How do we ensure that we are creating community-centered housing that is economically and ecologically resilient, not just for one village, but for any that follow?
What do we need to support the creation of many villages- to meet the needs for community, affordability and regeneration- and honor the land?
These questions are at the core of what we are tackling as we dive into creating a robust and resilient financial and operations plan. At ecoThrive we are building a leadership model and an organizational structure rooted in the principles of sociocracy. This includes a circle (or committee) structure where all voices are equally heard and valued. Circles are formed to address specific subject areas which contribute to ecoTHRIVE's mission.
The Finance Circle is currently tasked with tackling some of the most important questions to date to ensure we are building an equitable, regenerative model: These questions include:
- How do we strengthen our operations plan and budget to weather the storms of uncertainty?
- How do we create investment opportunities for residents and non-residents who share the belief in this model of housing?
- How will our financial resources be raised and used to support our work?
Just this month, we have been hard at work reviewing our existing pro forma and combing through it line-by-line to ensure that everyone on the team could speak on it knowledgeably. We then created a comprehensive list of the work that our circle is responsible for moving forward.
While we understand that money is a very real need for the success of our project, we also know that relationships and our need for community are just as essential. ecoTHRIVE believes that our approach and processes need to reflect the same values as the model for housing that we are creating- values that center community, resiliency, equity, and regeneration. This includes how we design our financial structure and operations.
We share the belief expressed by Vandana Siva in her Principles of Earth Democracy, “Constructing a visionary economy for life calls for strategies that democratize, decentralize and diversify economic activity while we damper down consumption, and (re)distribute resources and power.”
Thankfully, we are blessed to have an amazing community of doers and dreamers lifting us up! We’ve been leaning on some of our many advisors recently to lend us financial insight. We’ve gotten invaluable feedback from the folks at NewGround Social Investment and Enterprise Capital, among others. Thank you for generously sharing your deep knowledge with us!
If you are interested in learning more about the work of the Finance Circle, or any of our other Circles, please reach out to us at hello@ecoTHRIVEHousing.org or join us at an upcoming Community Information Session.
Love,
Finance Circle Team Members
Serina, Susannah, Pat, Emma, ZsaZsa, & Denise
ecoTHRIVEhousing.org
PS: To see a graphic of our Circle Structure, including the Aims and Domains of each Circle, check out the graphic that Emma, our abundantly talented project manager created on our public miro board.
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