Section 4 of the IPC Membership Contract

Shared Economy Model



Introduction to the IPC Sharing Economy

The structure of an economy is an important piece to any community, small or large, because it defines the interactions and the methods of those interactions between persons and the world of goods and services. Often overlooked however is that the structure of any economy affects and is affected by all aspects of life, and any economy which denies this reality has inherent problems from the beginning. For example, in modern day economies, elements such as the environment are often overlooked or devalued through cost externalization, creating problems such as pollution and over-exhaustion of natural resources. A realistic, strong, and sustainable economy should therefore be a holistic one and include as many elements as possible.

Furthermore, in price system economics, land is considered like any other resource. The core team has deliberately separated land from economy as it merits a class of its own because it persists beyond us, gives us grounding, provides us with all the other resources we use and is ultimately sacred. Please see our Land Stewardship Model pages for more details on how land is used publicly or privately in our community.

The IPC is an egalitarian community, with a resource sharing as well as income sharing economic model that uses a commitment of shared work to replace the medium of money as exchange. Participants will work primarily in areas or on projects that motivate and interest them and sometimes rotate work that is less desirable to get our collective needs met. It is also an economy where each individual partakes equally in the total work load.

Although this document may seem long, it is streamlined in comparison to the rules and regulations of the capitalist system which is so convoluted and compartmentalized that each person knows only a bit of whats really going on or the laws concerning it. Here we try to be simple and transparent while also setting the ground rules for a fully functional alternative. This sharing economy model is an out of the box solution and although some paragraphs may seem drudgingly painful to read they have each been decided on carefully. If you are unsure why it has been set up in this way the core team would be glad to explain it too you. Furthermore, if the tribe sees ways to streamline it further the possibility for evolution is built into this contract. We are all learning and finding ways to improve the balance between us. We have to be serious in our commitment and our strategy to be successful and be curious and playful in our daily interactions if we are to create magic.

Our sharing economy model takes into account the larger picture and all the interconnected elements that contribute to our living and is embodied in the interaction between participants with the 'Do what you can, take what you need' approach. Equality, therefore is not measured solely by fair distribution but by responding to each of our individual needs.

We come together to share in the abundance of the natural world, to share our dreams and collective efforts, and to share in the harvest and the diverse services stemming from the upkeep and initiatives of the Participants and cooperatives. This will ensure a good balance of knowledge, wisdom, creativity, camaraderie, efficiency and fun.

Participants should realize and accept that we as individuals have not come into the world with equal gifts nor equal wealth, however we are all equally important, and if we want to live in harmony it is in our best interest to share. This concept, although quite simple can cause angst in some. In fact, any system of sharing the wealth and sharing the burden (gains and losses) is unfamiliar to most in the industrialized world and requires a letting go of old mentalities and habits and accepting that together we are stronger. The larger a group we are, the more robust our sustainability is. This community is a tribe, a family. Sharing in the wealth may not get you a Cadalac but you should have access to a car when you need it, sharing the burden means there are more heads, hearts and hands to face life's difficulties.

It is also in our personal interest to help others achieve their possible best because we share in their success, and if we become aloof then we may suffer the consequences of their losses. This community is only possible because people are willing to share. Share a place, share work, share goods, share responsibilities, share the costs, share their fullness and share the dream.

Techniques and information will be open sourced and encouraged to be shared between all members. This creates resilience, a security to maintain and succeed in the projects that are undertaken. Sharing of knowledge and work effort also improves the chances for more discoveries to occur and is a further cohesive force.

Our economic structure includes the following concepts and responsibilities: Wish /Supply Balance, Shared Work Hours agreement (Shawoho), Cooperative businesses, Resource Sharing model & Income Sharing model.


Wish / Supply Balance

The community bases its production from the wishes (needs and wants) that the participants have expressed to the whole. For persons not used to reflecting on their needs, this process may take some time to get accustomed to. Sometimes it is not always possible to know ones needs from the beginning, but as we engage in this community over time, we will better understand ourselves, our needs, our fundamental desires and we will get better at asking for them and manifesting them as a group. In the mean time, we also have the possibility to purchase what we need from the outside when we are either unable to plan our self sufficiency or unable to deliver on certain items which the community will probably never produce such as computers.

