Cohousing-L Mailing List: Membership Levels, Financial Incentives, Refunds

[Kristen Simmons (simmonskristen]

I am a member of a new cohousing group that is forming in Jamaica Plain, MA,
within the City of Boston. We have been working together for six months. We
have just defined our Associate level membership and have our first seven
members! We are currently clarifying our vision statement, while also
defining what Equity membership will be.

Defining Associate Membership was easy; defining Equity membership seems
more difficult, namely because of the money involved. Actually, the money is
the only thing that we really have questions about! I have been checking out
the archives, but hind sight is 20/20. If you could start from scratch, how
would you deal with the money stuff?

1. Would you have a sliding scale for equity membership to encourage
low-income members? If so, how would you do this?
2. Would the equity cash be refundable? Some groups make all or part or of
it refundable after all units are sold. For other groups, none is
refundable. Do any groups refund equity cash during the development process?
3. Anything else that you would recommend or absolutely discourage?

Thanks to everyone,
Kristen Simmons
simmonskristenATgmailDOTcom
Cohousing Group yet to be named (dba The Residents at EV@JP)
Jamaica Plain, MA