About Columbia Gadget Works
A volunteer-run, member-supported community workshop in Columbia, Missouri since 2017.
Our mission
Our mission is to provide an inclusive community workshop where members can access tools, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects in areas such as woodworking, electronics, metalworking, and digital fabrication. We aim to empower people of all skill levels to explore, learn, and build.
What a makerspace is
A makerspace is a shared workshop. Think of it the way you think of a public library, but for tools: an 80-watt laser cutter, a CNC router, a milling machine, a metal lathe, 3D printers, and a full electronics bench are expensive, loud, and take up space that most people don’t have at home. By pooling dues and donations, our members share equipment none of us could justify buying alone, and, more importantly, share what they know about using it.
Columbia Gadget Works is the only makerspace in mid-Missouri that hosts a free, weekly, open-to-everyone night. Every Thursday from 6 to 8 pm anyone can walk in, get a tour, use the basic tools, and get help with a project. No membership, no fee, no experience required.
Our story
Columbia Gadget Works grew out of a group of engineers, programmers, and tinkerers who had been meeting informally around Columbia for years. In October 2017 we incorporated as a Missouri nonprofit corporation, took a lease on a shop space on Grand Avenue near the Business Loop, and started moving in donated equipment. The shop has been in the same building ever since.
In spring 2020, when hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID-19, members designed and built the Roll-to-Prone patient-proning bed, a device that lets a small team safely turn a ventilated patient. The designs were published under an open license so any hospital or maker group could reproduce them. It remains the project we’re proudest of: a handful of volunteers with a shop and a weekend, doing something that mattered.
Since then the shop has added a laser cutter, a CNC router, and a metal casting setup; hosted soldering, machining, and casting classes; taken field trips to local institutions like the KOPN community radio station; and shown up at Art in the Park and other community events. Members have built everything from CNC-carved signs to custom electronics to a working injection molder.
In 2026 we began a deliberate transition from an informal “club” to a properly governed community shop, modeled on makerspaces like Knox Makers in Tennessee. Members are adopting new bylaws, organizing the shop into zones with volunteer leads, and putting our finances and records on a solid footing. This website is part of that work.
How we’re organized
Columbia Gadget Works is a membership organization. Every member in good standing has one vote. Members elect four officers each April at the annual meeting, and the officers serve as the board of directors.
The shop itself is divided into zones: woodworking, metalworking, digital fabrication (laser, CNC, 3D printing), electronics, and casting. Each zone is run by a volunteer “zone lead” who sets it up, keeps it safe, and decides what training its tools require. Other volunteers take on functions like membership, classes, facilities, and communications.
Decisions are written down on our member wiki. If it isn’t on the wiki, it isn’t policy.
Board of directors
| Office | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Adam Brown |
| Vice President | Brad Collette |
| Treasurer | David Kotval |
| Secretary | Isaiah Davis-Stober |
All board members are unpaid volunteers. Terms run through the next annual meeting.
Who teaches
Classes are taught by members who volunteer their time. Our instructors include a manufacturing engineer, a machinist who happens to be a retired physician, a retired electrical engineer, a senior software engineer and former math instructor, a hardware security specialist who has taught at DEF CON, and a founding member who has written several books on CAD and CAM. If you have something to teach, we’d love to hear from you.
Nonprofit status and transparency
Columbia Gadget Works is a Missouri nonprofit corporation and a registered 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
- EIN: 27-3926809
- Incorporated: October 27, 2017, State of Missouri (charter N000706594)
- IRS determination: 501(c)(3) public charity under section 509(a)(2)
- Fiscal year: June 1 – May 31
We file an annual information return (Form 990-N or 990-EZ) with the IRS. Copies of our determination letter and most recent filings are available on request through the contact form, and can be found on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search under our EIN.
Our income comes from membership dues, individual donations, and occasional grants. It pays for rent, utilities, insurance, equipment, consumables, and free public programming. No officer or member is compensated for their board service.
Nondiscrimination
Columbia Gadget Works welcomes everyone. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law, in membership, in access to our programs, or in anything else we do. Our code of conduct spells out what we expect of each other in the shop.
Get in touch
- Email: mail@columbiagadgetworks.org
- Phone: 573-326-9868
- Shop: 1404 Grand Ave, Columbia, MO 65203, every Thursday 6–8 pm
- Or use the contact form.