Gift Economy Round Up

Dave Pollard's signature essay on The Gift Economy: "When we engage each other in conversations about this question, we open up possibilities, we begin to feel and realize our own power, capacity, and mastery, we recognize that generosity has nothing to do with charity, and we sense the movement and strength of collective understanding, will and passion. We realize that together, collectively, collaboratively, we know more, and know better, than leaders, presidents, executives, economists, experts, and others who exploit our passivity to tell us what we should do and believe, and engender in us feelings of helplessness, dependence, and addiction. We have more capacity and power to act than all the multinational corporations and the tyrants and the state apparatus of control and repression. "

37 Ways to Participate in the Gift Economy: "You don't have to participate in a local currency or service exchange to be part of the cooperative gift economy. Any time you do a favor for a family member, neighbor, colleague, or stranger you're part of it. Here are some ways you can spend time in the gift economy, where you'll find fun, freedom, and connection."

The Hacker Milieu as Gift Culture: "To understand the role of reputation in the open-source culture, it is helpful to move from history further into anthropology and economics, and examine the difference between exchange cultures and gift cultures."

Generosity Received

So although I didn't get creative or productive enough to make something to give away for the One World, One Heart blogosphere give-away, I did win something!

<---I won this beautiful necklace from Art With Moxie. What a lovely blessing to receive at the end of a very hard week!

I think it's positively amazing that over 400 people participated in this give-away extravaganza. There seems to be a connection between creativity and generosity, at least in the domain of creative bloggers.

Just For the Love of It

Check out the Freeconomy Community.

"What is a Freeconomy?

A Freeconomy is a moneyless society in which no money changes and there is no duality between giving and receiving; here they are seen as the two sides of the same non-monetary coin.

Freeconomy is a manifestation of trust, kindness, community and love. Money and credit are a manifestation of fear, insecurity and greed. Freeconomy is the common denominator to all of its solutions; Money and credit are the common denominators of all the world's ills.

Right now freeconomies are the minority. This is unimportant. Soon they will be the overwhelming majority. Each one of us is a seed. The regenerative power of one seed cannot be underestimated. A forest can grow from the germination of a single seed, and similarly one simple act of generosity can give life to an infinite number of others."

From The Heart

A Generosity Hero at work...

"For Toni Dukes, love isn't delivered with a sugary sweet Hallmark card or an overpriced bouquet of red roses. It's given in a Ziploc bag stuffed with a hat, gloves and a packet of Kleenex, and the words "From the Heart" written in black marker on the outside.

The 39-year-old single mom commutes to San Francisco from her home in Stockton to work the swing shift as a 911 dispatcher. Her days are spent driving 187 miles round trip to work in an understaffed department where she handles calls ranging from mentally ill people screaming at her to women going into labor alone to somebody who's just found their mother dead.

But Dukes hasn't been able to call it a day after her high-stress shifts. Her route to work takes her through the Tenderloin, and last year, she couldn't help but notice the homeless people and others down on their luck who were huddling outside in the cold.

So, using her own pocket money, she began venturing into the rough neighborhood on foot a few times a month to hand out the packets and to chat with people on the street - many of whom seemed more grateful for the conversation than the hats and gloves.

"My job is over the phone. I like to meet and greet. I like to talk to people face to face," she said. "It's amazing just for people to smile, to acknowledge them and show you know that they're there. They're not animals. They're just people without the same opportunities a lot of us have.""

Service Works

Evelyn over at Crossroads Dispatches is one of my favorite art and gift economy bloggers. She has some intriguing insights and always shares something interesting.

Today I learned about Service Works.

Josh Greene is a 36 year old artist and waiter. Service-Works is his foundation that is designed to bridge the gap between his art career and his service industry career. Each month he dedicates one night’s worth of tips to fund a project. The site shares several of the projects he's already funded and offers an opportunity for artists to apply for one of his grants.

What a wonderful way to be creatively generous!