How to Participate in the Gift Economy

Опубликовал Admin
5-06-2021, 21:40
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You may be interested in participating in the gift economy if you think a capitalist mindset is harmful for workers and the community. A gift economy respects that everyone’s lives are interconnected and encourages strong community ties. In a pure gift economy, people who have more give to those who have less without expecting anything in return. Everyone has something to give, so you can gift what is abundant for you.

Giving to Others

  1. Donate money to people in need without expecting anything in return. Most people experience financial strain in their life at some point. You can help by giving away part of your disposable income. Donate to a crowdfunding request, support fundraisers, give to charities, and help out friends and family who are having trouble paying their expenses.
    • For instance, you might donate to help someone pay their medical bills or rebuild after a fire.
    • Set a budget for how much you can give. If you have a lot of disposable income, you might plan to give up to $500 a month. However, you might only be able to spare $10 a month, and that’s okay!
  2. Give your excess material possessions to people in need. Things like gently used clothes, dishes you aren’t using, and extra blankets may not be useful to you anymore but could be a blessing to someone else. Donate your extra items to a charity, thrift store, or someone you know who needs help.
    • Rather than having a garage sale, you might invite people to come take your items for free.
    • Similarly, you might post your items as an offer on the WeShare app.
  3. Lend your things to friends and family. You likely own a few items that you don’t use regularly that could benefit someone else. For instance, you might own a food dehydrator, snow blower, lawn mower, or sewing machine. Lend these items to neighbors, family, or friends to save them money and strengthen your relationship with them.
    • For instance, you might offer to let your neighbor use your lawn mower so they don’t have to buy one.
    • Similarly, you might allow your sister to borrow your sewing machine when you aren’t using it.
    • If you want to lend your item to members of your community, you could post an offer on WeShare. Make sure you clarify that you're lending the item, not giving it away.
  4. Volunteer your labor to causes that are important to you. Your time and skills are valuable, so volunteering is a big gift to society. Give your time to a charity, nonprofit, or social cause that’s important to you. Additionally, you might help people you know with tasks like doing home improvement projects or moving.
    • As an example, you might help build homes for Habitat for Humanity, care for animals at the local animal shelter, or cook at a local soup kitchen.
    • Similarly, you could volunteer your time to help run a local festival or to help deliver food to the elderly.
  5. Pay-it-forward to brighten someone else’s day. Do small acts of kindness like paying for someone’s coffee, buying someone’s lunch, or leaving a book for someone to find. Hopefully, the person who receives your gift will do something nice for someone else. This can start a pay-it-forward circle of giving.
    • You might buy a gift card at your grocery store for someone who’s in need. Leave it with the cashier to help someone who’s having trouble paying for their groceries.
    • You can leave different kinds of items in public for people to find, like a bag of candy or a small craft. Put a note on the item asking the other person to keep the giving going.
    • When you eat out, pay for part of all of someone else’s meal.
  6. Open your home to travelers or people who are affected by a disaster. If you feel comfortable having people stay in your home, consider allowing someone to stay on your couch or in your extra room. Set up house rules so they know what you expect from them, and give them a time limit for how long you’re comfortable having them stay with you.
    • As an example, let’s say your area has experienced flooding that damaged some homes. You might invite family and friends who are affected by the flood to stay with you.
    • Post your offer on a community forum or on an app like WeShare. You might also tell local faith organizations and nonprofits who are helping people affected by the disaster, such as the Red Cross.

Getting Your Needs Met

  1. Ask for help when you’re in need. You might feel embarrassed or nervous about asking for help, but it’s difficult for others to realize when you need assistance. Speak up so your friends, family, and community are aware of what you need. Tell them specifically how they can help so your needs will be met.
    • For instance, let’s say you had to spend $1,000 on dental work and can’t afford to pay a bill. You might tell a few people you trust that you’re needing help if they can afford it. Alternatively, you might ask the dentist if you can pay in installments instead of all at once.
    • You might also post a request on the WeShare app to see if someone in your community could fulfill your need.
  2. Use crowdfunding when you need money for something important. You’ve probably seen online campaigns where people are raising funds for big expenses like a medical bill, baby supplies, or classes. This is a great way to connect with people who want to give. Create a crowdfunding campaign for your major expenses when you don’t have the resources to cover them.
    • As an example, let’s say you want to take a special course to qualify for a new job. You might raise funds to help you pay for it by starting a Go Fund Me account.
  3. Request to borrow equipment that you need but don’t own. You may occasionally need items that you won’t use very often, like a barbecue pit or a carpet cleaner. To help you save money on these items, ask around to see if you can borrow what you need. You may be able to save your money for something else that’s important to you.
    • Post online asking to borrow what you need. You might post a request on the WeShare app to see if someone in your community could lend or gift the item to you.
    • Call around to people who’ve borrowed things from you. They may have what you need and be open to lending it to you.

