"Berkshares: money that builds community"
September 10th, 2005
Dear Friends,
We are pleased to announce an Online Auction to Benefit
BerkShares -- A Local Currency for the Southern Berkshires.
Auction Items Include:
SPECIALTY ITEMS: Pete Seeger Sing Along; Starling
Childs Forestry Consultation; Cook with Chef Danyell; Fly
with Richard Stanley; Carriage Ride and Brunch at Blue
Hills Restaurant at the Stone Barns.
ARTISAN PRODUCTS: Porcelain
Dishes by Mary Anne-Davis; Organic Woolen Blanket.
VACATION/DINING:
Dominican Republic Beach House; Red Lion
Inn; Hallig Hilltop House Bed and Breakfast; Blue Plate
Restaurant; Winter at Samoset; Winter/Summer at Saddleback.
PUBLICATIONS:
Subscriptions to Orion, Annals of
Earth, Resurgence, What is Enlightenment?, and Yes! Signed
books by David Rockefeller, Nancy Jack Todd, Kenneth Galbraith,
and Kirkpatrick Sale. Basket of Books from Steiner Books,
Lindisfarne Press, Bell Pond Books, Myrin Institute, and
Housatonic Press. Ethical Marketplace DVDs.
FINE ART: Paintings by Ted Chaffee, Vita Petersen,
Stella Elliston, and the late Dorothy Humphry. Farm
Photo Print by Jason Houston. Ellsworth Kelly signed catalogue.
FASHIONS:
by Marc Jacobs, Christofle, Judith Leiber, and Jane Iredale.
FROM
FARM AND KITCHEN: 2006 CSA Shares Indian Line Farm and
Chubby Bunny Farm; Blue Plate Restaurant Chewy Hot Fudge;
Rawson Brook Farm Goat Cheese; Tour of Moon in the Pond
Farm with Bacon Bucks.
AND MORE!
Why Local Currencies?
The purpose of a local currency is to function on a local
scale the same way that national currencies have functioned
on a national scale-building the local economy by creating
a protective “membrane” that is defined by
the currency itself. As the currency distinguishes
the local businesses that accept the currency from those
larger chain stores that do not, it builds stronger relationships
and a greater affinity between those local businesses and
the citizens of that place in which the currency circulates.
The people who choose to use the currency make a conscious
commitment to the local businesses that accept that currency.
When individuals commit to buying locally first, they take
personal responsibility for the health and wellbeing of
their community, laying the foundation of a truly vibrant,
thriving local economy.
Widely used in the early 1900s, local currencies are a
legal, but underutilized tool for citizens to support local
economies. The renewed attention to local currency systems
was highlighted in the E. F. Schumacher Society's 2004
conference Local Currencies in the 21st Century which drew
over three hundred participants from thirteen countries
(www.localcurrency.org).
A fully realized local currency program engages all the
economic players of a region. Once operational in
a region and its effectiveness proven, a local currency
can be self-supporting with businesses benefiting from
its circulation carrying the cost of yearly administration.
What Are BerkShares?
BerkShares are a local currency designed for use in the
Southern Berkshire region of Massachusetts with planned
issue by a local non-profit organization. BerkShares will
not, and are not intended to, replace federal currency.
Their use will help strengthen the regional economy, favoring
small locally owned businesses challenged by giant coporations
of the global economy.
Residents of the southern Berkshires will purchase BerkShares
at ninety cents on the dollar from one of the Berkshire
participating banks. Member merchants will accept
BerkShares at full dollar value, thereby offering a ten
percent discount incentive to customers for trading locally.
The participation of the banking and merchant communities
will guarantee wide local circulation of the currency. Merchants
will seek local products purchased with BerkShares over
those now imported from afar, providing an incentive for
the growth of home-based industries and creating opportunities
for those underemployed and unemployed to turn latent skills
into business ventures. Federal dollars will remain available
on deposit to redeem excess BerkShares.
In future year issues, BerkShares will also go into circulation
through the making of no-interest loans, further supporting
emerging small businesses, and allowing the community to
set its own local priorities for lending. Non-profits
can purchase BerkShares and then resell at full value to
their members retaining the ten percent for their own activities
and forging a closer link between the cultural/social service
sectors and the business community.
BerkShares Campaign
Through the BerkShares Online Auction and other events,
the E. F. Schumacher Society is seeking to raise a total
of $100,000 for research and first year develoment of the
BerkShare local currency program, a model for citizen action. Entrepreneurial
donors to the BerkShares Campaign are helping to create
a positive alternative to the problems posed by the distant
and unseen manufacturing patterns of a global marketplace.
It will take citizens working in their own communities,
region by region, to create the kind of systemic change
that will lead to sustainable economic practices-practices
that foster ecologically responsible production of goods
and a more equitable distribution of wealth. Local
currencies are a tool to bring about such change.
The E. F. Schumacher Society's twenty-five years of effective
programs in the will ensure the success of BerkShares and
of the philanthropic investment. The budget includes funding
for detailed documentation of operations in order to facilitate
development of local currencies in other regions.
Your participation in the auction will help us reach our
goal. Have fun!
http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/auction
Thank you,
Christopher Lindstrom, Campaign Coordinator
Susan Witt, Executive
Director
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road
Great Barrington, MA 01230 USA
(413) 528-1737
www.smallisbeautiful.org
