October 2008

Hello Friend of the Common Good,

You see the economy falling apart, you may be wondering "Where's that darn common good bank?" Yes, we do need one ASAP, to give us some economic security through the even harder times to come.

Good news: To get a charter, what we need is investors -- 350 of you are interested and that's plenty. Hurray!

But there is a problem. We can't invite you to actually invest in anything. We can't even talk about it. The SEC forbids it.

...Unless you have assets totaling a million dollars or more. Then we are allowed to talk to you about it. Hey, we don't make the rules (yet), we just have to follow them. In any event, right now we're stuck. If you don't have the assets, we can't talk to you because you don't. If you do have the assets, we can't talk to you because we don't know you do.

So please take a couple seconds right now to help us over this obstacle. Visit the signup page and update your information one way or the other (commongoodbank.com/signup.php) or call (413-628-3336).

PR, Partners, Parties, Progress and unParallelled Potential

A new video slideshow. 10 partner organizations. Monthly investor parties. A new Progress Blog. A new location. And how big a social impact could you make with a $1 donation or investment? How much benefit to the common good over, say, 5 years? 25 cents? another dollar? Ha.

See below, for more on these and other exciting developments since our last newsletter in May 2008.

New Video

Have you seen our new video slideshow (commongoodbank.com/vid)? Boiled from 2 hours down to 7 minutes, this upbeat overview will surely knock your socks off. Show it to your friends and neighbors, get them to sign up and we'll be up and running before you know it.

To tell someone about the video, go to commongoodbank.com/tell.php, type in an email address, and we will do the rest.

New Partners

Ten local, regional and national organizations are now collaborating to establish the first common good bank (see commongoodbank.com/contact.html#who). These partners give the project a tremendous boost forward, working together to publicize the idea, to identify potential funders and to oversee the project.

At the same time, we are also collaborating with another set of seven Pioneer Valley organizations. Under the auspices of Pioneer Valley Local First, our "Invest Local" initiative (investlocal.org) sponsors monthly wine and cheese parties for qualified individuals interested in putting their assets to work locally, to support community ventures in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden Counties (Massachusetts). If you are interested in attending one of these events, reply by email or call 413-628-3336.

New Blog

Many of you have wished or asked for more frequent updates about how the project is coming along. Well here you go. We now have a progress blog, updated almost daily. You can check the latest news anytime, from the commongoodbank.com home page (lower left side).

New Location(s)

Our ground-breaking community-based model means that it makes little difference where the offices of the first common good bank are located. Already 658 of you have signed up from all over the world -- three times as many as in May. To get started more quickly, we are shifting the business plan to focus initially on the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, with a physical office in Springfield (the largest local Metropolitan area). A team of two students at Western New England College School of Business is conducting new demographic and marketing analyses, for that revised plan.

Huge Social Return

Another, more important consequence of our community-based model is that common good banks could spread extremely fast, once the first one exists, with a phenomenally large social return.

For every one dollar donated or invested now, the likely 5-year financial return to communities and the common good is: $1.2 million in loan funds plus $1.1 million to give away to nonprofit organizations. That's right, a million-to-one return. Staggering, but the figures stand up to scrutiny (see commongoodbank.com/soundinvestment.html#socreturn).

Thank You!

Despite the hard economic times, fourteen of you have contributed a total of $2,477, since May. This funding came at a crucial time, allowing us to pay two fabulous interns this summer: Richard Treadwell, a student of economic sociology at Rice University in Houston, TX, and Ethan Geiling, a student of economics at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Thank you!

If you haven't gotten around to donating yet, please do it now. Think about how far that million-to-one social return makes your dollars go. You can even donate online now (commongoodbank.com/donate.php). Together we can make a better world for everyone.

Wishing you a very happy autumn,

Sincerely,