, and the DU Board closed access to Double Union’s physical space according to the order.

At the end of March, personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages were bad enough that local organizations emailed us (and every other nearby makerspace) to ask if we could 3D-print face shield structures for them. Members also wanted to use DU’s sewing machines to make cloth face masks. So in early April, members drafted and approved an internal policy allowing members to access DU for the essential work of PPE production, with a sign-up sheet ensuring that only one member would be in the space at a time.

Several members sewed cloth masks for themselves and to give away. Two members 3D-printed at least 200 face shield supports that they contributed to the Maker Nexus COVID-19 Face Shield project, which distributed completed face shields to many organizations.

[Photos: 3D-printing face shield supports and ear savers.]

A move into storage

Over the summer, we decided to leave our San Francisco space, which had been Double Union’s home since 2015. We were paying rent on a space we mostly couldn’t use, and our lease was up for renewal in September. Even before the pandemic started, we’d been talking about finding a new space, because this space was far from a BART station and hard to access by public transit, which reduced member ability to use it. We arranged with our landlord to end our lease.

Between August 15 and September 15, 2020, in shifts of one or two members at a time, we packed our key equipment and supplies for storage. Members borrowed some equipment into their homes, such as sewing machines and printers, to be returned when we reopen. We also cleaned the entire space.

[Photo: This was our main “keep” area during decision-making and packing.]

We gave away, sold, and donated a lot of stuff we didn’t need to store — like IKEA furniture, kitchen items that are easy to replace, and lost-and-found things that were never picked up. Members took electronic waste (including abandoned projects!) to the San Francisco Transfer Station for responsible disposal. We hired Nixxit Junk Removal, a woman-owned small business with a focus on reuse and recycling, to take leftover stuff we couldn’t give away (such as large dirty pieces of wood and a couch that wasn't in good shape).

It’s good that we trimmed the things we’d accumulated over our past seven years of being a community workshop. When we reopen, we’ll be able to inventory, organize, and present our equipment and supplies in ways that are easier to understand and access.

[Photo: What DU looked like when we moved out. We sold some fixtures we built and furniture to the new tenant, which made moving easier for both of our organizations.]

What does being a DU member look like at the moment?

Like so many others, our community is currently completely online, to minimize risk for everyone.

We continue to gather with chat, videocalls, events, and workshops. Some of the ongoing ways we’re engaging with each other virtually: 

Volunteer working groups of members also meet regularly to work on DU itself, with topics including:

What’s next?

We plan to rent a new physical space! When Bay Area public health officials say it’s safe to gather again, we intend to reopen in San Francisco or Oakland near a BART station, maintaining our commitment to ADA-compliant (or better) accessibility and a warm and welcoming environment. We look forward to unpacking our stored materials.

If you own or know of a BART-accessible and ADA-compliant space in SF or Oakland that you think would be great for DU to rent, let us know at board@doubleunion.org.

How can non-members engage with DU right now?

We look forward to opening up membership applications. We may even reopen membership applications before we have a new physical space, since we’ll probably finish reworking our internal systems and processes before we can gather in person.

You can participate in our project to improve our open-source Rails web application (nicknamed “Arooo”) that handles membership applications, member profiles, and dues management for members. Comment on an issue, and we can assign it to you and help you work on it. You can also make suggestions for our website.

We may also do some virtual public events and workshops. You can keep up to date on this blog, our public mailing list (which automatically posts each new blog post), Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Plants (and other cool things) swap, Sun Dec 15

Our first free plant swap in August was a lot of fun, so let’s do that again! Our next swap will be on Sunday December 15 from 1-4 pm. All women and all nonbinary people are invited. Come by anytime, although earlier may have a better selection.

No RSVP needed. If you like, mark yourself “going” on Facebook.

Bring extra/unwanted plants, cuttings, succulent leaves that can propagate into new plants, seeds, pots, and other materials to share! Beginning gardeners are welcome (bring your questions!), and it’s fine to show up empty-handed.

Also feel free to bring other cool items to give away, such as clothes, books, and household items. You can bring anything that you think somebody else might really like.

