Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Confidentiality

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 3/5/04 2:53 PM, "Fleck" <foam4u [at] worldnet.att.net> wrote:

> we did need to get the financing done within a group who's
> friendship and trust was still in the development stage.

>The total amount we
> each contributed and on what kind of schedule was available - just not how
> we got the money.

Which to some extent is always true -- many people borrow money and are
given money, etc. The transparency is important where you have placed in --
on who has contributed what, with what legal obligations. The group can
build on that. Early negotiations about money -- as long as they are done
with full legal documents in place do not necessarily need to be as open as
on going arrangements between people building a life together.

I think the problems arise later when the board or the finance team start
making decisions about who can pay their association fees late or what
services are reimbursed and which are not.

Some people ask for reimbursement for things that others consider part of
the cost of living in community. If the financial records of the association
are not open, rumors build or people find out later and feelings fester. We
feel hurt and angry too long after the fact to undo stuff that should not
have happened. 

In our early meetings the financial records were available for examination
at every meeting. After we moved in and a (bad) management company started
handling them, we never saw them. I'm not sure the first year even exists in
any detail. It has taken three years to get transparency built again. It
isn't easy.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org



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