Social-Ecological Transformation through Local Money, Non-Profit Banking, and Commons Governance

📅 May 22–23, 2025
📍 Freie Gemeinschaftsbank, Basel

 

Over the past 25 years, local currency initiatives have been a pillar of grassroots monetary reform. While these projects have achieved important outcomes — most notably by expanding public understanding of what money is and how it could be designed differently to better serve people and the planet — they have largely fallen short of generating systemic impact for social-ecological transformation.

In today’s rapidly shifting political and economic landscape — marked by increasing interest in economic localization and the search for resilient, place-based solutions — the question is more urgent than ever:
Can local money play a more prominent and strategic role in driving meaningful transformation?
What institutional innovations, particularly the involvement of area municipalities and non-profit and public-interest banks, are needed to enhance their effectiveness?
And what governance frameworks are required to ensure that such monetary designs are both accountable and scalable?

The Remaking Money Symposium offers a forum for critical dialogue and collaboration among local currency activists, local stakeholders, financial innovators, and researchers. Together, we will examine the current status of local monetary experiments, assess their transformative potential, and explore what it means to truly remake money to enhance and serve a sustainable and just future – locally, socially and environmentally.


Programme Overview

📌 May 22 | Part 1: The Challenges of Local Money
Showcasing Local Currencies and Their Structural Challenges

Morning presentations will highlight local currency projects, focusing on their context, governance, and scaling challenges:

  • Contextual Frames

  • Management and Resilience of Local Currencies

  • Scaling Dynamics: Limits and Levers

Afternoon workshops will explore shared insights and dilemmas:

  • WS 1: Mapping Conditions of Emergence

  • WS 2: Mapping Managerial and Maintenance Challenges

  • WS 3: Mapping Growth Potentials and Growth Barriers

🕙 10:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 1
🕗 20:00–22:00 | Public Evening Panel

The evening session will feature a reflective dialogue with key contributors and open the floor to public discussion and questions.


📌 May 23 | Part 2: The Future of Local Money
From Innovation to Implementation: Designing Local Monetary Architectures

This day focuses on the design and implementation of future-ready monetary systems that align with institutional realities and systemic goals:

  • Multi-stakeholder design and governance frameworks

  • Monetary architecture for regional financial self-sufficiency

  • Implementation pathways and local embeddedness

Sessions include contributions from practitioners, public officials, and financial innovators.

🕘 09:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 2


How to Submit Your Contribution

Please send an email to: mail@ecoloc.org
Subject: Submission – Local Money Symposium 2025

Your submission should include:

  • Title of your contribution

  • Abstract (max. 300 words) outlining your topic, approach, and relevance

  • Your name, affiliation, and role

  • Short bio (2–4 sentences)

🗓 Deadline for submissions: Thursday, April 24, 2025
📬 Final programme will be shared: Monday, April 28, 2025


Language

The symposium will be conducted in English to support international participation.
Presenters from German- or Swiss-based initiatives are kindly asked to prepare their presentations in English. Selective translations will be available.


Confirmed Speakers (in presence):

  • Ester Barinaga, University of Lund

  • Paolo Dini, Informal Systems

  • Tomaz Fleischman, Informal Systems

  • Giuseppe Littera, Informal Systems (Sardex)

  • Goran Jeras, European Ethical Bank Initiative (EEB)

  • Jakub Lanc, South Moravia Development Agency (JINAG), University of Brno

  • Isidor Wallimann, Social Economy Basel

  • Stephan Dilschneider, Ecoloc

 

Can we create a sustainable financial system that works for the people and the planet? Hockett, professor at Cornell University in the U.S., has an optimistic but realistic answer: Yes, we can! And it has never been easier to make the transition than today. 

We are pleased to share an invitation to a thought-provoking online event featuring U.S. economist Prof. Robert C. Hockett from Cornell University.

The organizers invite you to explore a bold yet realistic vision for transforming money, banking, and financial markets to serve society rather than the financial sector. According to Hockett, our current financial system has become a “money-pump that encourages, aids, and abets destructive and wealth-concentrating speculation.” But there is hope — and the opportunity for change has never been greater.