Participants and their dependents will be asked to explain their needs in detail so that the whole community can set out to supply or manifest those needs with the participant. It is important therefore that every person express their needs and to support that we will offer self exploration and self expression workshops which will help in assessing surface needs as well as deeper needs, and how that is important in our economy. Needs will be expressed verbally and through written form and naturally will change with time. In order to keep track of needs and wants there will be Wish Lists. Each participant can easily add things to the Wish list, under personal columns and communal columns.

Projects, Cooperatives and Businesses also have their Wish Lists. This helps everyone find work to be done as well as help the community as a whole plan for future inventories of communal materials and natural resources.

As each of us are working towards providing needs for everyone in the community we must also respect our own needs. If you are picking fruit in the agricultural cooperative and you want to eat some, then do so. This is supplying the need that one has right away. This applies to all aspects of the community. Those doing the production of something will always have a chance to profit from it first and we want to acknowledge that this is not a negative thing.

Supply, is fundamental to any successful economy - one that provides all the participants with their needs and wants within reason - as long as it doesn't tax the resource or cause damage to the environment or other people. Since we will already be exploring our needs, we will produce lists of things we personally and collectively seek and from our collected efforts, will eventually provide. Note that this is not a planned economy. We do not decide what gets supplied or not but we do try to supply what each of us is willing and capable of doing and have faith that a majority of each persons needs and the communities needs are met through this process. As our community is still embedded in the 'price system', we will also be able to purchase some of those needs we are not able to produce as a community or network of communities in the future.

Pure supply also exists in the community, in the form of services as well as when there is an abundance of any kind. A provider of a service makes it known that they are available to the community and can be thus engaged as the need for their service arises.

On the supply side, it will be prudent for us to keep track of resources used in the community. Sustainable use monitoring, making notes of what natural resources and energy we use to make them will be discussed to see if we cannot improve our communities efficiency and ecological foot print.


Work Sharing Agreement

The heart of the engine of the Sharing Economy is the engagement of the Shared Work Hours (Shawoho) by participants. It is where the wealth of the community bears fruit and increases over time, until we achieve a comfortable sustainable balance. This is mostly done without the medium of money in the IPC. It is done through direct effort. Throughout history, each persons time and effort are, and have been, the only true accumulator of human generated wealth. We tap into this people power by arranging an egalitarian contract between participants which is this work sharing agreement. In essence, the Shawoho is how we supply our collective and personal wishes (needs and desires).

We will take our individual and collective needs and brainstorm ways in which we can reduce the work load and share the resources, (energy and waste streams included) and with that plan of action calculate an approximate amount of hours it will take to provide us all with the needs and benefits we desire. We then take this number and divide it by the number of full participants involved. If there are not enough hours to provide for them both needs and wants then obviously the needs will be met first when deciding on our shared work in the community to become more self sustaining. It is in our interest to be as efficient as possible, yet also enjoy what we are doing.

Each participant takes on the responsibility to complete a certain amount of Shawoho in a certain period of time. The amount of Shared Work Hours changes as our collective needs change.

The Shawoho is like a river, it continues to flow. There is no banking of these hours. The clock is reset each month. It is the participant who must create their own schedule where and when they like to complete these minimums. Any extra is a personal satisfaction and can only improve our situation as a community.

When engaging themselves in work, participants should express their intent to those who may benefit, that is those who have put a task on the Community Wish Lists. For weekly tasks or daily tasks participants can just put their name beside the task and time (schedule) on the list. When they have completed the task they come back and fill out the hours it took, sign and date, and any notes if applicable. The Shawoho hours is the currency of our community and it is based mostly on the honor system; what a Participant claims they have done. However, there will be some guidelines that we will work on together as time goes by. It has been suggested that there could be a service rendered box, for those who have received a service from a participant which matches the Wish List and where opinions, suggestions or other notes concerning the service can be added. This would to be written up by the participant receiving the service. Lastly complaints may be brought up about ones work or non work through meetings or in mediation. As of the spring of 2019 Ivan has also been designing an app for such an economy and it may be useful for us even if we are going to see each other often throughout each week.

