Common
Good
Finance

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WHEREVER YOU ARE
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Creating common good banks™, economics for a sustainable world
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How to Start a Common Good Bank™ in Your Community



"With a good teamwork, together we can build towns and factories so that many people can work, share and help each other. In this way, we can end poverty."
- Margaret Megan Suhardi, Indonesia, age 8
(from esa.un.org)

Any community can have its own Community Division, a nearly independent local common good bank, with investment priorities and distribution of profits guided democratically by the local depositors. You can organize a Community Division easily, even now before the first common good bank exists.

Wanna be a Community Division Organizer? Here's what to do:

#1 Give us a call for starters at 413-628-3336, so we can know each other and work as a team.

#2 Promote the concept. Tell people about it. Discuss it with them. Get them to sign up or even help. See the Promotional Materials page for a complete list of downloadable resources. (Any other promotional materials used in organizing must be pre-approved.)

You will need about 65 sign-ups to end up with 50 actual depositors when the first common good bank opens. To see how many you have so far, enter your postal code here:

Here are some specific suggestions for promotion. If you want a print shop to do any of the printing, cutting, folding or laminating: email some of these instructions to the print shop.

  • Use the "Tell Someone" link (at the bottom of any page) to send a description of the project to people you know.
  • Carry a Common Good Finance business card and hand it out to people you meet, who might be interested. Call if you want personalized cards.
  • Set up a display in a high-foot-traffic location, such as your town's main street or the entrance to a co-op food store. Hand out cards or flyers or inserts. Print up a few sign-up sheets and get people to sign up on the spot (make sure they print their email address legibly).

    Better yet, if you have a laptop with internet access, have people sign up online on the spot. Here's a picture of what the display looks like, attached to a standard display board with two-sided tape. You will need to stabilize it somehow if you have a windy location.
  • Share the common good bank video slideshow through youtube or show it to people on your computer (download).
  • Meet with local community officials, business owners and nonprofit administrators to enlist their support. Work together to make it happen. In particular, find a business (at least one) to serve as a "Virtual ATM".
  • Invite organizations to partner with us to get common good banks started (mostly this means helping to promote the idea). Get the organization to send out a Press Release: PRINT MEDIA | WEBSITES | EMAIL.