Creating a Community of Giving

  1. Start a community garden that everyone can use. A community garden may provide food for those in need, and it adds to the appearance in the community. Talk to your community leaders to find an appropriate spot for your garden. Then, host a community gardening event and invite people to join you. Allow people to pick food as needed or harvest and distribute the food yourself.
    • For instance, you might host a gardening event every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Alternatively, you could set up a schedule where volunteers can go when it’s convenient for you.
  2. Invite others to participate in a cooperative group that shares resources. As a cooperative, you and the other members can arrange to share major purchases, like lawn care equipment, outdoor grills, or carpet cleaning machines. These items will be jointly owned so you all have access to them when you need them. This saves you all money and helps you create a community.
    • This works best with neighbors, friends, and relatives. However, all that’s important is that the people involved are like-minded and live near each other.
    • For instance, you might create a community on WeShare and invite people you know to join it. Tell your friends and family that they can invite others, as well.
  3. Create a group fund to help members with emergencies. Ask your friends and family if they’d like to pool their money into a big emergency fund. Each person could donate to the fund, which would give or lend funds to members in need. This will help you all deal with unexpected financial expenses, like medical bills, new tires, or a vet visit.
    • For instance, each person might put in $100 to join the fund. Then, they might contribute $10 a month.
    • Everyone in the group should agree on how much someone could take as a gift or loan. For instance, you all might agree that each person can take up to $500 as a gift but anything over $500 should be paid back as an interest-free loan.
  4. Start a group that creates a benefit for society. Your community will benefit from services like art exhibits, festivals, or a community theater. Invite others who share your passion to help you give back to your community by hosting an event, painting a community mural, or cleaning up your city.
    • For instance, you might arrange with other artists to hang your artwork at a local library or cafe.
    • Similarly, you might open a community theater or start a comic book festival.

Running a Business with a Gift Economy Mindset

  1. Value the contributions made by your employees. In a giving economy, worker needs are considered very important. Tell your employees how valuable they are to your business and compensate them fairly for their work. Treat them as partners rather than capital.
    • Keep track of how much people with your employees’ skills make at other companies so your pay is in-line with them.
  2. Use a pay-as-you-will model for pricing your store items. Instead of setting prices for your products, you might invite your customers to pay what they can afford or what they think the product or service is worth. Keep track of how much people are paying and what your expenses are. Only use this model if it covers your costs.
    • For instance, let’s say you have a sandwich shop. You could invite people to pay what the sandwich is worth to them. You might post the average of what people generally pay so customers have a general idea for what they might pay.
  3. Invite sponsors to support your creative content. If you run a website, work as an artist, or do graphic design, you might consider operating a sponsorship page rather than charging people for your content. Invite your fans or clients to contribute what they can to support your work. Keep track of the contributions so you know how much you’re being paid.
    • This is a giving economy model because it counts on people who can afford to pay doing so. At the same time, people who might not be able to afford to pay can still benefit from your work.
  4. Donate a portion of your proceeds to an important social cause. You might not be able to sustain your business by letting people pay what they want or asking for sponsors. In this case, you might designate part of your proceeds to a nonprofit or charity. Post a notice telling your customers about the agency you’re supporting and why the cause is important.
    • For instance, you might give 5 cents of every dollar you make to a local animal shelter.
  5. Barter for goods and services when you can. Depending on what type of business you operate, you may be able to barter for some goods and services. For instance, you might be able to give free meals or items in exchange for help in your shop. Consider if you can save money while helping others by exchanging goods and services rather than cash.
    • As an example, let’s say you own a small gift shop. You might arrange to let local artists sell their work in your shop without you taking a commission if they work in your shop for 5 hours a week.
    • Similarly, let’s say you make necklaces with sea glass. If your friend collects sea glass, you might offer them a free necklace in exchange for 10 pieces of sea glass.

Tips

  • Some people may take advantage of your giving nature, so focus on what’s most important to you. If your personal values are driving you to share with others, it might be more important to you to give regardless of the other person’s actions.

Warnings

  • Be honest about what you can afford to give others. Don’t forgo your own needs to try to meet the needs of someone else. You are important, too!
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