All hours which go toward providing the needs of the people in the community are considered equal unless otherwise referred to in this contract.

Hours that are included in Shawoho include:

  • Rendering a service to a participant or a participants dependents
  • Work in the village / community lists
  • Work in the project, cooperative, or business lists
  • Work off land in which the participant includes their out of community income

Hours that are not included in Shawoho include:

  • Producing a good that was not on the Wish Lists
  • Personal interests, unless they satisfy a need of the community
  • Providing goods from the outside unless specifically called for by others or the community *Note that goods from the outside can be given to the Tribe as donations. If there are goods that we cannot produce then a form of trade may ensue for cash or resources / products exchange between parties or other communities.

Hours that are partially included in Shawoho include:

  • A Steward and/or their partner(s) who are engaging themselves on the construction of their own buildings on their stewarded land (1/2 time)


At the Pioneer stage, an average of 40 hours a week will be expected or 160 for every 4 weeks. This will change depending on how participants cope, the amount of participants and how our wealth accumulates. Eventually, once the village has enough buildings to accommodate our needs and once the food forest and other agricultural projects get more established, we are hoping that these hours will stabilize somewhere between 20 to 30 hours per week (80 to 120 hours per month).

So long as participants are living in the eco-village, they are expected to share the wealth they make in terms of hours worked inside or outside the community, with the tribe. Participants do not have to share the wealth they may be making through stocks, bonds, investments in other businesses, rental properties etc., unless they desire to. The same applies if they are working away for many months (unless the work is part of a cooperative venture). Also any hours worked that surpass the Shawoho that generates wealth for the individual is theirs to keep. (Please see Income Sharing Model section below for more details)

Hours of Absences: Every year a participant has a fixed amount of hours in which they can off set their shared work hours to allow some flexibility as for cases such as being sick, spending time with impromptu visits by family, emergencies and/or other needs they may have. There are a total of 45 absent hours allocated for the year. These do not all have to be used, however they cannot be accumulated in following years. They reset every year, the date set depending on the date of entrance of the participant into the community.

If a participant leaves on the first or last day of a month there are no calculation of hours to make. If however they depart at any other time of the month their Shawoho will be calculated as follows:

Take the decided on Shawoho for that month and divide this number by the number of days in the month, always 28, then multiply by the number of days the participant will be staying. This will give us the number of hours that participant is responsible for during the rest of the month in question.

If for some reason, the participant must leave suddenly (such as emergency medical attention to family afar) and they did not complete their hours for the number of days so far in the month, the hours missing will be calculated and added on to their hours upon their return. These hours could alternatively be displaced by the Hours of Absences (see above) if the participant chooses.

If a participant leaves for long periods of time (more than 6 months), they are partially detracting themselves from their responsibilities and privileges and as such, unless other arrangements have been made, will no longer be entitled to any resource shares, nor income shares until they return. Also, the private land they steward may be subject to other uses while they are gone (see Land Steward Model for details). Participants will still be responsible for their equal share of land taxes and other legal expenses of the community.

It is possible for a participant to leave for long periods of time and still be entitled to resource shares, income shares and leaving their stewarded lot empty or with their dependents, if they are abroad doing work for an IPC cooperative or business or if as individuals they decide to pay into the community coffers a portion of their income. (Please see Income Sharing Model below for more details).

If a participant does not complete their Shared Work Hour minimums per month the community will discuss the situation at our meetings. If this occurs often their membership may be put into question through the democratic model and could be revoked.

The following paragraphs give an example to explain the Shawoho concept in operation:

There is a massage therapist living in the community. She has offered her services as a masseuse to the community. She also wants to do a massage workshop to teach other people massage. When catering to the larger society this could be a way of generating income for the community. She lets everyone in the community know first then publicizes to the larger public. She does this because we respect the community participants needs first. Whether those needs are edible goods or those needs are services such as the massages or even the training of the massage we want to allow participants first access, part of the abundance we are working together for.

