The hundred mile currency: Columbia Community Dollars
By Andrew Zwicker
What if a currency had caring for the community built right into its structure? What if, by design, a currency was based on generosity rather than greed? Fed up with the current debt-sourcing model our national currency runs on and seeing a potentially large opportunity for a truly win-win-win situation in which businesses, customers and charities all come out ahead, a Nelson-based group is currently working hard to make the dream of an alternative currency a reality in the Columbia Basin. This week the group promoted the initiative at the Green Drinks event hosted in the Rouge Gallery. With just over twenty people attending the event, the overall feeling of the crowd ranged from very interested to skeptical. Questions were raised around how taxation works with the new dollars, how to keep people using the currency and how to make sure the program works out as equitable as possible for participating businesses. As the evening progressed small groups formed and discussed the program among themselves, and increasingly positive comments were heard about the program’s potential. Based on a model called the “Community Way” designed by Michael Linton who previously designed an alternative currency/credit system known as the LETSystem the group known as Columbia Community Dollars is aiming to launch such a system in our region as soon as this coming spring. Presently the details of the plan are still coming together as the group travels around the region generating excitement around their idea. This coming weekend plans look to take a major leap forward as one of the group’s founding members Bill McNally is hosting a weekend long summit of sorts at his house in Nelson. If the project goes ahead it will be one of the first such examples in the country. Presently there is a similar system in place in the Comox Valley which has been working with the Nelson group to help them implement a similar initiative. Should the plan come together it would bring with it an incentive for the entire region to shop locally. The program would also provide a significant new revenue stream for area not-for-profits as well as provide an increase in locals’ spending power. The group admits the plan is somewhat complicated to first grasp but that by its very nature should become a self-amplifying project that will naturally grow itself should enough initial core businesses, people and not-for profits buy into the system. How does it all work? The process begins with businesses in the region donating the new Columbia Community Dollars (CCD) to a local not-for-profit group of their choice. This doesn’t require actual Canadian Dollars to be donated but rather a negative balance will show up on the business’s CCD account. The benefit to the business is immediate as their donation qualifies to receive a federal tax deduction from the organization they donate to if they are a registered charity. By donating that initial dollar amount, the business also agrees to accept that currency (up to a set percentage of sale). The organization that has received the CCD donation then has gained a valuable tool for fundraising that also helps get the CCD circulated. Any person who donates Canadian Dollars to that charity will receive an equal number of CCDs back. Essentially, they lose no spending power while at the same time the charity receives real Canadian Dollars. People who receive the CCDs can then spend them at participating businesses. As businesses then start to collect CCDs from customer purchases they can either re-donate that money back to a charity and once again claim a tax deduction for charity donation, give them as change to interested customers, distribute them as a bonus to their staffs or use them to purchase their own goods for resale from other area suppliers. “By the very nature of the community dollars, it forces local businesses to get more creative and provides and incentive for them to seek out local suppliers,” explained McNally “If the grocery store, for example, can now source some of its food locally and that supplier accepts community dollars it may make that situation much more attractive than sourcing product from outside the region. If the supplier doesn’t currently accept it, there is a social pressure that comes into play. Customers will be seeking out businesses that accept the currency and businesses will be seeking out local suppliers that accept the currency. By that measure the program self amplifies and continues to grow.” The desired end result is a situation in which the CCD circulate through Kootenay communities, increasing everyone’s spending power, encouraging charitable giving and stimulating additional purchasing at participating businesses. At present the group is signing up local businesses that may be interested in participating in the program and asking them so sign up on the group’s website at www.communitydollars.ca. Through the website there is also a contest currently being run to design the new currency. If you’ve got a particularly great photo of the region you could potentially win the $200 prize as well as see your work grace the back of the new bills. If all goes well, the new currency will roll out and into circulation as part of Earth Day celebrations on April 22nd. If you’re interested in getting involved in the project as either a customer or a not-for-profit, you can get in touch with the group through their website
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