Day 5: Community And Cooperative Businesses

Dear Student,

By now we’ve covered many of the basics for setting yourself up for self-sufficiency, but one final consideration I haven’t mentioned up to now is just how self-reliant you want to be.

It sounds like an oxymoron, but self-sufficiency is a lot more feasible (and enjoyable) when not done completely by yourself. Trying to go it alone will make your journey much more difficult (nearly impossible, even, unless you’re willing to let your standard of living drop significantly).

Humans are social animals. We like to have some company. We get lonely, bored, and depressed when left to ourselves too long.

Practically speaking, though, we need to trade for products and services we don’t want to or are unable to produce ourselves.

Thus, many homesteaders decide to move to or start a new community of like-minded people equally focused on the self-sufficiency concept, and they reap the benefits.

One of our favorite off-grid communities in Belize nailed this idea of self-sufficiency within a group in their community motto: Independent Together.

These communities all work differently; some are a little extreme… some less so. For example, some are founded with communal land, held collectively by all community members. Others give you title to the land your home sits on—which is almost always preferable, no matter your goals or ideals. Community areas can be held in common, but community ownership of private residences can get quickly complicated and litigious.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “community living” comes in only one form… when many folks hear “self-sufficient community,” they tend to think “hippie tent city.” But that’s not the case (not always the case, anyway).

No, you don’t need to forego shoes, showers, and shaving and live only on granola to partake. A self-sufficient community can be just as modern and convenience-loving as a soccer-mom suburb. You can still own your own land, use electricity and air conditioning, and buy clothes instead of weaving them yourself.

Community: “A group… that have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that shares their core values.”
–Fellowship for Intentional Community

Most often people will be joining existing communities, but perhaps you’re thinking you might found your own community. I’ll get into some guidelines for starting your own community below…

Community Jargon

First, some vocabulary. Let me explain some of the most common terms you’ll encounter when looking into community living, as well as some of the considerations you should make before committing to any community…

Transitional Communities: Existing communities that decide to make the move toward a more sustainable and self-sufficient existence. Keep in mind that transitional communities are just that, in transition. Things are in flux and not necessarily as they will always be. The vision might change and community bylaws might be affected in ways that you hadn’t foreseen.

Intentional Communities: Communities founded by a group of like-minded people working for self-sufficiency; usually run on a democratic basis.

Ecovillages: Intentional communities with a goal to achieve total self-reliance, producing their own food, power, and other services with a minimal environmental impact. Actual self-reliance in ecovillages varies, as can size—from a few houses to entire towns.

Conflict: Stuff happens. Personalities clash. Things go wrong. They always and inevitably will… and when people are involved, you can bet that some of them will eventually bicker with one another. Communities should take potential conflicts into account and plan for them in the day-to-day management of the community. Internal disagreement can damage or destroy the morale of the entire community. Proper planning and procedures must be in place for when incidents happen… because they will.

Emotional Stability And Maturity: It is vitally important that you vet potential community members before you buy into their community or you invite newcomers into yours. The more the community votes and regulates itself, the more important this is. Emotionally unstable, immature, and/or mentally ill people who are not getting help are often attracted to new communities and alternative lifestyles. These people are nearly guaranteed to cause disruptions to the development of the community, and some can be so toxic they can destroy the entire lifestyle you are trying to build together.

Community Founders: Often, these communities are founded by more than one person. This can work great if the founders agree on vision and execution and get along well together. But it can be disastrous if, for whatever reason, the founders are at odds in any way. Joining an existing community that’s already off the ground can be a good way to avoid major conflict or changes in vision. If you’re joining a community, spend some time with the founder(s) to get a personal feel for them before committing to anything.

A Primer On Starting Your Own Community

 Thinking you might like to found a community of your own? Don’t underestimate the dedication and organization it will require.

Here are some of the primary considerations you’ll need to deal with…

Vision

Know what you want to achieve in the community before you start. You’ll need to put this down in a vision statement and accord.

This is an important first step for your community. If you can’t pin down (and agree on, if you have partners) what the vision and goal is for your community, you won’t be able to achieve it.

Finances

Where the capital for land and infrastructure comes from naturally affects the power structure of the community.