In this scenario Shawoho hours would break down as follows:

If one participant takes the course, then the hours of the teaching will count toward the Shawoho hours and if more than one participant takes the course, the same amount of time would be counted toward Shawoho hours. In other words no more time is counted; time to teach for one equals the time to teach for all, unless it actually takes more time (in which case the longer amount of time counts. For example, a student stays to ask some more questions for another 1/2 hour. That half hour will be counted as Shawoho hours. The course may have taken some time to prepare and this too may be counted. If no one from the community takes the course and there are monies generated from the labor that are destined for the community, then the masseuse hours count toward Shawoho. This is so because most labor that is sold outside of the community becomes shared profits so their hours preparing and giving the workshop therefore count toward their community commitments. (please see the Shared Income Model below for more details).

Please note that more dynamics to Shawoho hours and the economy can also be found in the Private Home Agreement in the Land Stewardship Model, as it pertains to personal private spaces.

To help in keeping calculations per month simple we may try this on for the first couple of years and see how it will work: IPC time period standards: Year 1 begins the first Monday after we first purchase the land.
Each week is a period of 7 days with 24 hours each day. Each month is a period of 4 weeks therefore exactly 28 days in each month. In each IPC year therefore there are 13 month periods but there are still 52 weeks per year. It may take some adjustment at the beginning however it is a system that will greatly help simplify our calculations of hours. We will still keep the days of the week and the months from 1-13 and will only need to be referenced in relationship to Shawoho. The future app may also help us in this regard.


Projects, Cooperatives & Businesses

Projects, Businesses or Cooperatives are also referred to as Production Elements.

Projects are production elements that are non income generating, and fill a need of the tribe. They can be one time events or ongoing projects, such as a Resourcary or Communications hub, which are managed by those intent on seeing the project succeed, offset by their Shawoho of course.

Businesses & Cooperatives are production elements with pecuniary gain in mind, that tap into an opportunity for the community to generate an income while also supplying the needs of the tribe. The only difference between the business and cooperative is the way they are managed.

Businesses are like sole proprietorship or partnerships or can also be made up of larger groups of people that use a manager to be in charge of the day to day operations of production while Cooperatives are groups of people who manage themselves via democratic processes and share fully in the responsibility of the day to day operations of production.

Cooperatives and Businesses are entities made up of a participant or groups of participants who are working on activities to deliver a need to the community and/or sell goods or services to the wider community in order to bring in the commodity of money.

Cooperatives and businesses in the IPC do not have individual shareholders and they are not considered in the same legal status as real living persons such as is the norm in the modern capitalist system. Each Cooperative, Business or Project is registered and owned under the Foundation. Foundation members who are also the community participants choose the overall direction of all cooperatives, businesses and projects and benefit from any wealth generated from those equally.

Cooperatives and businesses can steward lands and buildings depending on their needs and what is available.

Cooperatives & Businesses must:

  • Keep an ongoing Wish List
  • Keep an ongoing tentative work schedule
  • Keep track of all goods and resources they use or are borrowing.
  • Keep a record of events
  • Keep a record of expenses
  • Keep track of all worked hours

    • All above responsibilities must have one or more participants listed in the cooperative log/book (functions) which will undertake said responsibilities. In most cases it is the cooperative members that decide amongst themselves who will take on what responsibilities.

    All records of Cooperatives and Businesses must be accessible to all Participants and should be published somewhere for participants to easily access.