For inspiration, check out “proplifting” (growing plants from fallen succulent leaves) and the San Francisco Diggers (who gave away free meals and other free things as part of their vision of a non-capitalist society).

At the end, if there are leftovers that nobody wants to take home, we’ll compost the extra plants and donate the extra items.

How to visit DU (also see our Base Assumptions and Code of Conduct).

(Photo: Part of our last plant swap, including succulent pieces, houseplant vine cuttings, and seedlings in an egg carton.)

Voter info research party, Sunday Nov 3

On Sunday November 3 from 2-3:30 pm, we’ll have a voter info research party open to all women and nonbinary people. No RSVP needed - just come by the space (visiting information).

This is a friendly and informal gathering for researching issues and candidates on the Tuesday November 5 ballot in San Francisco and nearby. You can do your own research and share resources you find; we’ll probably read and discuss articles, editorials, endorsements, and our perspectives. (Guideline: great to discuss things, not an event for trying to persuade/convince people about something.)

This event has no partisan affiliation, but Double Union does have base assumptions (shared values).

We can also learn about SF’s new ranked-choice voting format and new ballot scanning machines! (Check out @SFElections or the SF Elections site to learn more, including about other cool things like serving as a pollworker.)

If you can, bring your ballot, voter information booklets, or other materials, such as a laptop or smartphone for research. Feel free to bring snacks to share if you like!

Or consider running your own voter info research party! It’s fun and encourages voting all the way down the ballot, including for local candidates and issues.

(Photo of people at an art workshop, at tables we often use for research too.)

Trash Gardening plant swap, Sat Aug 10

Let’s do a free plant swap on Saturday August 10 from 12-2 pm! All women and nonbinary people are invited. We’ll use the first 15-30 minutes to arrive and organize what we brought. Feel free to come by anytime, although earlier may have a better selection. We’ll start cleaning up at 1:30 pm.

Bring extra/unwanted plants, seeds, cuttings, pots, and other materials, and bring home something new. Build your trash garden! (A trash garden is a garden made of free, scavenged, and reused materials, such as picking up succulent pieces that have fallen to the sidewalk and planting them in washed-out food jars.)

No RSVP needed. If you like, mark yourself "going” on Facebook.

It's fine to come empty-handed, since there will probably be extras. Ideas for things to bring:

Beginners welcome; we can share friendly advice about growing cuttings and seeds. We have some potting soil at the space, so you can do some potting or repotting on the back patio. At the end, if there are leftovers that nobody wants to take home, we’ll put them in the building's compost bin downstairs.

Please also feel free to bring snacks to share (especially if you grew them or picked them off a local tree???), but it’s totally optional.

Information about visiting DU (including address and Code of Conduct).

(Image: scan of zine pages with descriptions of trash gardening - “Trash gardens rule! because if the plants die, it’s ok - they’re trash!”)

(Image: a piece of jade plant and other plants in a windowsill, including an avocado pit in a jar.)

Feminist Clothing Swap 7/21

Join us for a feminist, body positive clothing swap on Sunday, July 21 from 12:30 PM – 3 PM!

How does it work?

Bring whatever doesn't help you feel FABULOUS or spark joy. Clothes, shoes, hats, scarves, jackets, accessories. All types and sizes welcome. We hope the swap will be accessible to folks with a variety of clothing sizes and gender expressions. Perhaps that wacky hat sitting in the back of your closet for the last five years is exactly what will light somebody else up. Let’s join together to share the joy of those moments and envision a new future where we don't always have to BUY everything we need.

You can try on items out in the open or privately in our gender neutral bathrooms or upstairs loft (which is accessible via an elevator down the hall).

Also... body & clothes stuff can feel fraught (because hello oppressive mainstream beauty ideals), so Elizabeth Cooper, a Double Union member who runs Queer Body Love coaching, will lead an opening activity to help create a brave space of connection and celebrating all bodies.

This event is open to women and non-binary folks only. Invite your friends! This is most *definitely* a more the merrier kind of event :) Empty handed folks also welcome -- there will be a surplus of clothes.

Planning to come?

1) RSVP here so we can have a sense of how many folks will be coming & what range of sizes will be expected, and also so we can email you a reminder.

