Design Principles for Sustainable Community Currencies

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Permalink Reply by Christoph Hensch on December 9, 2008 at 17:18

Hi John,
Thank you! This is a timely offering. We've just embarked onto the design process and set up of a new currency for Christchurch, to replace the folder Canterbury Community Dollars Exchange. We will try and make good use of the document!

Permalink Reply by Martin Adlington on April 8, 2009 at 20:45

I have had experience of a local currency in Byron Bay. Unfortunately I have to tell you that the concept has very limited application...viz: I sold my artworks at the local market & accepted "ecos" from local people. Note at this point that I had paid cash for the canvases, paint, & stall rent.When I had $500.00 worth I went to spend them - but I didn't want a craniosacral massage, my chakras balanced, or to get in touch with my spirit guide. I wanted to pay my rent, buy fuel for the car, pay my power bill, buy a digital camera, buy more canvas, pay my stall fee, buy lunch.......no mainstream business was involved.........OK..... I decided to try getting my chakras balanced as after a week of this they were getting seriously out of kilter....the fee was $50 - half payable in "ecos" & half in real hard cash[??].......I ended up donating the 500 green dollars to the charity shop - basically they were worthless...
I agree that after the abandonment of the gold standard, all curriecies became intrinsically worthless, however this issue is compounded in the case of the ‘eco dollor’ - the basic principle of currency is that it is simply a convenient medium of exchange...we all know that no currency is worth the paper it’s printed on...but regionally, nationally, & globally we all need an agreed medium of exchange...that’s simply all money is......try going to Wellington & buying a flat white with an Orewa dollar, or in Browns Bay even.......they will laugh you out of town - I know I’ve done it.....
Another problem is forgery - so simple today with a laser printer..any smart cookie will print eco notes............another issue I found is that people will tender a 20eco note for a 5eco product & ask for change in hard currency - I only obliged this once!!..for very obvious reasons........
The idea may work on a small scale - but not for people in business, who have to pay cold hard cash for rents, raw materials etc - there is no point in having a million eco dollars when your suppliers/landlord demand CHC [cold hard cash]....
I’m sorry, but I cannot really see what problems instigating local currencies will solve.....is there actually a problem???...I’m afraid that I haven’t encountered a single problem tendering CHC worldwide....as far back as the Roman Empire they realized that for economies to work on any scale they needed a widely-recognised currency. “Local” in Orewa may be a geographical radius of 20km, but Orewa is an urban area...Byron Bay is a rural area & ‘local’ is within a radius of 100k - I was not prepared to drive a round distance of 50km to pay 10ecos for a haircut to Mullumbimby- that’s where the nearest eco-dollar-accepting hairdresser lived....
personally, I think that this whole issue is a waste of time..lets not derailed by the latest incarnation of Social Credit...

Permalink Reply by John Rogers on May 6, 2009 at 9:41

Martin, you raise very important issues that echo the experience of many who have taken part in community currencies. That is why I am attempting to give people some design principles to improve the performance of these systems and, in turn, the experience of participants.

Let's start with the question you pose near the end: Is there actually a problem? What's wrong with cold hard cash?
Nothing's wrong with CHC as long as people will accept it and value it. All industrialised economies run on the stuff. While everyone believes in it's value then the game works. It is a 'belief about a belief' as Bernard Lietaer puts it. But even while CHC is helping the majority to meet their needs it exacts a hidden toll on communities and the environment. People lose their jobs overnight in large numbers and all kinds of social problems from drugs to depression set in. Globalised CHC that can go anywhere and do anything is value neutral and a tool of empire as the Romans well knew.

The point about community currencies (CCs) is that they consciously build in boundaries: geographical, membership, trading rules specifying acceptable trades etc. These boundaries allow people to know where their local money has come from and where it is going - just as 'ethical funds' create specific criteria for the performance of national money. CC has the potential to provide an immune system for a community against the worst effects of globalisation and a circulation systems for its gifts and assets.

Now to your personal experiences, which are common in CCs to date. Just because you had some bad experiences does not devalue an idea which has been tried in thousands of communities on every continent over the last few decades. Although probably a majority of systems have failed for similar reasons to those you mention, a few have both survived and thrived. What can they teach us?

Go to the Chiemgauer system in Bavaria in southern Germany and you will find hundreds of mainstream businesses taking part using locally printed notes full of the latest security features and a turnover of millions. Go to the 10 year old Talente Tauschkreis Vorarlberg in Austria and you also find it at the heart of the regional economy. Go to the Salt Spring Island or Toronto Dollar systems in Canada or the time banks springing up all over the world. Or go to South Africa's Community Exchange System (CES) that began as a single system in Cape Town in 2003 and now has affiliated systems in 20 countries.

What all these systems have in common is that they take the operation of a local currency seriously and work hard to get their governance and management systems to become more robust and use legally binding agreements when necessary.

So I encourage you to take another look and see these worldwide experiments as an 'emerging technology' that can only improve with time and practice. For a summary of these developments see my online article here:
http://immagazine.sapo.pt/novostempos_novasmoedaseng/

Permalink Reply by Harvey Jones on May 18, 2009 at 22:15

I have been following Richard Moore's CyberJournal posts on political events for some time.
Richard's latest area has moved into community currencies and TT type activities and linked with a preamble at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cyberjournal/message/288
Through this dialog group we seek to devise and implement ways to increase citizen involvement in local governance that promotes sustainable, eco-friendly ways of living for all.

Some of the ideas may well suit this particular discussion forum with alternative ideas to look at.
The files required are at
http://groups.google.com/group/new-world-roundtable/files?hl=en
The first item is about Empowered Communities and the next about Prosperous community economies

best of planning

Permalink Reply by John Rogers on July 29, 2009 at 2:18

I would like to hear from anyone who has used the design methodology.

Please tell me what was useful or helpful and what was less useful or could be improved.

I am writing a new draft of the Community Currency Design Manual and all feedback will be helpful to improve it.

Contact me through my website: www.valueforpeople.co.uk

Thanks

John Rogers

Permalink Reply by John Rogers on July 29, 2009 at 2:20

Thanks very much for this link Harvey. Richard and I are now in communication about his proposals.

Permalink Reply by Linnéa Lindstroem on August 7, 2009 at 16:41

I just downloaded your draft, it looks very good. After reading Thomas Greco's "Money" and in the middle of his latest "The end of money and the future of civilization", preparing for a local currencies workshop in Wellington later this month – I wonder where you are at with the new draft? I'd very much like to use it with some of the groups in the area.
Thank you for doing this, it is really great work.

Permalink Reply by John Rogers on August 11, 2009 at 1:06

Hi Linnea

I am having a complete rethink (again!) of how to present this material. You are welcome to review the complete third draft and give me comments which would help me greatly in writing a fourth draft. Basically, I think the existing version is too 'generic' for beginners and it needs a series of chapters with actual designs of systems in operation or theoretically feasible, such as for energy saving etc.

Send me an email through the website and I will send you a full copy.

Best wishes

John Rogers