    Production Elements can be decided on and pushed through by the community voting process or can sprout organically by an individual member. The former is simply done by initiating an issue through the democratic process concerning a new production element (Project, Cooperative, Business). Then the village can deliberate on it and vote it in or refuse it. Refusal could be for the simple fact that we may not have the extra hands, time to take it on, resources or funds. The other way could be that someone, out of their own personal initiative, creates something that can then become a production element onto itself. This could then be talked about after the fact and made official through the democratic model or at a Monthly Meeting. The benefit to make it official is that the hours worked can be counted toward the Shared Work Hours and thus someones personal initiative could be counted on an economic front from the point it is recognized. 'Economic' here does not mean money oriented but rather creating a good or service or filling a need, which may generate money but not necessarily, but can be counted toward a participants Shawoho. The IPC will accept a grace period of 2 months from such personal initiative to offset Shawoho hours if the project, cooperative or business is adopted officially as a Tribal affair.

    In the case of Businesses, if there is more than one person who is qualified or who would like to manage the enterprise, a manager or joint managers (depending on the size of the production element) may be elected by the community as needed. Managers can change with time, either resigning or called to resign through the democratic model.

    Most cooperatives will formally ask the community to cover the costs related to infrastructure and original operating needs through the democratic model to get them started. If accepted, the community will then allocate the amount determined in the democratic model. The cooperative or business or project manager(s) at this point can withdraw the funds that have been allocated in part or in full from the village coffer by the designated parties. This gift from the community is given in the hopes that the cooperative, business or project will return dividends one day and/or produce items and services that improve the lives of the participants in the future.

    Once a cooperative or business are themselves generating an income, they will not need to ask the community formally for monies, unless there are big changes requiring new expenses which will then need to be cleared through the democratic model again. Instead, cooperatives, businesses or projects may use a portion of their income to fray operating costs. This operating buffer is a percentage between 0% and 50% and is self determined by each group, who must also deliver a copy of the expenses rendered to Village accounting.

    These operating funds can also be used for infrastructure costs and marketing tools as well as to pay expertise from outside the community. The latter may be subject to approval by the community and a notice of intent will need to be written on the Community billboard (or eventual App). Another reason for expressing the need for a payed outside expert is the fact that others in the community may also be able to benefit for their own projects, and other businesses and cooperatives may also feel it important and pitch into these expenses via their operating funds.

    These operating funds shall not be used for salaries, for beefing up expenses or for any kind of personal benefits, all of which constitutes fraud, and is cause for immediate dismissal from the community.

    Earnings after operating expenses are delivered to the Village Accountant and are used in their entirety for the Share the Wealth plan. This is how villagers through the cooperatives and businesses actually get monies.

    Participants and their dependents can use the services of cooperatives, businesses and projects on a first come, first serve basis and with no pecuniary fees of any kind, unless elsewhere stated in this contract.

    An example: There is a tourist cooperative, with two projects. The first is a camping business. The second is a horse tour business with 5 horses.

    That week, there were 2 campsites used for 2 days which brought in $40 to the cooperative. The expenses were 1 roll of toilet paper and 2 light bulbs that burnt out. The camping business therefore had $4 in expenses. Note that some participants time (3 hours), firewood, water, electricity was also used but since these are already coming from the community Shawoho they are not added to the pecuniary expenses. So the monies earned after expenses is $36 for the camping business.

    In the same week there is a horse tour going out with 2 visitors. There is a participant who has put on the Wish List to go up on a tour. As there are enough horses they are invited to the tour and join the adventure. There is no fee for them to do so. The visitors meanwhile pay for the Horse Tour and the business makes $80. The expenses include a lunch that is offered to the guests but it only cost the business $2 because most of the food for lunch was produced in the farming cooperative and thus is not considered a pecuniary expense. Note that the tour guide 6 hours and the staff that made the lunch 1 hour are part of Shawoho and thus are not considered in the pecuniary expenses. So the monies earned after expenses is $78 for the horse tour business.

    The tourist cooperative has thus earned a total of ($36+$78=) $114 that week. The tourist cooperative had previously decided on a buffer of 30%. So they keep 30% of $104 for their buffer which now is $34.20 and deliver the remainder of $72.80 to the village accountant to disperse of the funds through the Share the Wealth Dividend plan. With that money in the buffer of the cooperative, the members decide to save the money till they have enough to buy a new saddle, the money will also serve to buy things that they may need during the following week for new guests in the camp grounds. Either way, the buffer acts as an automatic assess tool for the cooperative.

