Upcoming Event

Hello Community Money Bloggers!

In the spring, Lake Huron Learning will be having a one-day community forum/workshop on Relocalizing the Economy.

I thought some of you might be interested in attending as the community money piece ties in nicely with relocalizing the economy. There will be speakers on Peak Oil and its effect on our community, local food and much more.

If you would like more information, please don't hesitate to contact me....

Toronto Dollar says Hi!

Well, Hi Scott! great to be in touch again. At my end we had a very successful opening presence at the Junction Arts Festival (http://www.junctionartsfest.com/2007/)
and I suspect I'll be spending some of my Copious Free Time(TM) there in the future.

You can read a initial summary of my experience at http://torontodollar.blogspot.com/

What happens when the money leaves town?

At our workshop, one of the questions I was unable to answer concerned how to settle the account books when community money remained unredeemed after a period of time. I had a chance to send some e-mails back and forth with the $$IMF's Secretary and Treasurer, Bill Krebs. He also gave me a couple $$ phone numbers in case anyone has further questions. I won't post those here, but you can e-mail me if you'd like to follow up by phone.

BILL-->The Salt Spring Island Monetary Foundation ("SSIMF") is incorporated under the Society Act. The initial funding was by way of loans from some of the initial Directors. As you can see at our website the $$s, bills and silver coin feature local artists. This makes the $$s, collectable. The $$s trade at par with the CDN$ and are accepted at the local banks and credit union. Most merchants accept the, $$s. Some merchants act as cash centers and sell the $$s.

SCOTT-->Thanks for getting back to me. An unrelated question arose yesterday at my group's meeting with respect to how the accounts are handled when a $$ leaves circulation (i.e. when someone takes a $$ home as asouvenir and never spends it). A colleague from a small town Chamber of Commerce has encountered a problem in their town's Chamber of Commerce Dollar program, where after 8 years ofoperation, 30000 Chamber of Commerce dollars have been purchased but never redeemed. While this could represent $30,000 profit, she is at a loss for what to do with the $30,000 liability in their books. From reading your website, it is apparent that in Salt Springs this is encouraged by having the bills designed by local artists, printing them in limited editions, etc... Do you ever eliminate the outstanding liability in the account book? Or is this a non-issue because themoney just stays in the SSIMF's interest-bearing account and could be swapped for $$ at any time?

BILL-->We had our Financial Statements audited one year. The determination was that all sales of $$s net of redemptions was Deferred (unearned)Revenue. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has accepted this position.

Community Money Blog Open For Business!

After a brief hiatus, the community money blog is up and running as promised. At our workshop, we broke the surface and Huron County (and North Perth) now has a number of Community Currency Specialists to its credit. Great. Where to from here?

Ideally, I want to help build on what is already happening in Wingham, and think about how the other towns and communities in the county might benefit from local exchange circuits. More to the point, I want to use this space to pool ideas on how to get them in place. Since I was first introduced to the concept, I studied community money with my hometown of Goderich in mind. How will people relate economically if the town's supply of federal dollars is drastically cut? How can we support the surrounding agricultural community and have a positive impact on the natural environment?

Post your thoughts here!