Examples and initiatives

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Nothing is more convincing than a practical example. We have selected particularly impressive examples of research, advocacy and practice to illustrate the various reform proposals. Our collection does not claim to be complete. For profiles of 16 of the world’s leading community currency systems, read the text of “People Money – the Promise of Regional Currencies”, Chapter 7. If you think an initiative or project should be listed here, please contact us.

The Sardex currency initiative was launched in response to the economic decline that affected the island of Sardinia, Italy, in the aftermath of the financial crises. In 2010 four young entrepreneurs with little background and experience in finance or business launched the initiative as a limited liability company (Sardex s.r.l.) to leverage collaboration and […]

Mutual Aid Networks (MAN) is a US based initiative with global reach. Its mission is “To create means for everyone to discover and succeed in work they want to do, with the support of their community.” MAN is a natural evolution from twenty years of local economic development work in Wisconsin, beginning with the local […]

Positive Money describes itself as “the UK branch of a global movement to democratise money so that it works for society and not against it.” It was started by blogger and author Ben Dyson in the wake of the finance crisis of 2008. There were two or three fringe groups campaigning for monetary reform in […]

The following edited text is taken from the website of the New Economy Coalition: http://neweconomy.net/ Another World Is Possible. There Are Many Alternatives—It’s Time For A New Economy. The New Economy Coalition grew out of the work of the E. F. Schumacher Society – founded by Robert Swann and Susan Witt in 1980, pioneers of […]

Spice was founded in 2009 to spread the concept of ‘community time credits’, an adaptation of the time banking model developed by Dr. Edgar Cahn in the USA. Spice grew out of the work of the Wales Institute for Community Currencies in the former mining districts of South Wales, UK. This is how they describe […]

The following slightly edited text is taken from the website of TimeBanks USA: http://timebanks.org/about/ TimeBanks USA, a registered 501c3 headquartered in Washington D.C., was formed in 1995 by Dr. Edgar S. Cahn, a law professor and longterm civil rights activist, to expand the knowledge and field of timebanking and its impact on individuals, youth, families, […]

The following text is a slightly edited version of the text on the Timebanking UK website: https://timebanking.org/overview/ Timebanking UK is a national charity (Charity No: 1101204) and limited company serving time banks across the UK since 2000. It is guided by a board of trustees who appoint a Chief Executive to run the organization. Together […]

This text is based on an interview with the Executive Director of IRTA Ron Whitney and was originally published in “People Money- the Promise of Regional Currencies” by Margrit Kennedy, Bernard Lietaer and John Rogers in 2012 IRTA is a non-profit organisation that promotes high standards of practice amongst business exchange systems through education, self […]

The “Community Currencies in Action” project was a collaboration between English, French, Dutch and Belgian partner organizations between 2012 and 2015, cofunded by the EU Interreg programme. (Original project website archived here) Goals of CCIA The main aim was to promote different types of complementary currency and to bring together and expand the […]

Regional currency promotes regional economic circuits and local voluntary organizations. The following regional currency networks in Germany have been active for several years, keeping buying power in the regions and enabling interest-free financing: Rosenheim and Traunstein region, Bavaria: Chiemgauer Berchtesgadener Land: Sterntaler Town and region of Freising: Bärling Regional currency is mostly seen in the […]