    Businesses, Cooperatives and Projects should update their Wish List often so that using the same example, the tourist cooperatives need of a new saddle and toiletries in this case so that the whole community can notice it and perhaps make it, find alternatives or better deals as a Tribe. In this way it is like a constant feedback loop which makes for a better understanding of the businesses and allows the entire Tribe to be a part of the improvements in quality and/or efficiency.


    Resource Sharing Model

    The sharing of the fruits of our labor, that wealth created, transformed and brought forth for the use of others by the participants Shawoho hours, without the need of money as intermediary, manifests in some form of gift to the world. These goods and services created, arise from our varied needs and wants and are equally used up in differing ways. As a matter of simplicity we will call all of this the Communal Gifts and will explore here the different distribution methods and guidelines around them.

    When there is an abundance of some good or food, that is when all wishes for that item that were previously stated are supplied, then the extras will be available for all others in the community through the Free Store, as well as the cooperatives, who may transform such extras. Alternatively the tribe may choose that when we have abundance of this or that, we sell it outside of the IPC.

    If there is not an abundance of some commodity, it will be divided amongst the community participants who have stated their desires prior first then amongst others who desire it at the moment, in equal parts. When there is scarcity, we will need to look at the scarcity and its cause together and see if we cannot remedy the situation for the future.


    Resourcary

    A collection of sharable goods; also a place (IE. cyberspace), warehouse and/or the institution in charge of such a collection where goods held in common can be borrowed. Here are some of the other names which could be used for general or specific types of resourcaries: share shed, clutter house, tool shed, instrument library, library, community stocks, share store to name a few types.

    The idea of a Resourcary is that all goods that are not being used by participants on a regular basis, thus all goods that can be shared, could be kept in common places with easy access and a system of borrowing that works efficiently for the community. Some inventory would be required and when things break, we will fix them or find new uses for them. A Resourcary basically facilitates the loaning out and repairing of sharable goods and equipment.

    As there will be personal and communal items in Community Earth we will have an orientation on how to see the difference (tagged) and the protocols to use the items.

    The regular wear and tear of items is absorbed by everyone but the negligence or disregard for the item one is using from the community will be frowned upon. If a general disregard or negligence is the cause of a damaged tool then the community may ask for a 50% reimbursement of the value of the item, as we find a new use for it and wait for a replacement.

    As a group we should maintain a written and/or video archive of 'best practices' for using goods so that everyone follows the same upkeep (tool care) for collective items. The 'best practices' will be decided on by everyone and may therefore differ from the best practices people already know or what the accustomed local uses are. We will also make training available as needed.


    Free Store

    A platform to distribute products brought into the economy that are either brought in from the outside, an abundance produced in the community, an item no longer wanted by someone in the community or newly made by participants, cooperatives or businesses that is not directly providing a need of one of the participants. The Free Store is most often the place where extra food will be available for the taking. Literally, it is a first come, first serve with the motto 'take what you need', make available what you don't!

    Remember anything produced cannot be taken and then sold. This is not Craigslist! All transactions are money-less here and to take it out of our economy and put it in a money economy is feeding the Price system and taking power away from the sharing economy models. Unless it has been decided by the community beforehand as the case may be for certain cooperatives producing food, we as a Tribe or individuals of that tribe shall not take from the Freestore and sell for pecuniary gain.


    Warehouses

    Places to store various resources that are not sharable in their nature for use by participants in times of need, especially for infrastructure. Eg. Wood, metal, glass.

    In our community it will probably be more like a store shed where an inventory is kept but no one will constantly be there in person.


    Workshops

    Common use spaces with equipment and expertise. Examples include a jam space (with instruments), an electronics workshop, a woodworking shop etc...


    Services Centers

    Are places where a service is given which include expertise and the right tools to carry out the service. They can be run by a participant or many, as a cooperative, business or project and usually have a designated location due to equipment necessities. Some examples include: Restaurant, Barbershop, Spa, etc...