If all founding members put in equal amounts of start-up capital, power gaps between members are less likely (meaning less chance for conflict among them).

It’s a dangerous situation if one member fronts all the money for the endeavor with the understanding that they will be repaid by the other members. In this scenario, odds are that members still intend to have equal say in all decisions, as they all intend to have contributed capital eventually. But if one person has put up all the cash, they’re likely to feel like they deserve a bigger say. It’s a risky balance.

Bank mortgages can be a way to cover some or most of your financing needs, but this runs the risk of you losing the property to the bank if your plan doesn’t achieve the income stream you projected.

A community developed by a property developer, with its parcels sold to new members only when everything is paid for, allows surety that the project won’t fail before it starts.

Leadership: Organizing Community Members

If you’re starting your own community, you first need to decide who will lead it, if a board of directors will be elected annually or biennially, or if all decisions will be taken by direct vote.

Community members directly voting on every issue will make the process more difficult and time-consuming.

If your community is a union of numerous founders that collectively buy a parcel of land that they subdivide and move onto, their input will be equal and can often live happily and harmoniously with the original vision.

If you are deciding to start a community that will absorb more members and grow into a village or town, be aware that the power of your vote will be diluted by new members joining.

Meetings And Minutes

Community members’ personal desires and agendas will cloud their perceptions of what is discussed and agreed on at meetings. To head this off before it becomes a problem, ensure that you keep minutes of every meeting and circulate them to all community members soon after to prevent misremembering or outright denial of what was agreed.

Consensus

What percentage of the vote will have to agree before the vote passes?

What percentage of the vote will have to agree before current rules and regulations are overturned?

Do you have a communicator in the group that can mediate issues and heal rifts?

HOAs And Other Fees

There will need to be ongoing contributions from community members to cover the upkeep and maintenance of the community. In conventional developments, this is a monthly cash fee. In self-sufficient communities, you can choose to demand a cash fee or set up a work-trade option for people to cover their dues.

If you do choose a trade-off instead of a straight-up fee, remember to pay what the job is worth. A retired doctor who decides to mow the community grass to cover his HOA fees should only get paid what a local manual worker gets paid.

Ensure that you agree and inform all members in writing of the monthly fees they’ll be due, as well as what the management structure will be—before they pay to join the community.

Legal Advice

Get proper legal advice before forming your company. This may seem like an unnecessary additional cost, but, I assure you, you’ll save yourself time, worry, and, in all likelihood, money in the long run by hiring a lawyer.

Tax Advice

If you set your community up as a not-for-profit organization, you might be able to get tax-exempt status for some or all of your on-site activities. Again, this is another area where you shouldn’t underestimate the value of getting some professional advice.

Neighbors And Zoning

Many intentional communities fail at the outset by buying land in an area where it is difficult to get permission for what you are doing.

Do proper research first.

Neighbors can have a big effect on your chances of both getting planning permission and the perception the broader community around you has of your self-reliant community.

Especially in rural areas, older folks might mistakenly fear that this new community in their midst is in reality a free-love hippie commune… or that it will bring drugs or other undesirables to their conservative town.

Take the time to meet your future neighbors before buying your property and both planning permission and community integration can be a lot easier.

Cooperatives

A cooperative is a not-for-profit business owned and often managed and staffed by community members for the benefit of their fellows. This doesn’t mean that no profit is made, just that any profit is shared among members. A manager and staff are hired as in a normal business, and profits are shared among members.

Community farm cooperatives are typically an initiative to bulk-buy equipment and supplies and sell it to members at a small mark up.

Aside from the consumer benefit, farm co-ops allow farmers and craftspeople to sell their produce, products, and services through the collective marketing and distribution of the co-op for a small fee. Plus, they can sell directly through a community farm stall at the market/co-op site.

A disadvantage of co-op businesses is their democratic nature. Ineffective but popular management can quickly damage the business. Make sure the co-op is managed well, like any other business would be.

Cooperatives can also be organized for power. I’ll discuss renewable power generation in-depth in future lessons, but, for now, know that significant economies of scale exist for those who share the cost of large renewable power generation systems.

In Europe, it’s common for communities to invest in and profit from community power co-ops. They provide all the power for the community and often generate an excess supply that can be sold back to the power company for community profit.