🔗 More information and registration here:
https://monreform.org/webinar-hockett

📅 Date: Wednesday, 23 April 2025

🕖 Time:

Lecture & Panel Discussion: 19:00–20:30 CEST (1:00–2:30 PM EDT)

Q&A & Post-Event Talk: 20:30–21:00 CEST (2:30–3:00 PM EDT)

🌍 Language: English

💻 Where: Online (Zoom)

📝 Registration required – Zoom link will be emailed 1–2 hours before the event

Grassroots Economics unveils a revolutionary economic model rooted in nature and ancestral wisdom. Drawing from real-world community resilience, it explores how resource pooling—mirroring mycorrhizal and human social networks—creates sustainable abundance. A transformative guide for activists, ecosystem stewards, technologists, economists, and changemakers seeking decentralized, cooperative, and regenerative resource coordination for a thriving future. This book is not an answer, but an invitation by the author—an invitation to explore new (and old) ways of coordinating resources, restoring trust, and creating economies that serve the well-being of all.

About Will Ruddick

Will Ruddick is founder of Grassroots Economics Faoundation and an economist, who combines traditional practices and economic innovation. After graduate school in high-energy physics at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Economics at the University of Cape Town, his passion shifted to grassroots economics. As US-Citizen he opriginally came to Kenya with a peace corps. Since 2008, based in East Africa, he’s implemented successful programs in resource coordination with local groups across Kenya and engaged in activities such as ecosystem restoration, food and water security, connecting communities with their abundance, skills and talents. Founder of Grassroots Economics Foundation, he’s a pioneer on commitment pooling, an economic protocol inspired by ancestral wisdom. Globally, he consults on economics and collaborates with organizations like the World Food Program, the Red Cross, and the University of Cape Town’s Environmental Economics Policy Research Unit as well as with several community leaders around the world. He’s an associate scholar with the University of Cumbria’s Initiative.

In his new book Will Ruddick describes different forms of resource coordination.

His Field Guide begins by looking at how fungal networks and social systems naturally coordinate resources in ways that are symbiotic and resilient. Will Ruddick explored e.g. in Kenya how “pools of commitments” can replace or complement money, uniting people around shared purpose. He recognized that each of us holds seeds of abundance that only bloom when placed in a common-pool—an open space that thrives on reciprocity and trust. He wants his book to be not an answer, but an invitation – an invitation to explore new (and old) ways of coordinating resources, restoring trust, and creating economies that serve the well-being of all.

We would like to discuss questions with him like:

  • How has his thinking evolved since launching the community currency Bangla Pesa to now implementing commitment pooling?
  • Which role play protocols? And can they be shared trough digital ledger systems?
  • What are the learnings for communities from grassroots economics?

The event will take place on Zoom. To participate, please register in advance by entering your name and email address in this form. The link to the event will then be sent to you automatically.

 

Money is central to capitalism and to our many sustainability crises. Could we remake money so as to advance sustainable economies and fair societies? A growing number of scholars, politicians and activists think we can, and they are doing it from the bottom up.

This book examines how grassroots groups, municipalities and radical crypto-entrepreneurs are remaking money by designing and organising complementary currencies. It argues that in their novel ideas and governance practices lie the key for building green and inclusive economies.

Engaging imaginatively with the future of money, this accessible book will appeal to anyone interested in constructing a more sustainable and just world.

 

About Ester Barinaga

Ester Barinaga is Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Lund University (Sweden), and Professor (with special responsibilities) in the Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL) at Copenhagen Business School (CBS, Denmark). Her research focuses on concepts, strategies, methods and practices social entrepreneurs use to advance social change. Currently, she focuses on complementary currencies as instruments to build sustainable economies, inclusive cities, and resilient communities. The methods she uses are interventionist, actively taking part in the entrepreneurial processes she also studies. Her research has been published in top tier academic journals including Urban Studies, Organization Studies, Geoforum, Human Relations, Urban Geography, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. Her latest book Remaking money for a sustainable future: Money Commons was published in April 2024 with Bristol University Press.

