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Tree's Rates & the Gift EconomyHow Are My Rates Set?I am currently operating on a gift economy basis, meaning i do not have any set fees for my work. I ask groups to pay me an amount that feels good and right and fair to them, that they can afford, and that they can give joyfully. The same request applies to individuals attending public workshops. Group process work provides my entire livelihood, and i trust the groups i work with to honor this and provide the support that makes it possible for me to continue offering my services. Why Do I Do It This Way?According to "Wikipedia" (which is a fine example itself) a gift economy is an economic system in which participants give away things of value to the shared benefit of the community. Examples include food banks, volunteer fire companies, and giving rides to hitchhikers. In the summer of 2004, i encountered three different influences which inspired me to move in this direction. First, i met a friend who had lived outside the monetary economy for over seven years, refusing not only to work for money, but also to do work exchange or barter; basically refusing any kind of commodified relationship with another humyn being. Second, a personal growth workshop offered regularly at an intentional community near my home started doing their workshops on a donation basis. Third, i went on the Superhero ride, which involves a group of people coming together through word of mouth, inventing superhero identities and costumes, then bicycling out into the world (capes flying gaily over bike trailers filled with food and camping gear) for a month to find people in need of loving service. Collectively these experiences resulted in a commitment on my part to engage in my work on a gift economy basis for one year. That year ended Sept. 1, 2005, and having earned enough to live on, i expect to continue operating this way into the indefinite future. I feel called to this way of working in the world as a way of serving life. The society i live in now fosters a culture of consumption based on scarcity, while pretending the world has infinite resources. I believe that the society of the future, if there is to be one, will be the reverse: nurturing a culture of sharing based on abundance, while recognizing nature's limitations. For me, shifting to a gift economy now is a way of expressing my love for, and faith in, that future world—one small step toward birthing it into being. "At the deepest level, there is no giver, no gift and no recipient—only the Universe rearranging itself."—Ronald Arms For more information on Gift Economy . . .ARTICLES ONLINE
Description and links from an encyclopedia site: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Gift-economy. Two interesting essays on the concept and contemporary practices from Dave Pollard's "How to Save the World" blog on Salon.com. The first post provides a good, short overview of the subject. The second, called "Can We Make the Gift Economy Work?" talks about major challenges to it and what to do about them. Musician Issa (formerly Jane Siberry) dstributes her music using "self-determined pricing." Read about on her website or in this story from NPR. For one vision of how a gift economy might emerge from a neighborhood, see How to Disappear, a beautiful online book associated with Riverbank Neighbors in Chicago. The Gift Economy by Gifford Pinchot The High-Tech Gift Economy by Richard Barbrook 37 ways to join the Gift Economy by Beverly Feldman and Charles Gray in YES! Magazine More Articles at Future Positive: http://futurepositive.synearth.net/stories/storyReader$223 BOOKS
Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property. Random, 1983. Mauss, Marcel. The Gift: The Form and Reasons for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Trans. W. D. Halls. Routledge, 1990. Osteen, Mark (ed.). The Question of the Gift: Essays Across Disciplines. Routledge, 2002. Sahlins, Marshall B. Stone Age Economics. Aldine, 1972. Tree Bressen is an experienced facilitator working with nonprofits, cohousing groups, activists, schools, and a wide variety of other organizations. She gives workshops on consensus decision-making, meeting facilitation, conflict resolution, and related subjects, all on a gift economy basis. Tree Bressen |