Wealth-hoarding won’t keep us safe. Capitalism won’t keep us safe. Transformation can happen at every level of our relating, including inside our transactional relationships and exchanges.
We keep us safe – this is a mantra we repeat to one another (and to ourselves!) often at Liberating Lineages Collective. As part of our commitment to practicing collective safety together, and inspired by movement spaces like the East Bay Meditation Center, East Point Peace Academy, and movement beloveds like our Collective’s own Amelia Mae Paradise and her Money Talk curriculum partner franny silverman, we have built our financial sustainability structure around the practice of gift economics.
“In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share,
and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away.
In fact, status is determined not by how much one accumulates,
but by how much one gives away.The currency in a gift economy is relationship, which is expressed as gratitude,
as interdependence and the ongoing cycles of reciprocity.
A gift economy nurtures the community bonds that enhance mutual well-being;
the economic unit is “we” rather than “I,” as all flourishing is mutual.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, Potawatomi botanist + author
In the spirit of gift economics, all of our offerings are an openly offered gift shared out of abundance and in alignment with our values. We trust in the abundance you have to share with us as we build up a new world together.
Participating in a gift economy is a way of living in right relationship where concepts around money shift from accumulation to flow, from scarcity to abundance, from exchanges to gifts, from earning to needs. At Liberating Lineages Collective, the currency we use is relationship, and you are a part of helping us create mutual flourishing, interdependency, and mutual well-being.
This means that there is no fee to participate in our offerings, and there is always an invitation to you to voluntarily give in a way that will sustain our work.
The Liberating Lineages Collective applies an equity lens to make our offerings economically accessible and uses a sliding scale to create multiple access points reflective of economic realities. We rely on you to join us in being a receiver, giver, harvester, and a redistributor of gifts in the liberated future we are building together.
Here’s how:
*We commit to sharing seeds, not selling seeds.
At the Liberating Lineages Collective, we are uncoupling our needs from a “perceived market value.” In order to do this, we will share transparent information about what our material, financial, and support needs are so that those needs can be responded to by a community that loves us (you!). We call that our “true cost:” for example, compensating our collective fairly and covering our organizational expenses like technology and insurance. Because we are new, we are still building our budget and learning what our financial needs are as an organization. Based on research and prior experience, we currently think our “true” cost of a 2-hour offering is $200 per attendee. As we live more into our work we will update this space with new information.
*You commit to being a seedperson, making generosity an act of community care.
Receiving Seeds
As a receiver of seeds, you receive the offerings we provide not because you have “earned” or “deserved” them but because they fulfill a need. This might feel jarring because for some of us, it can be hard to receive without an obligation to “repay.” As a receiver of seeds, we encourage you to communicate openly with us what your needs are so we can cultivate a relationship of mutual care.
Giving Seeds
As a giver of seeds, we ask that your gifts be offered from a place of intentionality, accountability, and equity, and encourage each of us to critically engage in anti-oppression work that does not normalize wealth disparities.
You can help us grow a strong and vibrant community by being honest with yourself about your unique financial circumstances. Below are some resources of how to place yourself on a sliding scale and monetarily give to the Liberating Lineages Collective.
- Equity Pricing, Sliding Scale & Resource Redistribution
- Placing Yourself on a Sliding Scale:
- $200 is the “true cost” to us of a 2-hour offering.
- $0 to $25 is for those who struggle to meet basic needs and paying for an LLC offering would be a significant hardship.
- $25 to $75 is for those who are able to meet their basic needs but have little expendable income.
- $75 to $150 is for those who are able to meet their basic needs and have some expendable income.
- $150 to $250 is for those who are able to meet their basic needs and have greater expendable income.
- $250 or more is for those who are able to pay the “true cost” and contribute to covering the cost for others.
- $200 is the “true cost” to us of a 2-hour offering.
Harvesting Seeds
In a thriving ecosystem, we need a variety of seeds and there is no single way to contribute. Giving might take the form of sharing your time and your talent. Volunteering with a workshop, sharing about our Collective with your loved ones, offering your creative fundraising skills, doing some website maintenance or data entry, or raising awareness on social media are all ways to creatively contribute to the collective.
*We all commit to redistributing seeds.
As a group of white/white-passing facilitators/practitioners, we are also committed to redistributing 10% of every dollar given to the Liberating Lineages Collective towards BIPOC-led organizations and movement partners who have shaped who we are as people, organizers, facilitators, and educators. If you are a white/white-passing person or organization, please commit to joining us in redistributing your personal/organizational funds to BIPOC-led organizations.