GOOD MONEY LAB 14

  • Speaker: Michal Linton (The original designer of LETS. He initiated LETSytem in Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, Canada in 1983.)
  • MC: Makoto Nishibe (Representative Director, Good Money Lab)
  • Moderator: Kenta otani (Researcher, Good Money Lab)
  • Date and time:11:00-13:00 on March 8th (Sat) 2025 (JST) / 18:00-20:00 on March 7th (Fri) 2025 (PST)

Mehr Informationen und der Link zur Anmeldung finden Sie hier.

The interdisciplinary summer university (5 ECTS) focuses on alternatives to the economic status quo: International participants deal with limits of growth, as well as the instabilities of our financial system and learn why a drastic system change is necessary to stabilize the world climate. The program offers a holistic approach, with the participants learning about many possible alternatives and reform proposals: heterodox economics, ethical banking, degrowth, sovereign money and more!

 

Flyer 2025

AEMS is an academic summer university program with a global following and held in English.

Since 2014, the program counts more than 490 alumni of 81 nationalities.

 

The program will take place again in Vienna from 14 July to 01 August 2025!

Applications are open! – More information and application form can be found here.

 

Target group

The program is open to students and professionals from all fields who strive to create a more just and green future. Are you looking for a unique educational program with a holistic approach to the topic?

 

There is also a limited number of scholarship spots available – application deadline for scholarships: 30 April 2025

Building Deeper Collaboration

CoFi 3 brings together attendees from previous CoFi events and welcomes many new participants for a week-long gathering at the Commons Hub in Austria. The event is designed to nurture both intellectual and social connections, with a dynamic schedule that includes structured sessions in the morning, unconference-style discussions in the afternoon, and evenings dedicated to relaxation and community building. Participants can look forward to activities in the surrounding natural area, including hiking and swimming, as well as opportunities to gather around the fire or unwind in the hot tub. This holistic format is intended to foster a balance between deep collaboration and personal rejuvenation.

Expanding on its collaborative ethos, CoFi 3 will delve into the intricacies of alternative financial systems, covering topics like mutual credit, mesh credit, local voucher systems, and multilateral offset clearing. The mornings will feature focused discussions and presentations, while the afternoons will allow for organic exploration through working groups. These sessions aim to create space for participants to address specific challenges, share insights, and advance ongoing projects. The inclusive and open vibe of CoFi ensures a welcoming atmosphere for diverse voices and perspectives, encouraging meaningful exchanges that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries.

 

All information and the registration form can be found here.

Professors Ben Braun (LSE) and Mark Blyth (Brown) are organizing a new edition of the Political Economy of Finance Summer School, to be held between July 5 and 7 at Brown University in Providence, RI. The School is open to doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scholars from a wide range of disciplines and applications are due March 1, 2025. More information, including eligibility and application details, available here.

 

From the organizers:

Who will finance the green transition? Are states too scared of the bond market? Why are private equity firms seemingly everywhere? Finance is at the heart of the political economy of capitalism, but studying it can be difficult. The good news: some of the brightest minds in the field are eager to share their expertise at the second annual political economy of finance summer school, organized by Ben Braun (LSE) and Mark Blyth (Brown).

 

Topics include:

  • Dollar Hegemony
  • Debt & Debt Relief in the U.S.
  • History of Financing Regimes
  • Institutional Capital Pools
  • Debt & Finance in the Global South
  • Rise of State Capital
  • Global Finance in the New Cold War
  • Finance & Decarbonization
  • Insurance & Climate Change
  • State Capital & Green Finance in China
  • Eligibility

 

The summer school is open to PhD candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scholars from political science, sociology, financial history, economic geography, and economics.

 

Applications

Those interested in attending should submit a one-page cover letter, a writing sample (published article, working paper, dissertation chapter, etc.), and a CV as a single PDF via this link.

Application deadline: March 1st, 2025

Kalina Magdzinska & Rebecca Klant, 11 November 2024

The report provides an overview of the conference highlighting the exploration of complementary currencies and monetary innovation and provides information on the RAMICS General Assembly. The guiding theme, The Future of Money – Democracy, Regionality, and Inclusion, served as a framework for discussing the evolving landscape of alternative monetary systems. This report also highlights the Climate Bonus presentation and key points from the RAMICS General Assembly.

