Edmonton's Gift Economy Tool: Favourpod
posted by Robert Ginkgo | January 28, 2010
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IcerocketI thought you'd all be interested to see that some Northern Sisters and Brothers are setting up a gift exchange board. (I'm not entirely sure where this differs from a Time Bank.)
At the Evolver Philly's Gift Spore last week, Charles Eisenstein asked us to do an exercise where each person states one thing they would love to give unconditionally, and then another thing they would like to receive (not in exchange for the gift.)
Favourpod works like that. In addition to providing a space for members to post gifts and wishes/needs, the site also gives each member a generosity value of 0-100. 100 means giving so much, taking little, 0 is the reverse. One cannot amass more than 100 points (no hoarding), but if you have that value, the community are sent a message acknowledging that this person needs to receive and have their contributions honored. Likewise, there is no way to go into debt with this system, but if you have a value of 0, you may not receive any more gifts until you give something back (unless you are sick or in some sort of crisis).
This seems like the best tool to more from our current cultural configuration toward the sort of economy we are envisioning. This site is local only, but perhaps we will see more springing up through the Evolver network?
All love,
Ginkgo
Comments
Seem's the infrastructure
— Jan 28, 2010
Seem's the infrastructure for 13 Muluc's 'MINO' system is being put in place.... :)
The Revolution is Within
Thanks for noticing
— Jan 29, 2010
I'm Jason, the developer of FavourPod and am willing and able to answer any questions anyone might have.
I'm also prepared, if there's anyone sufficiently devoted to promoting it in their community, to extend FavourPod beyond Edmonton, to include other cities/areas, but to be worth while it needs active members.
I think there's a misunderstanding on how the score works. If we trade my wild game for your garden grown vegetables and we both agree the game is worth more, the 'barter' can be balanced by one gifting points to the other in lieu of cash. I can use those points to balance out my exchanges with other members; so the 'favour' becomes the medium of exchange, so to speak.
It's about trying to move away from money as the lubricant to our inter-personal relationships, and more towards the 'help a brother out' mentality. The real beauty lies in the categorization of your offers and wishes out there - it kind of matches people together.
Thanks for posting this up Robert
Peace
Jason
