Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Funding and Organizational Model for Coho US

[Ken Winter (ken]

>From a community member's view, a *community portal* is a single web site
where the member can sign in and get access to *all *of the community's
digital information services - look up member info, catch up on community
news, sign up for meals, check and update calendars of community events and
meetings, look up the community's decisions and agreements, reserve a room
or other resource, offer or request to share an object or a service, set up
and track work assignments, participate in forum conversations, pay
community bills and check your balances, etc etc etc - *and* participate in
Coho US and the whole world of cohousing, including the things that Sharon
describes here, and who knows what more.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 2:54 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
wrote:

>
> To my knowledge the funding and organizational model for Coho US is a
> community membership model. I think it is because it based on a
> fundamentally flawed assumption — that cohousing communities have a
> commitment to the cohousing movement.
>
> Most members of my community have no knowledge of the national cohousing
> organization or any interest in a movement. It isn’t a cause. I was shocked
> when I joined this group that people were not expected to read at least one
> of the books on cohousing. Some if not many had no knowledge of other
> cohousing communities. They saw the flyer on a bulletin board somewhere,
> thought it sounded like something interesting, and it matched their
> political and social ideals. They moved in because they wanted to live
> here, not to join a movement. They have their own movements.
>
> And we have the #1 cohousing advocate and activist Ann Zabaldo living in
> our midst. We are a member of the national organization primarily because
> she advocates it. And once a budget item is in the budget, it tends to stay.
>
> So a membership organization supported by communities is probably not the
> model that will ever work. More communities will probably not provide the
> level of support the movement needs.
>
> I think Coho US needs to move to an individual membership model. I’m
> fairly certain, for example, that individuals in my community would give
> more as individuals than the amount our community will budget. Individual
> memberships might also create competition — How many of your community
> members support Coho US?
>
> Under Alice’s leadership, Catya’s work on the website (which is content
> and capability, not just technical), and the new research effort, there are
> many more features in place to demonstrate that the organization is
> contributing to a housing revolution. The development of cohousing has
> changed all forms of housing by influencing the ideas of developers and
> urban planners. A good newsletter that records and publicizes those
> accomplishments would bring in donations from individuals and
> organizations. Factual articles and blurbs — not cheerleading or sales
> pitches. For one reason or another, there are many people who have a strong
> feelings of support, not just people living in cohousing. There is no
> organized way for non-cohousers to connect and contribute.
>
> Develop a balanced focus on old as well as new communities. Cohousing
> communities need help forming and help remaining fiscally and socially
> strong in 20 years, and 30 years. Approaches for redesigning common houses.
> Best furniture replacement ideas.
>
> Use the various platforms like Kickstarter to fund special projects — the
> database of photos of CH interiors, for example. A file of kitchens,
> laundry rooms, kids rooms, etc. One such picture I received was of a
> combined laundry room and active play room. Something I had never thought
> of. The pingpong table doubled as a folding table. The machines were along
> a wall instead of a separate room. In another community the machines are
> spread out through the community, not all in one place. Those are vitally
> helpful to old communities as well as new. The FIC was very successful in
> getting funding for a “real” office this way.
>
> This is also a good way to show support to foundations. "We have 2,000
> members", or 5,000 members. Not 50 member communities (or whatever the
> number is). With a few more than 100 communities, the numbers by community
> will never be impressive.
>
> There is an enormous amount of information online to inform a move in this
> direction. And an enormous amount in the cohousing communities. Hiring
> expensive consultants is not always necessary. Through word of mouth build
> a database of the skills of cohousers and approach them individually to
> help with projects. Don’t ask for volunteers — people may volunteer who
> don’t have the skills and those who do may not step forward. Experienced
> people have other things to do and may never even hear that the association
> is even open to help. Define aims and write job descriptions, and ask
> people to sign on. Ask professionals to help write the job descriptions.
> People will donate different kinds of help and this is a valuable one.
>
> There have to be tons of grants out there for projects. A key piece of
> advice I’ve gotten from successful grant writers is not to wait for RFPs.
> Or read the requirements for a grant program and write something. The place
> to start is with a foundation that is interested in some subject area that
> would benefit cohousing and talk to them. Develop a relationship.d Find out
> what they want to fund. What are they looking for? I know a writer who did
> the same thing with magazine editors. He stopped submitting articles he
> thought they would like and instead chatted them up to see what they hoped
> for.
>
> Grant writers may work for a % of grants received. And they pay for
> themselves. The subject of cooperative, self-supported, group housing has
> been a social problem for generations. Eons, actually. Organizations take
> 10-15% of these grants for handling the paperwork and providing the 501c3
> sponsorship. (10-15% may be old information but you get the idea.)
>
> I’m sending this to everyone instead of just to Alice because I think we
> need discussion on this and this is the place cohousers discuss and share
> experiences.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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