Rebecca Klant, Niambi Njoroge, Kalina Magdzinska (from left to right)

 

Every two years, the Research Association on Monetary Innovation and Community and Complementary Currency Systems (RAMICS) hosts a conference bringing together experts, researchers, and practitioners to explore ideas, solutions, and innovations addressing current monetary challenges. RAMICS is a global research organisation focused on complementary currencies, a field of growing significance for promoting sustainability, social inclusion, and regional resilience.

More than 50 experts and practitioners in complementary currencies from around the world gathered at the RAMICS 2024 conference in Rome.

After the 2022 conference in Sofia, Bulgaria (see our report here: Report: 6th International Research Conference on Monetary Diversity: Sofia, Oct 2022 – Monneta), this year’s event took place in the historic city of Rome, Italy, welcoming participants from around the world. The conference fostered exchange of expertise and dialogue on recent developments and forward-looking trends. The guiding theme was The Future of Money: Democracy, Localism, and Inclusion.

This year’s programme covered a wide range of topics and offered insights into the diverse forms of monetary innovation worldwide. For example, studies on local currency systems as well as new digital complementary currencies, which are gaining importance in both urban and rural regions, were presented. The role of alternative currencies as tools for promoting social inclusion and economic resilience was also the subject of several presentations. One of them was the Hudson Valley Current, a regional complementary currency in the New York State. It highlighted how local monetary system can strengthen community-oriented economies and enhance regional economic resistance by reducing dependency on external financial flows.

Cash notes of the Hudson Valley Current, a local complementary currency in the New York State

Furthermore, controversial debates were held in particular on the topic of tokenisation and cryptocurrency. While some attendees saw potential for democratisation in blockchain technologies for modern complementary currencies, others argued that little added value was produced in pilot projects. Everyone agreed on one point: We still need space and time after RAMICS 2024 to discuss the various arguments in sufficient detail. Even after the congress, it will still be worth looking at the programme.

Kalina Magdzinska and Rebecca Klant, both representatives of monneta, presented their practical paper they have been working on with Christian Gelleri over the past few months:  Success Factors and Challenges of the Climate Bonus Flensburg: A Real-World Lab Analysis. The work examined the Climate Bonus project in the Flensburg region, analysing its first year of operation (Klimabonus Website). The study focused on the success factors and challenges encountered since the introduction of the Climate Bonus in Flensburg – a region without an existing complementary currency system. Both internal experiences of the operational team and external perspectives from various cooperation partners were taken into account and presented in a comprehensive SWOT analysis. This analysis served as the basis for identifying the potential and challenges of a sustainable complementary currency system at local level.

 

RAMICS Members Meeting

  1. The General Assembly was held with over 30 participants.
  2. Instead of the newsletter, it was decided to concentrate on the blog posts instead given the amount of work involved in meeting the deadlines. Subscribers will receive an email notification for each blog post.
  3. Membership numbers have developed well, particularly following the conference in Rome.
  4. Jerome Blanc told us about the financial situation of RAMICS and concluded: not bad, but fragile and very dependent on whether a conference takes place or not. The costs incurred mainly relate to the website, the bank account and the Best Paper Award.
  5. On the subject of the CC-Literature Databank, it was suggested that the scope of the bibliography should be limited to complementary currencies that have at least certain restrictions in terms of convertibility (the exchange fee of 5%, as we know it from the Climate Bonus or Chiemgauer, is sufficient for him as a restriction). With the boom in publications on complementary currencies, we would otherwise be unlikely to achieve the goal of getting our bibliography close to the scope with the resources available. One suggestion from the audience was to make the work more efficient by using an AI for the bibliography. People were open to this idea, although it would require a more expertise in the team.
  6. Regarding the International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR), Jens Martignoni reported on the challenges facing the journal, which are related to the following factors:
  • Dependence on the RAMICS congresses
  • Delayed progress on the index issue
  • costs
  • Problems with the platform
  • Option to archive the journal and start a new one
  • New name
  • Another current challenge: to bring the many good, convincing papers that have now been submitted to a status that makes them publishable in other journals.