Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Creatively & Compassionately Raising Dues?

[Muriel Kranowski (murielk]

 A large chunk of our budget consists of obligatory expenses, such as
maintenance of various kinds, funding our capital reserve, insurance,
utilities for the CH, etc. All 33 of our households are obliged to pay
1/33rd of that fixed budget. The extra expenses that make us a cohousing
community and not just an HOA are in a pledge budget, where you could
potentially pledge as little as $0 if you just can't afford it. I don't
know if any household has ever pledged a really tiny amount, but they could.

If the proposed budget isn't fully funded during the first pledge round,
there's a second round in which households can choose to increase their
pledge. This happens most years and is considered a normal part of the
process.

In the 17 years we've used this model, it's been rare for the pledges to
fall short after Round 2 such that we had to trim that part of the budget,
so I think this has worked well for us.
    Muriel at Shadowlake Village