(snip)
>· The interfund is aware that very small amounts of help or money can make
>the difference to a project happening or not.
(snip)
>· The interfund intends that all receivers of help will also donate support
>by whatever means is available to them.
>
>· It will not be a new institution, but a structure with the advantages of
>an institution.  This structure will be accessible and usable by all
>individuals.  The interfund will have a structure of governance and
>decision making that is transparent and shared between the people that
>donate and benefit.
>
>· The interfund is s structure for self-help. The interfund is an
>initiative of  practitioners and intends that it will always be able to
>react quickly to requests and ideas without unnecessary bureaucracy.
>
>· Interfund is collaborating with and inspired by other distributed
>projects eg.  Xchange, RTMark, Orang, CTA, Irational, and others.
(snip)
>· Gift economy - if I request something, I should give somehting back
>· Help in kind gained through IF can count as matching resources for
>funding applications.


Can I make a suggestion for practical regulation of the gift economy that
will - hopefully - blossom between interfund members? Has anyone ever heard
of LETS - Local Exchange Trading System? Lots of cities in Europe (both
East and West), Australia and Canada have their own small scale alternative
exchange economy - members of a LETS offer and ask for services - ranging
from practical DIY jobs to for example translation services, organisation
of events; in some larger groups even local authorities and businesses
participate. The members 'pay' for each others services with their own
local, virtual currency (in most cases not exchangeable for 'real' money,
btw). These systems have a central administration which keeps track of all
the transactions, and updates people's accounts. It works very well - and I
think it's a bit surprising that 'our' net culture networks haven't adapted
this yet! This system would be ideal for rewarding and keeping track of all
unpaid help that might be done between interfund members - we invent our
own 'local' interfund currency, 'pay' each other for services, and the
central administration rotates between volunteers (who are, of course,
rewarded for their work as well). Just an idea!

More www info about LETS? Lots of local groups have their own website, an
altavista search will produce good results. There's a bit of academic
research about it too, so I've heard - but I don't know much about it,
should investigate more. And there's a British listserv for LETS
administrators - http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists-a-e/econ-lets/
Rather comprehensive: LETSlink UK http://www.letslinkuk.demon.co.uk/

Hope this is useful,
fokky



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