    Income Sharing Model

    Persons who join our community must be willing to share in the profits of their own labors and have a strong desire for wealth sharing in general.

    Each participant who is undertaking their Shared Work Hours, is entitled to a payment from the collective works of all participants through the Share the Wealth Dividends plan.

    The Share the Wealth Dividends is the plan used to verify all the monies earned from all sectors of the community and the calculations used to redistribute this financial wealth according to what we as a community have already agreed to prior.

    All expenses will be kept transparent by a designated village accountant who may or may not be the treasurer of the foundation and a transparent accounting methodology.

    All participants, projects, businesses and cooperatives must keep an expense record for the services or goods they rendered that was bought with cash or credit and hand a copy of this to the village accountant.

    Net financial income (earnings minus expenses from monies received outside the Tribe) from all participants, projects, businesses and cooperatives are to be delivered to the village accountant on a weekly basis.

    The accountant keeps track of all entries and each week writes a summary which the Tribe can consult. An app may help us streamline this accounting method.

    The net income is distributed depending on the percentage of village to resident coffer ratio, which is deliberated and voted on, not more than quarterly every year. The current percentage of Share the wealth dividends is 50% to the village coffer(community monies) and 50% to the resident coffer (participants payouts).

    When voting on percentages, there will be a discussion first, then each participant writes their desired ratio for the following 3 months. The collective ratios are averaged out and the community has their new ratio for the Share the Wealth dividends.

    The resident coffer is payed out to all eligible participants on the last day of each month (every 28 days).

    The total amount in the resident coffer is divided between all eligible participants evenly. In case of uneven amounts, rounded to the dollar, the remainder will stay in the resident coffer till the next month.

    It is the responsibility of the treasurer to distribute these funds in person or automatically through bank accounts to the participants.

    The monies participants receive from the resident coffer are their personal monies, to do with as they see fit, for example - to purchase goods that the community is not willing to purchase collectively or that which cannot be shared, to save for a rainy day or in an eventual parting from the community, for outside schooling or any other personal use that the tribe is unwilling or unable to provide a participant or they're dependents. This ensures the liberty of some financial freedom for each participant.

    The monies the village coffer is endowed with goes to pay for communal infrastructure upkeep, repayment of community/project loans, investment in new projects or improvements in old ones, expertise not found in the village, an emergency fund, future land acquisition, legal expenses, country taxes and any other expenditures the community feels comfortable undertaking with those funds.

    This income sharing model helps offset personal costs and puts everyone on an equal profit margin for the same amount of work time, regardless of what was actually produced. Effort over production. Quality over quantity.

    If a participant leaves the community for a few months and works abroad or elsewhere in the country, they do not have to share their earned income. This is because they will most likely have to incur many more expenses outside.

    Participants leaving the community for a while such as Part-time Tribe members will have their benefits and Share the Wealth Dividends stopped upon leaving and resume upon return. Alternatively, participants can opt in to the Share the Wealth Dividends and other benefits by contributing their Shawoho hours with the amount they are earning elsewhere. This option could be beneficial for families especially in which a participants family is staying on the land and therefore has access to the benefits while they are away working.

    When participants are gone away for over a month they forgo any income and resource sharing. If they leave temporarily and are still able to complete their hours for the month or use their Leave of Absence Hours to compensate they are still entitled to the income sharing for that month.

    A simple week long example of how the Shawoho hours principle and income sharing plays out is illustrated below:

    There are 4 people (A,B,C,D) in the this example community and the Shawoho is set at 20 hours. The village coffer starts with $200 in it and the residents coffer with $0 in it.

    A. 5 hours doing the kitchen deep clean. 3 hours giving massage to two other participants (B,C) whom asked for massages and 12 hours preparing and giving a workshop to four people not in Shawoho (visitors), at $80 per person. No people in the community were present for the workshop. The total earned is therefore $320 minus some expenses that the community could not supply, for example: Some massage oil which cost the masseuse $20 was used. So we have a total net income of $300.

