A new offering type has been added to the options when adding a new offering. In addition to local-currency-only, gift, swap, barter and mixed (local and national currencies), there is now a sixth offering type: shared.

Description

Shared offerings are where the advertiser invites others to share a resource, item, activity, experience or action, rather than the plain offering of goods and services as a ‘producer’, ‘giver’ or ‘provider’. The reciprocation derives from the benefits of the sharing, not from ‘earning’ currency.

This option is not for sharing in the sense that you wish to hire or rent something that you own. If you wish to do that, simply advertise as a normal offering for Talents or a combination of local and national currencies.

Shared Offering Rules

• The reciprocation is in the sharing, not in the receiving of a ‘payment’. This means no ‘price’ can be quoted apart from how everyone will benefit from it
• Both/all parties must benefit equally, i.e. do not try to benefit yourself at the expense of your ‘sharers’ because you ‘own’ the resource or organise/initiate the activity being shared
• Offerings requesting others to share the cost of something (in local or national currencies) are acceptable if all parties are going to benefit equally in the sharing of what is purchased
• What you are offering must be open to all and not aimed at one recipient

Examples

• Join our team for a river clean-up
• I have a plot of ground where you can grow your own vegetables. We can benefit by sharing each other’s produce
• Join me on walks and hikes. I know many routes and you can show me the routes that you know
• Let’s create a seed bank from which we can all share
• Any parents out there needing baby sitting? Let’s form a ring to help each other
• Let’s set up organic gardens for each other. Join our team that moves from place to place, ensuring that more can be achieved than what any individual can do
• Any parents with kids at school in town? Let’s form a ‘lift club’ where we take turns in delivering kids to and fetching them from school
• Any web programmers out there? Let’s form a group to help each other in the areas of our specialisation
• Let’s form a book club to share classic novels. Anyone interested in sharing their books?

Do give it a try and discover that there are a multitude of ways to facilitate exchange. Money is just one of them, and a very limiting one indeed! Sharing is the basis of friendship and community.