In the past I was part of a nonprofit makerspace and members regularly loaned equipment to the space. Members who moved around (like me) and didn’t have space in a shared household would loan their tools to the space until we settled in a place large enough to store them again. Our lawyer recommended that in order to protect both parties and to make sure that any loaned equipment was covered by the commercial theft insurance the makerspace carried that 1) we have a formal signed document and that 2) we made it a $1/year lease so it would be clear that it’s not a gift/donation and that the bank records and check would give us another paper trail.
Here’s a copy of the lease of my vinyl cutter to the makerspace. All our documents were created under a creative commons license so others who need them for similar situations can use them, so feel free to modify it to suit your purposes and use it.
About insurance: Some of my leased tools were stolen from the makerspace and the insurance company paid for them because they were leased to the space at that point. I don’t remember if the insurance policy needed adjustment to cover leased tools or if it was just the default so your friend should definitely check with their insurance company to make sure that they’ll cover a loaned/leased piece of equipment. Also maybe check if their current policy even covers the full cost of a Glowforge or if they need to bump the policy up because they’re now insuring $2k+ more in equipment.
Caveats: This document was not written by a lawyer. I (who am not a lawyer) modified a document I found on the Internet that the web site claimed was drafted by a lawyer. Our makerspace’s lawyer did look at and approved it for us, but that probably won’t apply to your situation because we are a nonprofit and every situation is different. So insert legal disclaimer that neither her nor I can guarantee that this document is legally appropriate for what you need it for but this may be a helpful place to start?