    B. 2 hours fixing a bicycle for participant D. 18 hours farming (providing food to the participants).

    C. 15 hours carpentry in village on a communal building. 5 hours fixing the road.

    D. 3 hours preparing the communal meal of the week. 10 hours facilitating art experiences with the children in the community which was a need which was asked for. $30 from the village coffer was used for art supplies (which are goods that are needed that no one as yet produces). No income was made but the children have expressed their creativeness, which is a psychological development need, plus it was fun!

    So, that week, the total brought into the community from the 4 participants was $300. This income is split between the village coffer and residents coffer depending on the percentage we have all agreed too. Using a 30% to 70% split between coffers in this example, we deliver $90 to the village coffer and $210 to the residents coffer.

    The village coffer which started out at $200 was reduced to $170 when monies were taken out for art supplies. Furthermore, we decided collectively to reduce a debt by $100. Therefore, at the end of the week the delivery of $90 to the village coffer brought its new total to $160.

    The resident coffer, pays out to all the participants eligible for income sharing. In this case 4 participant with each one receiving $55.
    (End of example)

    Participants can put as many hours into the cooperatives or businesses as they choose but are not compensated in any extra way for doing so. We do not want to promote workaholic tendencies, and we are unaware at this time how we can merge this within the equal, money-less, sharing economy without bringing in complications and problems that is inherent in the use of money. So for example, we do not want a dynamic to evolve where one participant is forcing others to work more because they work more. This is why in the IPC it is possible to work more but is not expected or rewarded economically. If someone loves what they do for work it may become common for them to do more. Some people in this case have suggested using an existing thank you site such as Honor Pay to show appreciation without the link to economics. In real life, often appreciation may be shown in different more subtle ways.

    We want participants to be free to engage in extra pecuniary income but we do not want them to do so at the expense of everything that the community has to offer, (for example, by choosing the hours that pay more for themselves), and therefore we have devised a way in which their extra effort can generate them an individual financial return, so long as they do at least their minimum amount of Shawoho hours. We will call this calculation; 'Working for cash Beyond Shawoho hours'.

    The Working for Cash Beyond Shawoho calculation method is: Take the total dollar amount made from services rendered outside the community or for visitors (that is not part of the cooperative ventures) per month and divide it by the total hours of work done in that month (both the community hours and work for cash hours) and this will give us an average amount of monetary income per hour...then multiply that number by the amount of hours worked out of the community and this amount they can keep for themselves.

    Example 1, with 100 hours of Shawoho expected per 28 days: A participant works his full 100 Shawoho hours for the month and also earned $500 during a 25 hour period from some outside source. Note: if it was an inside source the monies would be divided in the cooperatives or businesses through the Share the Wealth Dividends so it can only be from outside sources, be it other employers or some self employed good or service. To calculate in this case how much the participant keeps and how much goes to the Share the Dividends Plan we would take the total amount of monies earned in that month = $500 and divide that by the total amount of hours worked in the month, which in this case would be 100 Shawoho hours and 25 outside hours for a total of 125 hours, which gives us a $4 an hour average, which we then multiply by the outside hours. In this case 25 x $4 which equals $100, which would be what the participant keeps for themselves. The remaining $400 goes into the Share the Dividends Plan and a part of these monies will also come back to the participant when divvied up accordingly.

    Example 2, with 100 hours of Shawoho expected per 28 days: A participant decides to come live in the IPC who telecommutes or makes money through a personal business they run, or perhaps work outside the land on a full time basis in a good paying job. Let us imagine that they earn $20 an hour and prefer this job to others available in the community so they choose to work all their time in this. They work 160 hours that month (60 more than the required minimum Shawoho). $20 an hour multiplied by 160 hours = $3,200. In this case, 100 hours goes to the community coffers (to be divvied up in the normal fashion) and 60 hours goes to the participant. Thus in this case, $2000 to the community coffers and $1200 in the participants pocket. In this way they are doing what they love and are helping the community in bringing the commodity of money and are still living in the shared economy and benefiting from all the services that the Tribe and land offers as well as still getting a part of the Share the Dividends Plan.