2) Go through your clothes, gather whatever you'd like to pass along, and come find some new looks! Come on time at the beginning for the opening activity & to get first pick of the goods!

Hint: if you're looking for some inspiration to clean out your closet, check out Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. (The basic gist = pick up all your articles, and only keep what sparks joy.)

Details about visiting Double Union can be found on our website: https://doubleunion.org/visit/

Incrementally learning to write clearly about gender

At Double Union, we strive to center trans and nonbinary members and write clearly about our values. We recently updated our gender-related membership language, so we wanted to share it to help similar organizations that also want to periodically review and improve their language.

Here’s what we have on our membership page now:

Our former language was “identify as women or nonbinary people in a way significant to you”. This language was an effort to be inclusive of people who are questioning or have fluid/complex identities. We decided we could do that more clearly and respectfully. We had the following goals:

A group of members drafted new language, reviewed a draft of the proposed new language with our internal members mailing list, revised it based on comments, and received positive feedback on this version (from members of a range of genders), so we updated it!

If your organization uses “identify as [something] in a way significant to you” language based on DU’s previous example, we encourage you to review our update and consider your own updates based on your community’s needs.

In general, DU works to use explicitly trans-inclusive language in visible ways. One benefit of this is that it helps trans and nonbinary people know that this space is for them. It has the side benefit of discouraging potential transphobic visitors or prospective members from attending events in the space. We previously wrote about our efforts to do this with our base assumptions, code of conduct, and homepage language, which may also be useful to other organizations, companies, and groups.

We also suggest the following reading for thinking carefully about respectful gender language and inclusion:

(Photo: Scraps from our Glowforge laser cutter, including circles, small hearts, and a leaf.)

Double Union applications due Monday 5/20 10pm

Double Union’s membership drive is wrapping up and applications are due Monday 5/20 at 10pm. We hope to hear from ya!

If you’re interested in being part of Double Union but aren’t sure whether you’re “good enough,” please apply - we don’t evaluate applicants on whether they’re “cool” or accomplished. We want to accept more members who share our values and our commitment to building a safer space together.

Double Union welcomes members with a broad variety of interests, skills, identities, backgrounds, and histories. What we have in common is a set of values (base assumptions) and an interest in supporting each other and Double Union. We are a space for nonbinary people and women (trans, cis, queer, straight, and not-fitting-into-those-labels). Membership is open to all women and nonbinary people, self-identified. 

If you aren’t sure whether DU is for you, please email join@doubleunion.org and we’d be happy to chat with you about this—although we might not be able to get back to you before the application deadline, so there’s no harm in applying and reaching out with followup questions :) Read more about membership here: https://doubleunion.org/membership/

To the folks who’ve already applied—we’re reading through your applications and we’re looking forward to meeting you. We ask that we get the chance to meet all prospective members so that we get to know you a little! If you haven’t visited Double Union yet, look out for upcoming public events where you can meet current members and check out our space. If you’d prefer to visit DU and meet current members in a more low-key or one-on-one environment, reach out to us at join@doubleunion.org and we’ll try to connect you with an individual member to make that happen.

Cardmaking and Open Project Time 5/19

We’ll be hanging out at Double Union this Sunday from 10:30-1:30pm. Open to members, current applicants, and folks who are interested in checking out Double Union. If you’re a current applicant, we’d especially love to meet you! 

We’ll have paper crafting and cardmaking supplies out. If you’re interested in making cards or postcards, collaging, working on a zine (we’ll have a quick demo of a single-page zine), or making buttons, come through. If you’re working on something else entirely, come through too! Sometimes it’s hard to work on projects at home or alone, so bring your project and work in a friendly and low-key group environment. 

Come when you can, leave when you want. Stick around for the Sourdough Swap and Pickle Party directly afterwards!

How to visit the space: http://doubleunion.org/visit DU is generally low-scent but not scent-free and our space is ADA-accessible. Kids are welcome to participate in activities with caregiver supervision. Our base assumptions: https://doubleunion.org/policies/ who comes to the space needs to comply with our anti-harassment policy and base assumptions.